From: STGG8004@IRUCCVAX.UCC.IE (Darius Bartlett)
Subject: Re: 3D GIS Applications
Date: 3 Mar 92 15:39:00 GMT
Message-ID: <01GH7O94JAA80000NI@IRUCCVAX.UCC.IE>


Crossposted from comp.infosystems.gis


>With all the recent discussions of true 3 dimensional GIS, I thought this
>would be a good time to ask about current (or hopefull) applications of 3D.

- One of the most obvious (to my mind at least), and already hinted at by Bill
Bushing, is applications of GIS to coastal and oceanographic studies. These
environments are highly dynamic, and can only, IMHO, be studied (and,
hopefully, understood) through working in three spatial dimensions (Time,
as a fourth dimension, is also important but that perhaps complicates
things too much at this point!). Bill mentioned the movement in x,y and
z of marine organisms. Marine sediments, energy paths, etc., also move
vertically as well as horizontally, and the volumentric characteristics
water bodies are also often required in "geographical" studies.

- Although not a meteorologist, I would have thought that atmospheric studies
(looking at cloud behaviour, air body movements, frontal systems, hurricanes,
or what-have-you) would similarly need to operate in three dimensions.

- Quaternary science, palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, and geomorphology
could also be willing takers of true 3-D GIS. For example, for looking
at x,y and z distribution of pollen taxa within a peat deposit; for looking
at facies variation, sediment distribution, etc., within a modern or ancient
delta system; for analyzing glaci-fluvial landforms or drift deposits spatially
and temporally (meant here in terms of relative placement rather than in
absolute terms)

- Cave systems, limestone (karst) terrain studies (particularly where
limestone hydrology is concerned) would also be classic 3-D users I imagine;

- And of course, there are all the "usual" geological applications - oil
or ore-body studies, stratigraphy, structural geology, etc.

DB.