Swii2, a HTML5/WebGL Application for cellular automata debris flows simulation

Abstract

We here present the preliminary release of Swii2, a web application for debris flows simulation. The core of the system is Sciddica-k0, the latest release of the Sciddica debris flow Cellular Automata family, already successfully applied to the 1997 Albano lake (Italy) debris flow. In Swii2, the Sciddica-k0 model runs server-side, while a Web 2.0 application controls the simulation. The graphical user interface is based on HTML5 and JavaScript, which permits to have a fully portable application. The client is able to control the basic Sciddica-k0 simulation functionalities thanks to asynchronous callbacks to the server. Simulation results are visualized in real time by means of a 3D interactive visualization system based on WebGL, a cross-platform application program interface used to create 3D graphics in Web browsers. Eventually, user-oriented cooperative services, which desktop applications in general do not offer, are conjectured and discussed. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.