Using VRML as an interface to the 3D data warehouse

Abstract

In its current state, VRML does not provide support for interaction and on-line access to databases, even though these are two fundamental issues for business applications. We have created GOOVI-3D, a prototype system that provides access and interaction with a 3-D spatial database over the WWW. GOOVI-3D is implemented in Java and VRML using CORBA for accessing the data warehouse. In an urban planning application, GOOVI-3D is used to interact with 3-D models of the city of Frankfurt. Based on the experience with GOOVI-3D, we propose two lightweight extensions of VRML that can make the development of business applications much easier: An integrated name dictionary management and a SQL node.