c-Space: A Mobile Framework for the Visualization of Spatial-Temporal 3D Models

Three-dimensional data acquisition systems are becoming progressively more affordable, especially those that rely on photographic cameras and motion sensing input devices such as the Microsoft Kinect and PlayStation Eye. At the same time, mobile devices capable of rendering complex 3D graphics and with always-on broadband connectivity are becoming increasingly wide-spread. As a result, there is a potential opportunity for the development of novel mobile-oriented streaming mechanisms that can support the visualisation of large and rapid changing spatial-temporal datasets. In this work, we introduce a framework for the visualisation of spatial-temporal point cloud models on mobile devices. One advantage of our framework is that it eliminates the need to pre-downloading spatial-temporal models prior to their visualisation, hence avoiding the need of large storage requirements. Additionally, it streams spatial-temporal geometry using progressive levels of detail that are optimised to the mobile’s rendering capabilities and network bandwidth. The representation of different levels of detail is not bounded to a particular geometry reduction algorithm and the streaming process is totally transparent to the user, who perceives remote 3D models as local ones. To evaluate the relevance and impact of this study, a use case is also presented.