Smart and physically-based navigation in 3D geovirtual environments

This paper describes an approach for smart and physically-based navigation, which aims at supporting effective and intuitive user interactions with 3D geovirtual environments (GeoVEs). The approach is based on two aligned concepts: 1) All navigation techniques are controlled by constraints that ensure user orientation and avoid "getting lost" situations. 2) All navigation techniques are handled in a time-coherent way achieving steady, continuous user movements using a physically-based motion model. Based on these concepts, we demonstrate several ways to improve commonly used navigation techniques for geovirtual environments.