PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
September 2016
677
From Virtual Globes to ArcheoGIS:
Determining the Technical and
Practical Feasibilities
Berdien De Roo, Britt Lonneville, Jean Bourgeois, and Philippe De Maeyer
Abstract
Web mapping and virtual globes are increasingly used to com-
municate 3D geospatial results to fellow researchers and the
public. The lack of analytical functionality nonetheless restricts
their utility in research, including archaeology. Integrating both
3D and analytical functionalities should result in a 4D archae-
ological GIS that can be used throughout the archaeological
workflow. This paper investigates the feasibility of extending
a virtual globe to such a user-friendly system. This involves a
technical assessment by comparing the characteristics of virtual
globes with user, data, functional, and organizational require-
ments. The prototypical implementation consequently uses
Cesium® as basis. This prototype served for the practical feasi-
bility evaluation. The usability test with two Flemish archaeo-
logical organizations has shown broad support for a low-thresh-
old 4D ArcheoGIS from its potential end-users. Although public
activities, analyses, and fieldwork preparations were mentioned
as application domains, extending the system to fit archaeologi-
cal workflows or a cyberinfrastructure is necessary.
Introduction
Thanks to the development of modern technology, geograph-
ic information is now no longer spread over the Internet by
means of static map images intended for skilled users but
through publicly accessible, interactive applications (Brovelli
et al.
, 2013; McCool, 2014; Minghini, 2013). These web map
applications are increasingly taking the form of true web-
based Geographic Information Systems (
GIS
) through which
users can integrate, manage, analyze, visualize and commu-
nicate their geographic data. The growing creation and use
of 3D geographic data, which originate from widespread 3D
sensors, in turn ask for efficient ways to distribute 3D geo-
graphic information over the Internet. Because virtual globes
give 3D representations of the Earth and offer the opportunity
to display and investigate geographic data in a realistic envi-
ronment, they can be considered to be advanced 3D geoview-
ers or geobrowsers (Brovelli
et al.
, 2013; Minghini, 2013; von
Schwerin
et al.
, 2013).
Virtual globes’ intuitive way of interacting (e.g., zooming
and rotating) makes the exploration of complex geospatial
data straightforward, even for non-experts or people with
limited computer knowledge (Butler, 2006; Lonneville
et al.
,
2015). Because of this user-friendliness, virtual globes are
used in a multiplicity of disciplines and especially in projects
where crowdsourcing or public awareness is involved (Hunt-
er
et al.
, 2015; Minghini, 2013; Resch
et al.
, 2014; Stensgaard
et al.
, 2009). The range of potential application domains
becomes even larger because some virtual globes enable the
integration of subsurface and/or temporal data. Because the
emphasis mainly remains visualization, this spectrum of pos-
sible applications has yet to narrow. If compared to traditional
GIS
and other 2D web mapping applications, practically no
analytical functionalities are available in virtual globes. The
open-source software trend can nevertheless contribute to
resolve this omission. Successful extensions of open-source
virtual globes in, for example, the domain of geoprocessing
and environmental monitoring (GeoJModelBuilder;
https://
sourceforge.net/projects/geopw/
) (Zhang and Yue, 2013) and
public safety and planning (Gaea+;
/
en/
) (XLAB;
/
) support this
supposition. These implemented analytical functionalities
can perform even better by using virtual globes that are based
on the Web Graphic Library (WebGL;
/
)
(Resch
et al.
, 2014). This increasingly popular group of globes
does not need additional plug-ins and takes advantage of
hardware-accelerated graphics functionalities (Jackson, 2014).
Similarly, in archaeology, the geographical character of the
data makes web mapping and virtual globes increasingly used
media to communicate archaeological research results for both
fellow researchers and the public (De Roo
et al.
, 2015; Kansa
et al.
, 2011; Lonneville
et al.
, 2015; McCool, 2014; Wagten-
donk
et al.
, 2009). The use of Google Earth
™
and other virtual
globes is promising because they are easily understandable,
low-cost and allow the integration of both the third and fourth
- temporal - dimension (Lonneville
et al.
, 2015). Although a
number of those applications include splendid visualizations
(McCool, 2014), the lack of analytical functionalities makes
them unsuitable for professional use throughout the entire
archaeological workflow. On the other hand, when analyti-
cal capabilities are provided, the consideration of the third
dimension, which is inextricable from archaeological data, is
often restricted or even ignored (Breunig and Zlatanova, 2011;
von Schwerin
et al.
, 2013; Wheatley and Gillings, 2002).
The current research project attempts to integrate both 3D
data and analytical functionalities in a 4D archaeological
GIS
.
Such a 4D
GIS
, in which 3D and temporal data can be simulta-
neously handled, will contribute to archaeological research by
facilitating the gathering of new insights and the building of
well-founded interpretations. Taking into account previously
gathered user and organizational requirements (De Roo
et al.
,
2013; De Roo
et al.
, 2015), a virtual globe is considered as the
basis for such an application. In addition to their strength in
visualizing spatial data, virtual globes have proven their intu-
itive nature and capabilities in both professional
Berdien De Roo, Britt Lonneville, and Philippe De Maeyer are
with the Department of Geography, Ghent University, Krijg-
slaan 281 (building S8), 9000 Ghent, Belgium, +32 (0)9 264 47
00 (
).
Jean Bourgeois is with the Department of Archaeology, Ghent
University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing
Vol. 82, No. 9, September 2016, pp. 677–685.
0099-1112/16/677–685
© 2016 American Society for Photogrammetry
and Remote Sensing
doi: 10.14358/PERS.82.9.677
