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Results and Discussion

7.1       Introduction

This chapter presents the application that was produced for the dissertation with the aid of screen shots and describes its features. The application is evaluated and immediate future work and other possibilities are then discussed.

7.2              Presenting the Application

The final application is presented in terms of screen shots and the features currently available in the application, as results of this study.

The following features are now possible in the application:

1. Refer to Historical text-based information on various parts of a particular structure (figure 7.1 and also see appendix 3 User Manual No. 6),
2. Refer to Architectural text-based information on various parts of a particular structure (see appendix 3 User Manual No.7),
3. Refer to photographs on various parts of a particular structure (see appendix 3 User Manual No.8 and 9),
4. Refer and compare between multiple text and images (figure 7.4 and also see appendix 3 User Manual No. 14 and 15),
5. Refer to all images available for a particular structure (figure 7.2 and also see appendix 3 User Manual No.13),
6. Refer to other text-based information (which is structurally unassociated e.g. Name, address, recording organizations etc.) (figure 7.3 and also see appendix 3 User Manual No.12),
7. Examine various parts of a particular structure individually and in complete detail (figure 7.1 and also see appendix 3 User Manual No. 10),
8. Find distances by selecting two different points (actual, and on all three axes) (see appendix 3 User Manual No. 11).

This dissertation, thus proves that it is possible to create an application which integrates various different file formats and links them together under one canopy, besides allowing a simple interface to easily and quickly retrieve the required information. Currently, only one database (St. George’s Church) has been created as an example to demonstrate the features of the application. It is only a matter of time that other structures’ databases are created for allowing complete documentation, archiving and reference through this application. Furthermore this application can be further developed to support advanced functionality as discussed in section 7.4.

7.3       Evaluation (Top)

As discussed in Chapter 3, sections 3.4 and 3.9, it was decided that successful implementation of five use cases out of the proposed seven and good responses from the usability test results would determine the success of the application. To restate the seven use cases:

1. Navigate in the virtual world
2. Find distance between two selected points
3. Examine selected part of model
4. View material information on selected part of model
5. View images
6. Search for textual information by category
7. Resize viewports

From these, the first six have been successfully implemented with minor changes and additions. The following changes and enhancements were made:

1. Instead of only the material information, complete architectural details were made available.
2. Automatic display of text and images while navigating was provided as an alternative way to retrieve information.
3. Facility to view images by selection as well as thumbnail image view instead of sequential viewing was provided. This was considered as a much better option for viewing all the available images and also provided an interface for viewing additional images (e.g. orthographic projections).
4. Facility to view text (historical and architectural) by selection and separation of other text based information.
5. Provision for User Manual, About and Contact facility.

Usability tests also gave positive results and are discussed in detail in the earlier chapter on Testing in section 6.3.

It took a number of visits to various organizations and searching for the details required to create the database for the selected structure (St. George’s Church flats – details of various recording organizations and type of document available with each is listed in Chapter 5, section 5.5). This activity proved the underlying objective about essential data being stored separately thus justifying the need for creating this dissertation application.

Considering these factors, the application can be said to have more than covered the requirements and met its objectives.

7.4              Future development of the application (Top)

This is only the beginning of a very large archiving system based on 3D real-time rendering technology. This application can be extended by addition of many more features and hence has a very big potential. Further research can be carried out in the field of automating the various processes in creating a database for easier and faster content creation, making it available on the Internet for people with high speed connections, optimization and compression of geometry and related data for faster loading and display of the archived content. The following list enumerates the future advancement possibilities and is only limited by imagination:

1. Walk through exterior as well as interior spaces.
2. Collision detection and terrain following for more realistic navigation experience.
3. Very high detailed model (no LOD) in Navigation Viewport to facilitate accurate dimension queries (as the standard pc configuration increases).
4. Powerful dimension queries giving information like grid location, mean sea level, area by selection of points and allowing selection of midpoints/ perpendiculars/ endpoints/ center of curves etc.
5. Make it available as an applet to refer data over the Internet, which would require high-speed connection.
6. Improved and easy browsing of images with thumbnails.
7. Orthographic projection viewport, with interactive cross-section generating facility (allowing user to specify the cutting plane).
8. Navigator’s current location in top view.
9. Advanced examination viewport (constraints on each axis rotation, buttons for rotate, zoom and translate & facility to get back to original position, zoom extents etc.).
10. A specialized editor to facilitate quick and easy content creation (e.g. cross referencing).
11. Faster loading of big files (conversion to *.j3d or binary files instead of VRML).
12. Direct export facility from 3DSMAX to the required format for faster content creation.
13. Use of threads to allow better organization of file loading sequence and progress bar indicators for long actions.
14. Further organization and optimisation of database to support audio and video formats.
15. Keyword search in all text based information
16. Addition of audio feedback (playing the text information and any related musical pieces, speeches etc.) and video playback support.

Note: Detailed analysis on the second and third stage of this application has been covered in chapter 3.  

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