Extending Spatial Data Infrastructures 3D by Geoprocessing Functionality - 3D Simulations in Disaster Management and environmental Research

The quite new Web Processing Service (WPS) specification of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is increasing the value of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) by offering a standard for the actual processing of spatial data. The interface is already used in a range of projects, but up to now mainly in connection with 2D spatial data. In this paper we want to demonstrate that the standard can also be applied in a 3D environment which increases the potential of such 3DSDIs. We implemented two use cases of disaster management and environmental monitoring and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of applying geoprocessing functionality in 3D. The scenarios were integrated and visualized in a Web3D Server (W3DS) viewer and demonstrate how useful it is to present the outcomes of such simulations in the third dimension.