universiti putra malaysia - psasir.upm.edu.mypsasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/51595/1/fk 2012...

UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

RUZINOOR CHE MAT

FK 2012 155

FOUR TIER FRAMEWORK FOR ONLINE APPLICATIONS OF 3D GIS VISUALIZATION

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FOUR TIER FRAMEWORK FOR ONLINE APPLICATIONS

OF 3D GIS VISUALIZATION

By

RUZINOOR BIN CHE MAT

Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia,

in Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

October 2012

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DEDICATION

I dedicate this thesis to my wife Norani Nordin, my kids Naufal, Nazihah, Nabil and

to my mum Romlah Hamzah.

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Abstract of thesis presented to the Senate of Universiti Putra Malaysia in fulfilment of

the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

FOUR TIER FRAMEWORK FOR ONLINE APPLICATIONS

OF 3D GIS VISUALIZATION

By

RUZINOOR CHE MAT

October 2012

Chairman: Associate Professor Abdul Rashid Mohammed Shariff, PhD

Faculty: Institute of Advanced Technology

The aim of this study is to discuss on the issues related to the use of a new proposed four-

tier architecture for online applications of 3D GIS visualization. Conventional design of

the system is generated from client/server based architecture. This architecture is the

main platform for designing online system architecture, which works based on the

distributing concept, which is a tier. The tier is normally set by the developers to separate

the works/tasks between the system architecture. Currently, three tiers architecture is the

most well-known architecture used in GIS applications and also other application.

However, this architecture has some drawback on scalability, maintainability, and also its

need more processing power in the middle tier to process the request from multiple of

users. Based on the literature study, GIS applications, especially systems, which involve

3D visualization generate a massive amount of data. Due to this situation, the current

three-tier architecture used for online application of 3D GIS visualization decrease the

performance of the system in terms of time for processing the request from the users.

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This research explores the use of the four-tier framework to overcome current

impediments in the use of the three-tier framework for online applications of 3D GIS

visualization. The new framework is designed based on client/server architecture with the

tasks distributed using the tier‟s concept. It is formalized into four tiers framework by

advancing one more tier into the existing three tiers framework for handling the

visualization process. The four tiers framework is divided into the client, logic,

visualization process, and database tiers respectively. The unique part of this new

architecture is the middle tier which is divided into two other tier‟s, which handle the

visualization process and logical process separately and make the framework more

flexible and increase its performance. The framework has been successfully implemented

in oil palm plantations application using a prototype developed to prove that the

framework functions well based on the requirements. Several experiment related to

terrain visualization application conducted to give an operational guidelines for

developer. The results of experiments helps developer on utilising the best data and

technique for developing the required system. The prototype shows that it can aid the oil

palm plantation management to visualize their plantation easily in 3D. The oil palm trees

can be visualized with 3D terrain in an online environment with GIS capabilities. The

characteristic of the oil palm tree data is stored in the database tier, and the data can be

modified based on users need. The 3D terrain is generated from the topographic data

(LiDAR Data) and overlaid with the high- resolution satellite image (QUICK BIRD).

The validation of the framework was performed by comparing the results from the

existing three-tier framework with the new four tier framework. The new framework

shows superiority in its performance based on loading time, response time, frames per

second, CPU usage and memory usage. These results show that the approach in this

research helps solve the processing power problem. The framework can be applied by

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users to visualize a multitude of applications with GIS capabilities in an online 3D

environment.

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Abstrak tesis yang dikemukakan kepada Senat Universiti Putra Malaysia sebagai

memenuhi keperluan untuk ijazah Doktor Falsafah

KERANGKA EMPAT TAHAP UNTUK APLIKASI DALAM TALIAN

BAGI VISUALISASI 3D GIS

Oleh

RUZINOOR CHE MAT

Oktober 2012

Pengerusi: Profesor Madya Abdul Rashid Mohammed Shariff, PhD

Fakulti: Institut Teknologi Maju

Applikasi talian visualasi 3D untuk data GIS bukan sahaja menjadi tarikan bagi banyak

bidang seperti kartografi, geografi, geologi dan psikologi tetapi ia juga popular

dikalangan orang awam. Rekabentuk konvensional bagi sistem ini dihasilkan berasaskan

kepada arkitektur pelayan/pelanggan. Arkitektur ini merupakan tapak utama bagi

merekabentuk arkitektur sistem talian yang berfungsi berdasarkan kepada konsep sebaran

iaitu ‘tahap’. Biasanya konsep ‘tahap’ digunakan oleh pemaju perisian bagi

mengasingkan tugas-tugas antara sistem arkitektur. Ketika ini, arkitektur 3 ‘tahap’ adalah

yang paling terkenal digunakan di dalam aplikasi GIS dan juga lain-lain aplikasi. Namun

aplikasi ini mempunyai kekurangan dalam penskalaan, penyelengaraan, dan juga

memerlukan pemprosesan yang lebih pada ‘tahap pertengahan’ bagi memproses

permintaan dari pelbagai pengguna. Berdasarkan kajian literatur, aplikasi GIS terutama

sistem yang melibatkan visualisasi 3D menghasilkan jumlah data yang besar. Oleh

kerana situasi ini, penggunaan arkitektur tiga ‘tahap’ yang biasa digunakan untuk

aplikasi dalam talian untuk visualisasi 3D bagi data GIS akan menurunkan prestasi

sistem ini dari segi masa untuk memproses permintaan dari pengguna. Penyelidikan ini

