KML Urban Scene Builder 2008
With increasing challenges to our military from counter-insurgent combat and intelligence gathering situations comes the need to build realistic scenes of urban environments similar to those used in computer games. The KML Urban Scene Builder enables users to build such 3D urban environments quickly and easily.
Using a custom extension to Google Earth, users first trace an outline of the exterior walls of buildings. Next they provide a small number of features about each building. The KML Urban Scene Builder then automatically generates a 3D model approximating each building's shape and look. Scenery for large urban areas can be generated easily and quickly.
In order for the scenery to be as realistic as possible, a user must provide a minimal amount of information about each building. For example, a user might specify that a building is an apartment building, an office building, or a mall. A user can also specify the height of each building to ensure that the 3D aspect of the scene is realistic.
After all the information has been defined by a user, the KML Urban Scene Builder chooses models that will best portray each building. Once the urban 3D scenery has been generated, a user can view it using Google Earth.
The KML Urban Scene Builder builds 3D urban environments using a combination of the Google Earth interface, KML 2.2, and the Lua scripting language. KML is based on XML, using a tag-based structure with nested elements and attributes.
Jeff Winship, Tom Pytleski, Michael Jeffery, Daniel Briggs
