Interactive Visualization of Diverse Datasets Using 3D Tile Point Clouds

Abstract

VISAGE (Visualization for Integrated Satellite, Airborne, and Ground-based data Exploration) aims to provide visualization and analytic capabilities for diverse datasets in an interactive user interface. Proof-of-concept use cases are centered around the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission’s Ground Validation (GV) program, which provides a wealth of intensive, coincident observations of atmospheric phenomena from a wide variety of ground-based, airborne and satellite instruments. These data have diverse temporal and spatial scales, variables, and data formats and organization. Key technical challenges include: 3D data rendering and visualization of multiple diverse datasets on a web-based platform 3D data interrogation via map user interface Temporal alignment of data with diverse time scales and resolutions Computations on data fields across instruments and platforms To address these issues, the VISAGE project is working with cloud-native serverless technologies to render data as 3D Tile Point Clouds for display in the Cesium geospatial 3D global mapping platform.