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cuba mengenengahkan penggunaan kerangka empat ‘tahap’ untuk mengatasi kelemahan

yang ada dalam sistem arkitektur tiga ‘tahap’ bagi penggunaan aplikasi dalam talian

untuk visualisasi 3D GIS. Objektif kajian ini adalah (i) untuk memperkenalkan kerangka

baru bagi aplikasi talian visualasi 3D GIS. (ii) untuk melaksanakan kerangka baru ini

dalam aplikasi talian visualasi 3D GIS. (iii) untuk menganalisis dan mengesahkan

kerangka baru ini dalam aplikasi talian visualasi 3D GIS. Kerangka baru ini direka

bentuk berdasarkan arkitektur pelayan/pelanggan yang mengagihkan tugas kepada

konsep ‘tahap’. Ia telah diformalisasikan kepada kerangka empat ‘tahap’ dengan cara

menambahkan satu lagi ‘tahap’ ke dalam kerangka tiga ‘tahap’ yang sedia ada bagi

mengendalikan proses visualisasi. Kerangka kerja empat ‘tahap’ dibahagikan kepada

‘tahap’ pelanggan, ‘tahap’ logik, ‘tahap’ proses visualisasi, dan ‘tahap’ pangkalan data.

Bahagian yang unik dalam arkitektur baru ini adalah dimana „tahap‟ pertengahan

dibahagikan kepada dua lagi „tahap‟ yang mengendalikan proses visualisasi dan proses

logic secara berasingan yang membuatkan kerangka kerja ini lebih fleksibel dan

meningkatkan prestasinya. Kerangka ini telah berjaya dilaksanakan dengan jayanya

dalam perladangan kelapa sawit dan satu prototaip juga telah dibina untuk menunjukkan

bahawa kerangka ini boleh digunakan dengan baik. Beberapa eksperimen berkaitan

aplikasi visualisasi permukaan tanah telah dijalankan untuk memberi garis panduan

operasi kepada pemaju sistem. Keputusan dari eksperimen ini membantu pemaju sistem

dalam menggunakan data dan teknik terbaik untuk membangunkan sistem yang

dikehendaki. Prototaip ini menunjukkan bahawa ia boleh membantu pengurusan ladang

kelapa sawit untuk menggambarkan ladang mereka dengan mudah dalam 3 dimensi.

Pokok kelapa sawit dan permukaan tanah juga boleh di visualisasi dalam bentuk 3D

dalam persekitaran dalam talian dengan kemudahan GIS. Data mengenai ciri-ciri yang

dimiliki oleh pokok kelapa sawit disimpan dalam ‘tahap’ pangakalan data dan data ini

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boleh diubahsuai mengikut keperluan peengguna. Permukaan tanah 3D dihasilkan

daripada data topografi (data „LiDAR‟) dan diselaputi dengan imej satelit resolusi tinggi

(QUICK BIRD). Pengesahan kerangka kerja baru ini dilakukan dengan cara

membandingkan hasil daripada kerangka tiga ‘tahap’ yang sedia ada dengan kerangka

empat ‘tahap’. Kerangka terbaru menunjukkan kelebihan yang banyak dari segi

prestasinya berdasarkan „masa muat turun‟, „masa tindak balas‟, „rangka sesaat‟,

„penggunaan CPU‟ dan penggunaan memori‟. Prestasi ini menunjukkan bahawa ia boleh

menyelesaikan masalah keperluan kuasa pemprosesan. Kerangka ini boleh diaplikasikan

oleh pengguna untuk menggambarkan bermacam-macam jenis aplikasi dengan

kemampuan GIS dalam talian persekitaran 3D.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am thankful and syukur to Allah for making things possible, Alhamdulillah. I would

like to acknowledge the support and assistance that I have received from my supervisor,

Associate Prof. Dr. Abdul Rashid Mohamed Shariff and to thank him for his untiring

guidance, advice, help and encouragement throughout my study in UPM.

I am very much grateful to the members of my supervisory committee, Associate Prof.

Dr. Ahmad Rodzi Mahmud, Dr. Habil. Biswajeet Pradhan and Dr. Mohd Shafry Mohd

Rahim for their valuable guidances, helps and supports throughout my study. Thanks also

to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Helmi, Dr. Lawal Billa and Dr. Fazel who always provided moral

supports. Special thanks also goes to Prof. Dr. Ravshan Ashurov and my postgraduate

colleague Almaz Butaez for helping me on preparing the mathematical models and

formula for my algorithm.

