Combining Synchronous and Asynchronous Collaboration within 3D City Models.pdfVIP

Combining Synchronous and Asynchronous Collaboration within 3D City Models Jan Klimke and J¨urgen D¨ollner Hasso-Plattner-Institute, University of Potsdam, Prof.-Dr.-Helmert-Str. 2-3, Potsdam, Germany {jan.klimke,juergen.doellner}@hpi.uni-potsdam.de Abstract. This paper presents an approach for combining spatially dis- tributed synchronous and asynchronous collaboration within 3D city models. Software applications use these models as additional communica- tion medium to facilitate communication of georeferenced and geospatial information. Collaboration tools should support both the communication with other collaborators and their awareness of the current collaboration context. To support collaborative knowledge construction and gather- ing, we have designed a collaboration system to facilitate (a) creation of annotations that have 3D references to the virtual 3D city model and (b) collection information about the context in which these annotations are created. Our approach supports synchronous collaboration in con- nection with the creation of non volatile, precisely georeferenced units of information allow for a comprehensible form of cooperation in spatially distributed settings. Storage and retrieval of this information is provided through a Web Feature Service, which eases integration of collabora- tion data into existing applications. We further introduce a visualization technique that integrates annotations as complex structured data into the 3D visualization. This avoids media breaks and disruptions in work- ing processes and creates a spatial coherence between annotation and annotated