What is the difference between SuperMap Earth and Google Earth?
Firstly, Google Earth is a C/S application, which needs downloading and installing before using, while SuperMap Earth is a WebApp, can be used after loading through internet. Secondly, SuperMap Earth is designed to be a demonstration platform for data of users, SuperMap Earth supports image, terrain, oblique photogrammetry model, BIM model, detailed model, point cloud, vector point/line/polygon. After using SuperMap Online or SuperMap iServer to publish customized services, SuperMap Earth can access those services, so no need to construct professional 3D web GIS, letting users deploy on the internet and display model data.
1. How to publish own data as services that can be accessed by SuperMap Earth?
1.1 Data types supported by SuperMap Earth
SuperMap Earth is constructed based on SuperMap iClient3D for WebGL (No-plugin 3D client side), therefore, the data formats supported by no-plugin 3D client side are also supported by SuperMap Earth. Data formats can be divided into the following categories according to its layer type.
Image layer: satellite image layer under cache format *.sci3d
errain layer: TIN terrain layer under cache format *.sct. Comparing with ordinary terrain, TIN terrain is smaller, better for data transmitting and loading on the internet.
S3M layer: full name ‘Spatial 3D Model’, which is a 3D tiling cache used for network transmitting, whose format ending with *.s3m. S3M is compatible with 2D/3D oblique photogrammetry model, BIM model, detailed model, point cloud, vector point/line/polygon, etc. S3M is the most important data format for SuperMap iClient 3D for WebGL and SuperMap Earth. The operation to generate S3M data is very simple, click ‘Generate S3M data’ in SuperMap iDesktop, then the 3D tiling cache with *.osgb can be directly converted into S3M data.
The process of publishing data can be shown as below. The first 3 steps are mainly completed by SuperMap iDesktop, detailed operations can be referred with iDesktop help document.
Process of data publishing
The forth step ‘service publishing’ can be done by SuperMap Online or SuperMap iServer, they are distinguished in:
The Services published by SuperMap Online is accessed by internet, administered by SuperMap Online, users can upload, publish, access personal data services; can access public services provided by SuperMap Online on offline mode.
SuperMap iServer is more suitable for users with higher security requirement, SuperMap Earth can also access data service through local area network.
Clear an example using S3M data published by SuperMap Online
After configuring workspace of SuperMap iDesktop:
Step 1: Compress data as a *.zip package, which includes: 1. S3M model file, 2. smwu workspace 3. png thumbnail 4. scp configuration file.
Contents in ZIP package
Step 2: Log in SuperMap account, click ‘upload data’ to upload zip package to SuperMap Online.
Step 3: Upload success
Operations to upload
After upload completion, click add layer in SuperMap Earth. Then in the ‘my content’ ribbon, we can see the service, click thumbnail to fly to the 3D scene.
SuperMap cloud service
Note: Currently, 500MB space is provided to each registered user on SuperMap Online, users can upload, publish own data service without any charge, then view the model through SuperMap Earth.
Besides the functions mentioned above, SuperMap Earth also has functions of measuring, locating, labeling, rendering setting.
SuperMap Earth Address: www.supermapol.com/earth
Satellite Tracking + Big Data GIS Application in Real-time Ship-controlling>
Big Data - Signaling Data Makes Cities Smarter>
