Basic implementation for a 3D-viewer with web technology

The presentation of 3D-data is gaining a crucial role for the government agencies in Germany. With the introduction of new federal laws on data storage and release, it became important to present 3D-data in an accessible way to everyone. Since the general public can handle web browser applications easily, unlike desktop applications, web-based technologies should be implemented for data presentation. A good user experience and a valuable access to the data requires that a number of components within a web technology need to work together in both back end and front end.

A 3D-viewer with web technology requires minimum configuration to run. Any web application has standard technologies like programming languages PHP, .Net 5 or JavaScript, a descriptive language HTML and a hosting server with a particular software environment (LAMP). In addition, to visualize the 3D-data, it is necessary to integrate a 3D-engine, e.g. WebKit, and optimize data transfer between a database and a client. However, there are limitations of 3D-data presentation with web applications. For example, a 3D-engine retards performance and interaction with users.

We have implemented full stack components of a 3D-viewer with developed web technologies for our own NIBIS3D-viewer at the State Authority for Mining, Energy and Geology of Lower Saxony. In our work, we show that these 3D-viewer components comprise a good running system for the visualization of 3D-data and represent a complete infrastructure from server over back end to front end interfaces for users.