I would like to express my true appreciation to Taman Pertanian Universiti UPM and

Digital Globe Incorporation for providing the satellite image of UPM area. My sincere

thanks to Professor Dr. Shattri Mansor and Pejabat Pembangunan dan Pengurusan Aset

(PPPA) UPM who well provided me the LiDAR data of the study area. Thanks to

Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (JUPEM) for providing the contour data

for UPM area and for giving me placement to perform two months training in their

organization.

Thanks to my friends Mohammed Mustafa Al-Habshi for assisting me on preparing the

programming code for my research. To all my colleagues; Halim, Zakri, Hafiz, Fadhil,

Nik, Wan, Veena, Roshidul, Ebrahim, Ramin, Khosro, Osama, Meftah, Harib, Mobarak,

Ranya, Islah and Shahzard thank you for making my study life in UPM a valuable one.

Finally, I would like to thank my family, especially my wife, my kids and my mum for

all their support and encouragement.

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I certify that a Thesis Examination Committee has met on 12 December 2012 to conduct

the final examination of Ruzinoor Che Mat on his thesis entitled "Four Tier Framework

for Online Applications of 3D GIS Visualization" in accordance with the Universities

and University Colleges Act 1971 and the Constitution of the Universiti Putra Malaysia

[P.U.(A) 106] 15 March 1998. The Committee recommends that the student be awarded

the Doctor of Philosophy.

Members of the Thesis Examination Committee were as follows:

Shattri b. Mansor, PhD

Professor

Faculty of Engineering

Universiti Putra Malaysia

(Chairman)

Fazel Amiri, PhD



(Internal Examiner)

Samsuzana binti Abdul Aziz, PhD Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering



(Internal Examiner)

Takaharu Kameoka, PhD

Professor

Mie University

Japan

(External Examiner)

SEOW HENG FONG, PhD

Professor and Deputy Dean

School of Graduate Studies


Date: 23 January 2013

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This thesis was submitted to the senate of Universiti Putra Malaysia and has been

accepted as fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The

members of the Supervisory Committee were as follows:

Abdul Rashid Mohamed Shariff, PhD

Associate Professor



(Chairman)

Ahmad Rodzi Mahmud, PhD

Associate Professor



(Member)

Biswajeet Pradhan, PhD

Associate Professor



(Member)

Mohd Shafry Mohd Rahim, PhD

Associate Professor

Department of Computer Science

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia

(Member)

_______________________________

BUJANG BIN KIM HUAT, PhD

Professor and Dean

School of Graduate Studies


Date:

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DECLARATION

I declare that the thesis is my original work except for quotations and citations which

have been duly acknowledged. I also declare that it has not been previously, and is not

concurrently, submitted for any other degree at Universiti Putra Malaysia or at any other

institution.

______________________

RUZINOOR CHE MAT

Date: 4 October 2012

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ABSTRACT i

ABSTRAK iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii APPROVAL viii

DECLARATION x

TABLE OF CONTENTS xi

LIST OF TABLES xiv LIST OF FIGURES xviii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xxiv

CHAPTER

1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Problem Background 3 1.3 Problem Statement 4 1.4 Motivations 6 1.5 Objectives 8

1.6 Scope of Research 9 1.7 Thesis Structure 9

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 11 2.2 3D Visualization 11

2.2.1 Virtual Reality 13 2.2.2 The importance of 3D visualization analysis 14

2.2.3 3D GIS Visualization Software 19 2.2.4 Web based 3D Visualization 22

2.3 3D Terrain Visualization 24 2.3.1 Manual Representation of Terrain 25

2.3.2 Automated Methods for Visualising Terrain 28 2.3.3 Visualizing Terrain in Photo realism 31

2.3.4 Online 3D Terrain Visualization 34 2.4 The Concept of Tier 38

2.4.1 What is Tier? 39 2.4.2 One Tier 40 2.4.3 Two Tier 40

2.4.4 Three Tier 41 2.4.5 N-Tier 43 2.4.6 Interaction between Tiers 43

2.5 Online Visualization Framework 44

2.6 Summary 50

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3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Methodology 51 3.2 Information Gathering & Conceptual Framework 52 3.3 Task and Technology Analysis 52

3.3.1 Task Analysis 53 3.3.2 Technology Analysis 54

3.4 Framework Development 55 3.4.1 Client Tier 57 3.4.2 Logic Tier 58 3.4.3 Visualization Process Tier 58 3.4.4 Database Tier 65 3.4.5 The Interaction between Each Tier 66

3.5 Comparison of three-tier frameworks and four-tier frameworks 68 3.6 Mathematical Model 69 3.7 Implementation and Refinement 73 3.8 Analysis 74 3.9 Experiments for Operational Guide 75 3.10 Summary 77

4 IMPLEMENTATION OF FOUR TIER FRAMEWORK FOR

ONLINE OIL PALM PLANTATION 4.1 Introduction 79 4.2 Implementation of the Framework 80

4.2.1 Visualization Process Tier 81

4.2.2 Database Tier 89 4.3 Prototype of the Framework 90

4.3.1 User Manual 91 4.3.2 3D Oil Palm Plantation 93 4.3.3 Database Management 99 4.3.4 Comment 103 4.3.5 Contact Us 103 4.3.6 Link 104

