Duke Hartman Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc.

Global 3D/4D Visualization Software: Large GIS, Volumetric, & LiDAR Data

Duke.Hartman@Makai.com • (808) 259-8871 • http://Voyager.Makai.com

Who is Makai?

• Located on Oahu, Hawaii

• Est. 1973; ~29 persons

• Specialties: – Submarine Cable

Planning & Installation

– OTEC / Deep Water Pipes

– Deep Water Marine Design

– Visualization Software

.

OTEC Cable Visualization

Makai Voyager Software

• Big goal: “Google Earth + Scientific Data”

• 3D/4D Scientific Visualization: – Volume, flow, LIDAR, graphing, analysis, etc. with GIS backdrop.

• Developed over last 5 years with funding from: – ONR (Office of Naval Research)

– CEROS (National Defense Center of Excellence for Research in Ocean Sciences)

– HTDV (Hawaii Technology Development Venture)

• Makai is starting to commercialize the software: – http://voyager.makai.com

– Downloadable demo on Windows, Linux, Mac (150 Mb)

– Stream data from Makai servers.

Common Operating Picture: advanced scientific visualization, GIS, and graphing, into common view.

Speed: Operate on standard PC at interactive rates;

Platform Independent: Windows, Linux, OSX;

Large Data: Handle large volumetric grids (> 5123) with multiple variables and with potentially unlimited time-steps;

Web-Enabled: Web-app for remote visualization.

Multiple layers / fuse and analyze data Multi-variable data fusion & analysis

+

> 150 different formats

Global geo-referenced

Imagery & Terrain/Bathy

Dynamic geo-referenced

Iso-surfaces & Volumes

GIS (vector & raster data)

& KML Objects

+

Global Geo-referenced View

Images + Terrain + Volume + Flow + Time

Product Goals

What’s the problem? First off: what is “4D”?

3D volumetric data: x, y, z, with some

attribute (e.g., temperature, wind

speed, etc.)

4D = 3D + time

Displaying 4D data can be

challenging:

Data and scene management

Georeferencing

Speed

Status Quo? Volumetric data not

handled adequately by:

Leading interactive 3D imagery/terrain

software (Google Earth)

Leading GIS software (… you know

who)

2D: Each pixel is a data sample

Who Cares? Anyone dealing with complex 3D &

GIS data. This includes:

Disaster Management

Ocean / Earth / Atmosphere Science

Geology / Mining / Oil & Gas

Environmental / Hydro Engineers

Military - Tactical Displays for

Situational Awareness

GIS Professionals with complicated 3D

problems … hopefully you!

2D: Each pixel is a data sample

Technical Challenge

Understanding large 4D data sets

Traditionally visualized using single 2D layers

Images & terrain are associated with pixels (X, Y

→ elevation/color) – i.e., 2D images

4D data are associated with voxels (X, Y, Z, time

→ multiple variables)

2D VIEWS

3D VIEWS

Render, faster, better:

Interactivity is achieved for very large data using:

Data tiling for time-varying 2D and 3D data (similar to what GE does for terrain);

Efficient compression algorithms;

Accelerated GPU rendering; and,

Multi-threading capabilities of modern processors.

Makai Voyager Main Screen

Loaded

Data

Visualizations

3D View

Tools

Simulation Clock / Status bar

Navigation

Controls

Legends Mouse Coordinate

Drag-n-Drop

Interface

Imagery

Terrain (Topos & Bathymetry)

3D Objects

LiDAR

Typical GIS formats (150+)

Web Maps

Volumetric, iso-surface & time varying data

Real-time streaming sensor & GPS data

What type of data can it handle?

Web Map Services (WMS) WMS streaming over internet (OpenStreetMaps data)

US Navy ocean model - surface elevation data for ocean (with contours).

Tsunami, Hurricane, Earthquake, Flood, Fire Contamination Plume, etc.

Tsunami model shows actual surface elevation – plot intersection with terrain

for inundation analysis.

Disaster Modeling

Chile Tsunami, 2010

NOAA Tsunami Warning Center Data

Triple slice graphs for simultaneous graphing of all major axes of a data set

Measurement, probing, cropping, graphing, snapshot & movie export tools

Analysis Tools

Point clouds visualized using level-of-detail.

Photo colored points or height coloring.

Massive LiDAR

Data Fusion Georeferenced LiDAR city scan over WMS maps & terrain data

Hydro plume models such as outfalls, toxic waste, oil spills, etc.

Realistic KML geometries, bathymetry, etc. for context.

Hydrodynamic / Hydrological Plumes

NOAA NDBC weather station observational data viewed in same 3D platform.

Live streaming over the internet using WMS.

Real-time Streaming of Sensor Data

Program opens within web browser on low powered laptop, tablet (e.g. iPad)

Server renders 3D visualizations, then sends images to client app.

Web Application

• Legacy and real-time sensor data: (land, air,

underwater) in space & time in common view.

• Increase surveillance efficiency: reduce op manpower – consolidate 2D flat views in a true 3D/4D visual environment.

• Data fusion from multi-sources: reducing decision-making and response time.

• Open architecture: can be expanded and customized easily.

• Simulation: threat situations for training of emergency responders

Sensors

Streamed

Processes, Integrates and

Visualizes Real-time Data

Public

Data

GIS

Situational

Awareness

For Field Units

3D

Viewer

Feed

back

Disaster Management

Anti-submarine warfare: In summer/fall 2010 Makai worked with Lockheed to

integrate 4D Visualization technology in the acoustic subsystem for the P3-C

Orion aircraft

Tactical Display: Integration with P3

Integrated acoustic propagation algorithms w/ 4D environmental data. Application for ocean, but could easily be modified for land sound abatement analysis.

http://voyager.makai.com

Duke Hartman Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc.

Thank you! Questions?

Duke.Hartman@Makai.com • (808) 259-8871

http://Voyager.Makai.com