Location based services for the underground – showcasing a multimodal visualization approach for underground infrastructure

Abstract

This research focuses on a holistic approach to implement a seamless transition from traditional virtual map visualization to virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) modes: The approach integrates our work in a single mobile application for the visualization of semantic 3D city data available for multiple mobile operating systems (OS). The developed application, previously presented by Santana et al. 2017 has been extended to include information from underground structures such as water and electricity networks. The focus of this research lies on the visualization and interaction aspect of underground infrastructure objects on-site trough AR and VR modes. Multiple visualization techniques have been applied and evaluated such as adaptive visibility and transparency, virtual hole creation, and scale dependent coloring of objects.