4.4 Summary 105

5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 5.1 Introduction 106

5.2 Oil Palm Plantation Application 106 5.3 Analysis 107

5.3.1 Comparison on loading time 108 5.3.2 Comparison on response time 111 5.3.3 Comparison on frames per second 113 5.3.4 Comparison on CPU usage 116 5.3.5 Comparison on memory usage 119

5.4 Analysis with 1000 trees 122 5.4.1 Comparison of three-tier and four-tier framework with

1000 of trees 123 5.5 Analysis with 500, 600, 700 and 1000 trees 124

5.5.1 Comparison on loading time 124

5.5.2 Comparison on response time 127 5.5.3 Comparison on frames per second 130

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5.5.4 Comparison on CPU usage 133

5.5.5 Comparison on memory usage 135 5.6 Analysis with different location 138

5.6.1 Comparison on loading time 138 5.6.2 Comparison on response time 141 5.6.3 Comparison on frames per second 144 5.6.4 Comparison on CPU usage 147 5.6.5 Comparison on memory usage 151

5.7 Experiments 154 5.7.1 Experiments 1: Comparison of different types of

topographic data 154 5.7.1.1 Results of Experiments 1 155

5.7.2 Experiments 2: Comparison of different types of

rendering technique 160 5.7.2.1 Results of Experiments 2 162 5.7.3 Experiments 3: Comparison of different types of GIS software 167 5.7.3.1 Results of Experiments 3 169 5.7.4 Experiments 4: Comparison of different types of

satellite images 175 5.7.4.1 Results of Experiments 4 177 5.7.5 Experiments 5: Comparison of different types of web server 188 5.7.5.1 Results of Experiments 5 189 5.8 Summary 195

6 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 6.1 Summary 196 6.2 Conclusion 196 6.3 Recommendation for Future Research 199

6.3.1 Application to other crops 199 6.3.2 Improved the quality of 3D visualization 200 6.3.3 Adding more oil palm trees 200 6.3.4 Enhancing the security 200

REFERENCES 201

APPENDICES 217 A Programming Code: Main Menu 218

B Programming Code: User Manual 220 C1 Programming Code: Oil Palm with 100 Trees 221 C2 Programming Code: Terrain Visualization 225 C2a Programming Code: Scene Tree for Terrain Visualization 247 D Programming Code: Database Management 249 E Programming Code: Comment 253 F Programming Code: Contact Us 255 G Programming Code: Link 256

BIODATA OF STUDENT 258

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 260

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

2.1 Classes for manual representation of terrain 25

2.2 Different techniques of visualizing terrain in photorealism 33

3.1 Comparison between three-tier frameworks and four-tier frameworks 68

3.2 Procedures for requesting and response the data through normal situation 71

3.3 Procedures for requesting and response of the data when the data is edited 72

5.1 Comparison of loading times for three-tier and four-tier system frameworks 109

5.2 Percentage difference of loading times for three-tier and four-tier

system frameworks 110

5.3 Comparison of response times for three-tier and four-tier-system

frameworks 111

5.4 Percentage difference of response time for three-tier and four-tier


5.5 Comparison of frames per second (fps) for three-tier and four-tier


5.6 Percentage difference of fps value for three-tier and four-tier system

frameworks 116

5.7 Comparison of CPU usage for three-tier and four-tier system frameworks 117

5.8 Percentage difference of CPU usage for three-tier and four-tier system

frameworks 119

5.9 Comparison of memory usage for three-tier and four-tier system

frameworks 120

5.10 Percentage difference of memory usage for three-tier and four-tier


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5.11 Comparison of loading times, response time, frame per second, CPU

usage and memory usage for three-tier and four-tier system frameworks

with 1000 of trees 123

5.12 Comparison of loading times for three-tier and four-tier system

frameworks with 500, 600, 700 and 1000 trees 125


system frameworks with 500, 600, 700 and 1000 trees 127

5.14 Comparison of response times for three-tier and four-tier system








5.18 Comparison of CPU usage for three-tier and four-tier system


5.19 Percentage difference of CPU usage for three-tier and four-tier






5.22 Comparison of loading times for three-tier and four-tier system

frameworks of new location 139

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system frameworks of new location 141

5.24 Comparison of response times for three-tier and four-tier system








5.28 Comparison of CPU usage for three-tier and four-tier system


5.29 Percentage difference of CPU usage for three-tier and four-tier system






5.32 Comparison of different contour interval for 3D terrain visualization 159

5.33 Comparison of different GIS software for online 3D terrain visualization 174

5.34 The technology specification for QUICK BIRD 176

5.35 The technology specification for IKONOS 176

5.36 The technology specification for SPOT 5 177

5.37 The comparison between three satellite imageries QUICK BIRD,

IKONOS, and SPOT 5 with data coverage of 34.5 hectares 179

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5.38 The comparison between three satellite imageries QUICKBIRD,

