The new generation 3D GIS visualization technology upgraded for multi-dimensional applications

With the advent and rapid evolution of the digital age, various industries have put forward higher requirements for the way of displaying and rendering geospatial information. As a comprehensive technology, the geospatial 3D visualization technology integrates 3D geographic information system (GIS), computer graphics, virtual reality/augmented reality/mixed reality (VR/AR/MR) and other technologies. It has become a key technology to support our exploration, analysis and understanding of complex geographic space. The performance and realism of the geospatial 3D visualization technology are directly related to the quality and efficiency of geospatial decision-making.

SuperMap GIS 2024 innovates and upgrades the 3D GIS rendering engine, which not only greatly improves the display performance of massive 3D data, but also provides rendering capabilities for more realistic 3D scenes, and further upgrades the high-fidelity 3D GIS development package that integrates the game engine. This will provide more powerful technical support for 3D Real Scene China, digital governance of natural resources, digital housing and construction, digital twin water conservancy, etc.

01More powerful: 3D GIS rendering engine upgraded

In order to meet the higher requirements of rendering performance and visualization effects for smart parks, smart cities, and natural resources 3D maps, SuperMap fully upgraded the Web3D rendering engine in 2023, having launched SuperMap iClient3D for WebGPU, achieved higher performance of massive data rendering capabilities in Web browsers, and improved the realism of 3D scenes. This year, SuperMap iClient3D for WebGPU /WebGL has been further upgraded. More details will be revealed in the following articles.

This year, SuperMap iDesktopX 2024 has experienced an innovative upgrade, with the release of a new desktop 3D GIS rendering engine based on Vulkan. The desktop 3D GIS rendering engine fully inherits Vulkan's key features such as lower CPU load, multi-threading support, and more sophisticated GPU control, which will greatly improve the rendering performance and quality of massive data and providing a more powerful massive data carrying capacity.

02 Faster: Loading massive multi-source 3D data

SuperMap iDesktopX 2024 supports both the OpenGL-based desktop 3D GIS rendering engine V1 and the Vulkan-based desktop 3D GIS rendering engine V2, and can flexibly switch engine versions according to needs. Compared with the OpenGL-based desktop 3D GIS rendering engine V1, the Vulkan-based desktop 3D GIS rendering engine V2 can load the same data faster and more smoothly.

As shown in the figure below, under the same test environment ( 1050 graphics card), the desktop 3D GIS rendering engine V1 and the desktop 3D GIS rendering engine V2 are used to load and drag the same oblique photography 3D model (original 181GB), BIM data (more than 100,000 components), city fine model tiles (330GB), and point plug-in model tiles (original data 2GB). The test results show that the fixed-point loading speed can be increased by about 50%, the frame rate can be increased by more than 10 frames, and the drag browsing experience is better.

(Note: The test results are based on the local environment and may be different in other environments)

03More realistic: large-scale 3D scene rendering

The application of digital twin technology in different fields such as digital housing and construction, digital twin water conservancy, and digital management of natural resources requires 3D scene rendering to have a high degree of authenticity and stereoscopicity, so as to ensure that complex entities in the real world can be accurately simulated in the virtual environment. To this end, SuperMap iDesktopX 2024 has been fully upgraded in terms of the 3D visualization effect to support the creation of more realistic and three-dimensional 3D scenes:

By optimizing the water surface reflection and reflection effects, the correctness of the water reflection effect in more complex scenes is guaranteed, and it can be used to simulate real water surfaces such as lakes and rivers.

It supports skybox technology, which can simulate the sky under different times and weather conditions, such as early morning, dusk, clear, cloudy, overcast, etc., through a single image without affecting rendering performance. This can be used to create a more immersive three-dimensional scene.

By optimizing the lighting effects and improving the impact of sunlight on objects, the visual performance of the scene is enhanced, avoiding the loss of object details caused by too bright or too dark light.

By optimizing real-time shadows, it supports real-time updating of scene shadow effects based on the movement of the sun (time lapse) and objects, and improves the clarity and softness of shadow boundaries.

Added support for ambient light mapping technology, which can enhance the reflection and glossiness of objects through a map that stores the ambient lighting information around the scene.

04 More Practical: High-fidelity 3D GIS Development Kit

Driven by digital twin-related applications, SuperMap launched high-fidelity 3D GIS development kits ( SuperMap Hi-Fi 3D SDKs) that were deeply integrated with game engines in 2020. By organically combining the spatial management and analysis capabilities of SuperMap GIS with the high-fidelity rendering capabilities of UE/Unity, it provides strong support for the efficient construction of applications such as smart airports, smart parks, smart cities, and 3D Real Scene China.

To meet the further needs of related businesses for product GIS capabilities and their in-depth integration with game engines, SuperMap Hi-Fi 3D SDKs 2024 has been upgraded in data access, GIS analysis, 3D GIS data beautification, interactive experience, and integration with game engines:

Improved data access capabilities: It not only supports dynamic loading of data from more sources, such as newly added support for loading S3M 3.01 data that complies with the surveying and mapping industry standard CH/T 9040-2023, and vector data in GeoJSON format; it also supports setting the layer style of S3M data of ground-attached vector surfaces and querying attribute information.

More comprehensive GIS analysis capabilities: New support for 3D buffer analysis, pipeline cross-section analysis, and new functions such as pipe burst analysis and optimal path analysis based on SuperMap iServer, which can effectively support applications such as municipal pipeline planning and underground pipeline emergency repairs.

More complete 3D GIS data beautification: it supports real-time display of dynamic water surface effects after drawing on the terrain, and supports point data set plug-in UE blueprint objects to enrich the point data beautification effects.

Smoother interactive experience: Through the UE spring arm effect and the switching between the first-person and third-person perspectives, a smoother scene operation experience can be achieved; by rotating around a point, you can quickly browse the global scene; through the model explosion and drawer animation effects, you can observe the internal details of the BIM data in detail; by switching between displaying image data and displaying global images, the display effect of data and scenes can be improved.

Deeper integration with game engines: SuperMap GIS 2024 is not only compatible with UE5.2/5.3, improving the product's coverage of UE versions, but also supports UE model assets to participate in visual domain analysis and cropping operations.

SuperMap GIS 2024 has been officially released. Download address will be revealed soon. Follow us to stay updated.