Three-dimensional representation of geographic data in a web-based GIS

Presenting geographic data in a web environment has been a long standing problem. For many years the low performance of web browsers has limited the visualization of spatial data to only two dimensions. More recently, the introduction of open standards for 3D acceleration of web applications sparked the emergence of new methods of presenting threedimensional data in a web browser without using third-party extensions. However, these solutions are relatively young and not yet fit for use in a production environment. This work presents a method of three-dimensional representation of geospatial data in the context of two-dimensional map. The presented system uses the well-proven OpenLayers library as well as HTML5 and WebGL technologies to display three-dimensional geospatial data in the web without the need for additional web browser plug-ins. The presented application may thus constitute a viable solution until the more robust solutions mature.