IKONOS, and SPOT5 with data coverage of 69 hectares 182

5.39 The comparison between three satellite imageries QUICKBIRD,

IKONOS, and SPOT5 with the data coverage of 138 hectares 186

5.40 The distance of the web servers from the users together with address

of data launched 188

5.41 Loading time during office hours and out of office hours 189

5.42 Loading time for different number of users 190

5.43 Frame per second for different number of users 192

5.44 CPU usage for different number of user 193

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1.1 Image of Malaysia geospatial data in 2D 7

2.1 Image of bridge along the road site 18

2.2 Figure indicated a) mountains in the shape of molehill b) skeletal lines 26

2.3 Profile lines 27

2.4 Figure indicated (a) hill shading; (b) hachures 28

2.5 Image of overlapping method 29

2.6 Image of chunk level of detail 30

2.7 Image of terrain developed from the extansion of GeoMipMap algorithm 30

2.8 Image of Grand Canyon 35

2.9 Two tier client/server architecture 41

2.10 Three tier client/server architecture 42

2.11 Three tier architecture based on 3D browser 46

2.12 Three tier architecture for CVIS 47

2.13 Three tier architecture for hurricane occurance simulation 48

2.14 Four tier architecture 49

3.1 The flow chart of research methodology 51

3.2 Components of new framework; a)client tier; b)logic tier;

c)visualization process tier; d)database tier 57

3.3 The operations at Visualization Process Tier 59

3.4 Extruding image in CAD package; (a) before extrude, (b) after extrude 60

3.5 3D object in Google Earth (from Sketch Up) 61

3.6 The image of roadway generated from 3D scanner 62

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3.7 The image of complex trunk 62

3.8 The image of single leaf 63

3.9 The sample of 3D surface; (a) raster, (b) TIN, (c) terrain surface 64

3.10 Sample of contour convert ;(a) 3m contour map, (b) TIN of 3m contour map 65

3.11 The interaction between each tier in the proposed framework 67

3.12 Framework of mathematical model 69

4.1 PHP header 81

4.2 PHP looping function 81

4.3 View of the frond from the (a) front, (b) back, (c) right, (d) left,

(e) top, (f) bottom 85

4.4 The oil palm trunk with textured image 86

4.5 The complete visualization of oil palm tree in 3D 87

4.6 Flowchart a method of visualizing 3D terrain 88

4.7 Sample of 3D data in MySQL database 90

4.8 Online 3D terrain visualization for oil palm plantation 91

4.9 The menu of User Manual 92

4.10 System rendered for fly through function for 10 trees 93

4.11 System rendered for flythrough function for 30 trees 94



4.14 Walkthrough inside the oil palm plantation 96

4.15 View of the tree from the front 97

4.16 View of the tree from the back 97

4.17 View the tree from the left 98

4.18 View of the tree from the right 98

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4.19 Flythrough over the oil palm plantation 99

4.20 The print preview of the database 100

4.21 Searching inside the database 101

4.22 Highlighting the correct data 102

4.23 Editing menu 102

4.24 The menu of Comment 103

4.25 The menu of Contact Us 104

4.26 The menu of Link 105

5.1 The loading time record using stopwatch software 108

5.2 The loading time graph for comparison of three-tier and four-tier


5.3 The value of response time recorded using YSlow 111

5.4 The response time graph for comparison of three-tier and four-tier


5.5 The value of frames per second (fps) recorded using Fraps software 114

5.6 The frames per secod (fps) graph for comparison of three-tier and

four-tier system frameworks 115

5.7 The value of CPU usage is recorded using Window Task Manager 116

5.8 The CPU usage graph for comparison of three-tier and four-tier


5.9 The value of memory usage is recorded using Window Task Manager 120

5.10 The memory usage graph for comparison of three-tier and four-tier


5.11 The loading time record using stopwatch software for 1000 trees 125


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5.13 The value of response time recorded using Yslow for 1000 trees 127



5.15 The value of frames per second (fps) recorded using Fraps software

for 1000 trees 130


four-tier system frameworks with 500, 600, 700 and 1000 trees 132

5.17 The value of CPU usage is recorded using Window Task Manager

for 1000 trees 133



5.19 The value of memory usage is recorded using Window Task Manager

for 1000 trees 136



5.21 The loading time record using stopwatch software of new location 139



5.23 The value of response time recorded using Yslow of new location 142



5.25 The value of frames per second (fps) recorded using Fraps software

of new location 145


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four-tier system frameworks of new location 146

