3DLT Extension
Because GIS software platforms provide powerful tools to manage, edit, and visualize spatial data, a software extension to ESRI ArcGIS has been developed to support 3D field analysis of geological features and terrain using laser rangefinders. The program combines many of the capabilities of the UTD Cybermapping program and the GCS GanFeld program, integrating the rangefinder data with GPS, and implementing it in the ArcGIS environment. The 3DLT extension operates the laser rangefinder from the ArcGIS environment (Fig. 1) and in real time displays the data in 2D and 3D views as points. The ability to display the work in progress in the 3D ArcScene viewer allows the geologist to monitor his or her work, as it is being captured, on top of a previously loaded digital elevation model (DEM) or other 3D model of the terrain or outcrop. There is the ability to assign feature names to the point attribute table while capturing the data, as well as the ability to convert the points to lines and polygons as the outcrop or terrain are being scanned. These abilities provide real-time feedback to the geologist as he or she sketches the features.
|
