Integrating a Legacy 2D GIS with 3D Geographic Simulators through View and Query Integration

We developed a generic application framework for integrating a legacy 2D geographic information system (GIS) with 3D visual geographic simulation systems. Our framework provides a set of 3D visual components required for the development of a new interactive 3D visual geographic simulation integrated with GIS functions. Our integration framework provides two fundamental integration mechanisms, i.e., view integration and query integration mechanisms. The view integration maps the 2D rendering of a legacy 2D GIS on the surface of the 3D geography used in a 3D visual Geographic simulator and dispatches every event on the geography surface to the original 2D GIS. The query integration automatically converts each 3D simulation result that is shown as a set of highlighted regions on the surface of the geography to the corresponding regional query to the 2D GIS. Our framework integrates 3D Geographic simulation systems with legacy 2D GIS using interactive and visual environments.