5.27 The value of CPU usage is recorded using Window Task Manager

of new location 148



5.29 The value of memory usage is recorded using Window Task Manager

of new location 151



5.31 The image of VRML data for 5m intervals 156



5.34 Three different images of 3D terrain visualization for golf field area;

(a) satellite overlaid, (b) colour shading, (c) silhouette rendering 163

5.35 Three different images of 3D terrain visualization for the public field area;

(a) satellite overlaid, (b) colour shading, (c) silhouette rendering 164

5.36 Three different images of 3D terrain visualization for the research field

area; (a) satellite overlaid, (b) colour shading, (c) silhouette rendering 165

5.37 Image of online 3D terrain visualization generated from R2V software 170

5.38 Image of online 3D terrain visualization generated from ERDAS software 171

5.39 Image of online 3D terrain visualization generated from Arc

GIS 9.2 software 173

5.40 Image of online 3D terrain visualization generated from ENVI software 174

5.41 Image of online terrain draped with IKONOS satellite imageries

with data coverage of 34.5 hectares 178

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5.42 Image of online terrain draped with QUICKBIRD satellite imageries

with data coverage of 34.5 hectares 178

5.43 Image of online terrain draped with SPOT 5 satellite imageries with

data coverage of 34.5 hectares 178

5.44 Image of online terrain draped with IKONOS satellite imageries with

data coverage of 69 hectares 181

5.45 Image of online terrain draped with QUICKBIRD satellite imageries

with data coverage of 69 hectares 181

5.46 Image of online terrain draped with SPOT5 satellite imageries

with data coverage of 69 hectares 181

5.47 Image of online terrain draped with IKONOS satellite imageries with


5.48 Image of online terrain draped with QUICKBIRD satellite imageries with


5.49 Image of online terrain draped with SPOT5 satellite imageries with


5.50 Loading time in different web servers 189

5.51 Loading time for different number of users 191

5.52 Frame per second for different number of users 192

5.53 CPU usage for different number of users 194

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AJAX Asynchronous JavaScript Technology and XML

CPU Central Processing Unit

CVIS Computerized Visitor Information System

DTM Digital Terrain Model

DEM Digital Elevation Model

ESRI Environmental Systems Research Institute

fps frames per second

Gb Gigabytes

GIF Graphics Interchange Format

GIS Geographic Information System

GPS Global Positioning System

GUI Graphical User Interface

IIS Internet Information Server

JDBC Java Database Connectivity

JNI Java Native Interface

JNLP Java Network Launching Protocol

JSP JavaServer Page

JUPEM Jabatan Ukur dan Pemetaan Malaysia

LKIM Lembaga Kemajuan Ikan Malaysia

LiDAR Light Detection and Ranging

LOD Level of detail

MBNMS Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

MyGDI Malaysian Geospatial Data Infrastructure

MySQL My Structured Query Language

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xxv

ms Milliseconds

NPR Non-photorealistic Rendering

NSDI National Geospatial Data Infrastructure

ODBC Open Database Connectivity

OGC Open Geospatial Consortium

OpenGL Open Graphic Library

PHP PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor

RDBMS Relational Database Management System

ROAM Real-time Optimally Adapting Meshes

RS Remote Sensing

sec Seconds

SHP Shapefile

SOA Service Oriented Architecture

SQL Structured Query Language

SRG Spatial Research Group

TIFF Tagged Image File Format

UPM Universiti Putra Malaysia

UUM Universiti Utara Malaysia

WebGL Web-based Graphics Library

WFS Web Feature Service

XML Extensible Markup Language

X3D Extensible 3D

2D Two dimension

3D Three dimension

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Visualization is the process of exploring, transforming, and viewing data as images

(or other sensory forms) to gain understanding and insight into the data (Schroeder,

et al., 1998). Generally, visualization can be divided into 2D visualization, 3D

visualization, and currently 4D visualizations are also being explored (Ding, et al.,

2012). The 2D visualization has the capability on rendering the objects in two

dimensions (2D) while 3D visualization rendered the objects in three dimensions

(3D). Nowadays, most of the systems still maintain 2D visualizations while lacking

on 3D visualizations, especially in GIS communities (Zlanatova and Stoter, 2003).

The trend currently is moving towards using the internet to visualize the information.

This platform enables people to interact and share information more efficiently

(Huang, et al., 2001). It received most intention in the early 1990s because of the

development of standard visual tools for information exchange, Web browsers

(Mosaic, Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer). Due to this aspect, the

number of internet users and its technology also increased dramatically. In 2009, the

numbers of internet users grew in the rural areas, accumulating to about 4 million

users in Malaysia (Sulaiman, 2009). Concurrent with these, the new generation of

geo-browsers such as Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth and NASA's World

Wind (Sipes, 2007) emerged since in 2005. Many people currently depend on these

geo-browsers for their daily work and also for decision making purpose. This

technology creates an opportunity to perform mix client/server visualization. Most

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the system architecture for WWW is developed based upon client/server architecture

(Nations, 2010). This architecture is the main platform for designing online system

architecture, which works based on the distributing concept which is the tier.

The term tier refers to the physical distribution of components of a system on

separate servers, computers, or networks (processing nodes). It can be defined as

"one of two or more rows, levels, or ranks arranged one above another"

(Encyclopedia Britannica Company, 2011). However, Chartier (2001) has defined

tier as any number of levels arranged above another, each serving distinct and

separate task. It means that each tier has its own function, which is connecting each

other in separate level of the physical layer for processing the request from the client.

Besides that, Microsoft Library (2011) defined the tier whereby the tier is composed

of one or more computers that share one or more of this system characteristic such as

resource consumption profile, operational requirement, and design constraints.

