Atlas of Switzerland Goes Online and 3D—Concept, Architecture and Visualization Methods

Sieber and colleagues describe the development of the online 3D Atlas of Switzerland, treating a conventional 2D view as one configuration of a virtual-globe environment. Their account explains the Atlas Platform Switzerland workflow: a QGIS plug-in prepares data and metadata, servers distribute map tiles, and an osgEarth-based globe is combined with a web-based interface in a desktop application. The interface supports thematic-layer combinations, spatial and temporal navigation, searches, legends and supplementary information. The authors illustrate implemented visualization methods with population point clouds, airport charts and flight routes, extruded precipitation cells and buildings, and reconstructions of ice-sheet volumes. They also identify unresolved problems, including symbol scaling, overlapping features, misleading size perception, rendering artifacts and orientation inside transparent volumes. Content is organized into ten thematic categories, initially planned to contain only a few maps each. At the time of writing, the Windows launch was scheduled for spring 2016; Mac and tablet versions, storytelling elements, usability studies and further infrastructure development remained planned or ongoing.