Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1 Examples of current autostereoscopic digital displays (based on various websites of the
display manufacturers; see also Opel and Bergmann
2009
)
Lenticular (head-tracked):
SeeFront, SeeReal, Free2C
Lenticular (fix):
Alioscopy, xyZ, Spatial View 3DeeSlide and 3DeeScreen
Barrier stripes (switchable):
Miracube, DTI Virtual Window, Dimen C190S/C190X,
Free2C_digital, Hitachi Wooo H001, Sharp
Barrier stripes (not switchable):
Tridelity, 3DInternational
2.3 Digital Autostereoscopic Displays
There exists a series of autostereoscopic displays on the market. Some of the major
products are listed below (June 2010, Table
1
). The 3DeeSlide of Spatial View
Inc. in Dresden consists of a removable lens holder and a special lenticular lens
foil to be mounted on an iPhone or iPod and has been available since autumn 2010
(
www.SpatialView
).
3 Solid Landscape Embodiments
Landscape models allow ''simultaneous landscape viewing'' of both the whole
embodiment and of small details in a totally interactive way. Also for laymen
landscape models are easily legible. Instead of a flat map where one has to
interpret contour lines and relief shading to perceive the third dimension, a
landscape model allows spontaneous derivation of topographic aspects like terrain
steepness. It is easier to compare height values in distant parts of a physical
landscape model than in distant parts of a flat map (Rase
2012
).
Solid landscape embodiments are multi-user models. They give the user a true-
3D impression of the depicted situation. Hence, they are an alternative to printed
paper maps and digital maps, but they will never replace them.
The largest machine-produced physical terrain model ever made (in this case
from a digital data source) is a model of entire province of British Columbia,
displaying the landscape at a scale of approximately 1:99,000 (12.2 9 22.6 m).
Since June 2006 it is on display as the centrepiece of the ''BC Experience''
Geographic Discovery Center in the historic Crystal Garden in Victoria, British
Columbia (
www.STM_USA
).
In summer 2006 an incidental discovery of a huge landscape model in China
was made in Google Earth. This model at a scale of 1:500 and a size of approx-
imately 900 m by 700 m is situated near Huangyangtan, about 35 kms away from
the town of Yinchuan, capital of the Autonomous Region of Ningxia in the
northern part of China. The model with man-made snow peaks and glacial lakes
represents a region about 2400 km west Huangyangtan, in the border area of Aksai
Chin, neighbouring the disputed frontier to Pakistan and India. It is supposed to