Moreover, the concept of tier is actually generated from distributed architecture,

which means that systems are collected from multiple hosts running the programs.

This host can be a web server and a database server which can be virtually

distributed on a single host whereby the tier may be a logical or physical layer of the

system (Sun, 2005). The tier is normally set by the developers to separate the

works/tasks between the system architecture.

Three-tiers is the most well-known architecture used in GIS applications, but it has

disadvantages on scalability, maintainability, and needs more processing power on

the web server. This research explores the use of the four-tier framework to

overcome current impediments in the use of the three-tier framework for online

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applications of 3D visualization for GIS data, focusing specifically on the needs of

processing power.

1.2 Problem Background

Google Earth was released to the public on June 2005 and followed by Google Maps,

which was released on February 2007 (Hollinger, 2011). This geo-browsers has the

capability of displaying the world in 3D, although due to the data availability, the

accuracy of the height value is low, where there only hilly areas are shown while low

areas are not. There is a limitation in this software where the interaction of 3D

visualization is only possible in fly through and not walk through mode.

Zlatanova et al. (2002) mentioned that “the increasing number of applications needs

more advanced tools for representing and analyzing the 3D world”. That is why the

research on online 3D visualization has been interest to many researchers, until now.

Yu et al. (2010) has stated that ″at present, there are still some difficulties in

researching and implementing 3D visualization and spatial analysis based on the

internet because of the network bandwidth constraints‟ and the immature 3D

graphics display technology″. Other than that, most of the three-tier framework

developed by researchers is for 2D visualization (Chen, et al., 2003; Man, et al.,

2006; Varun, et al., 2004; Zhou, et al., 2009) which is not appropriate to be used for

3D visualization.

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Xu & Lee (2002) mentioned that ″although there have been some serious studies into

specific issues, we still lack a framework to consider the problem as a whole and to

coordinate the various studies. In our opinion, fully networking GIS, although

desirable, is extremely difficult″. They stated that ″layering GIS has not been studied

extensively″ and that ″while truly distributed GIS system involving highly

autonomous component is still a long way to go″. Based on the above statement,

there is a need to introduce a new framework for solving the problem in distributed

GIS, especially for online applications of 3D visualization for 3D GIS data.

A web 2.0 concept has the capability on handling the data accessibility, data

interoperability, and data information sharing over the internet and the World Wide

Web. Nevertheless, in terms of information visualization, the representation of the

data is still limited to 2 or 2.5 dimensions such as text, pictures, or videos (Settapat,

et al., 2010). That is why there is a need for implementing 3D visualization over the

internet.

1.3 Problem Statement

Based on the literature survey, the use of four tiers architecture for design of GIS

application is only for visualization in 2D and not for 3D (Luqun, et al., 2002; Luqun

and Minglu, 2004). The current use of this framework, mainly for 2D visualization

and not related to GIS application. For example, in health geographic, four-tier

frameworks are designed for mapping and sharing the disease information. The

product of this framework is only for 2D maps, which can monitor the information of

the disease without any GIS capabilities. The advantage of this system is that it can

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collaborate interactively between the partners such as public health officials,

researchers, policy makers and the public (Gao, et al., 2008). Mahmoudi et al. (2010)

introduced the interactive web based 2D and 3D medical image processing and

visualization based on the four layer architecture. Their architecture consists of an

algorithm, manage code, server communication and user-interface layer respectively.

They also mentioned that they have a wrapper layer inside the manage code layer.

Their architecture, with consideration of wrapper layer therefore contains five layers.

As mentioned by Simmons (Simmons, 2009) the term layer and tier has different

meaning, whereby each layer could sit on a single tier or multiple tiers. It means that,

the layer is just the organizational concept in an application but tier implies physical

separation, if needed. Mahmoudi system applied the layer concept and is different

with our approach which proposed four-tier frameworks. Mahmoudi does not

mention which layers sit on a particular tier. VRML is used for visualizing their

images. However, Mahmoudi system is specifically for medical image with raster

image processing and does not address GIS vector data. Our approach is specifically

of visualization of GIS data and in particular this thesis research address vector

based coordinate information. ″The development of efficient and reliable systems

with more than three-tiers is still an imprecise science, but research in distributed

computing continues to increase the availability and usefulness of such systems″

(Lewandowski, 1998).

The design of online applications which involve 3D visualization of GIS data

normally involves a great amount of spatial data, especially for terrain information

(Xu and Lee, 2002). By combining terrain data with other objects on its surface, a

massive amount of data will be generated. The existing three-tier framework has

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some drawbacks on scalability, maintainability, and it needs more processing power

in the middle tier to process the request from multiple of users. Due to this situation,

the use of the current three-tier framework for online application of 3D visualization

for GIS data is not capable of processing the huge amount of data from the users.

Hence, this research explores how to develop a new four tier framework which can

solve the existing problem of processing power. The following specific research

questions are addressed:

1. How to develop a new four-tier framework of online applications of 3D

visualization for GIS data by enhancing the existing three-tier framework?

2. How to implement a new four-tier framework of online applications of 3D

visualization for GIS data?

3. How to analyse the performance and validate the accuracy of a new four-tier

framework of online applications of 3D visualization for GIS data?

1.4 Motivations

By creating 3D visualizations that look as photorealistic as current technology

allows, it becomes possible to see, explore, and spatially understand parts of the

Earth as if we were actually there (Patterson, 2003).

In Malaysia, the need for 3D visualization is crucial whereby Malaysian Geospatial

Data Infrastructure (MaCGDI) is responsible to providing the services of National

Geospatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The service provided by this agency is the

system which can view the spatial data and also map (MaCGDI, 2011). This system

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restricts the user to view the data in 2D (Figure 1.1) and require further commands to

see further information. Furthermore, the user cannot view the data in 3D where

more realistic information can be viewed. That is why 3D visualization is important

for organizations, which provide services to its users. The required service of 3D

visualization is not in place yet in Malaysia.

Figure 1.1 Image of Malaysia geospatial data in 2D Image source MaCGDI

(2011))

Many researchers utilized Virtual Reality Markup Language (VRML) as their file

format for implementing online 3D visualization (Basic and Nuantawee, 2004;

Beard, 2006; Honjo and Lim, 2001; Huirong, et al., 2009). VRML is fundamentally a

3D interchange format designed for visualizing 3D objects in web-based

environments (Carey and Bell, 1997). Basic and Nuantawee (2004) quoted that

″VRML has proven to be a useful tool for modeling reality, producing 3D

animations, and interactive mapping″.

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By utilizing the VRML, the techniques such as level of details, tile‟s technique,

progressive technique, and selective visualization was introduced by researchers to

achieved real time visualization (Araya, et al., 2002; Beard, 2006; Huirong, et al.,

2009; Zhu, et al., 2003). VRML format can be used as an effective stimulus for

landscape assessment (included terrain data) (Lim, et al., 2006). In terms of terrain

visualization, Martinez (2010) stated that ″the use of VRML for the creation of

terrain visualization is viable″. VRML is a high-performance language, and the

VRML technology is still a valid environment for implementing 3D visualization,

especially terrain visualization. For this reasons much research still use VRML as

their tools for 3D visualization. This is the reason why VRML is still being used in

this research for the output format. The 3D information can be easily transferred

through the internet by using this technology (Honjo and Lim, 2001).

As quoted by Huang & Lin (2000) ″3D visualization and analysis become more

powerful when combined with internet based technologies. Through the network,

data, analysis, and interaction can be distributed to the desktops of decision makers

who are able to act upon the most recent information″.

1.5 Objectives

The goal of this research is to develop a new method of online 3D

visualization for GIS data. In order to achieve this goal, three objectives have been

formulated:

develop a new four-tier framework for online application of 3D visualization

for GIS data.

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implement a new four-tier framework for online application of 3D

visualization for GIS data.

analyze the performance and validate the accuracy of a new four-tier

framework for online application of 3D visualization for GIS data.

1.6 Scope of Research

The scope of this research is meant for a client/server architecture. The new four tier

frameworks is develop based on tier concept for online applications of 3D

visualization for GIS data focusing specifically on the processing power problem.

For application development, this research focused only on the oil palm plantation

application. The visualization of 3D for oil palm plantation generates 3D objects like

the oil palm tree together with pseudo of 3D terrain visualization.

1.7 Thesis Structure

The thesis is organized into six chapters. This is the introductory chapter. It provides

the problem background, problem statement, goal, objectives, motivation, and the

scope of the research.

In Chapter 2, detailed descriptions of the study background are discussed. It explains

the background of 3D visualization, 3D terrain visualization, the concept of tier, and

on-line visualization framework. All the topics are discussed in details which

distributed into other sub topics. The discussion guide the author to find the research

gaps on why the new framework needs to be introduced. This chapter ends with the

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conclusion on the research gap being attempted that trying to be solved in this

research.

Methodology of the research is discussed in chapter 3. It includes the framework of

the study and other contributing factors in this research study. This chapter discusses

the formalization of the framework, its design and the interaction between each tier.

Chapter 4 discusses an example implementation of the research in oil palm

plantation. The details of the implementation of each tier are explained in this

chapter. The explanation on how to develop 3D terrain is described in detail in this

chapter. It describes the prototype developed to suit an oil palm plantation.

Chapter 5 continues the discussion on the operational guideline‟s experiments for on-

line 3D terrain visualization, which is divided into five experiments. The results give

the visualization developer an idea on the best way of implementing on-line 3D

terrain visualization in terms of topographic data, rendering technique, GIS software,

satellite data, and web server. In order to analyse and validate the new framework,

the comparison between the new four-tier framework and three-tier frameworks is

made. The measurement of the comparison is based on response time, loading time,

frames per second (fps), Central Processing unit (CPU) usage, and memory usage.

The result of the comparison is presented and analysed.

Chapter 6 concludes the thesis. This chapter describes the research contributions of

the study. Suggestions on future research are also discussed.

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