Official Survey Data and Virtual Worlds—Designing an Integrative and Economical Open Source Production Pipeline for xR-Applications in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

摘要

How can official survey data be prepared for virtual worlds? For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), these steps can still be very time-consuming. This article is vital for these companies, since its aim is to create a practical open source solution for everyday work based on up-to-date research. Developing integrated Virtual Reality applications for geographic information systems VRGIS today, we are facing following problems: georeferenced data are currently available in many different data formats. Often there is a lack of common standards, user-friendliness and possibilities for process automation, just as the correct georeferencing in virtual worlds is an open field. It is shown that open source platforms can offer very interesting, practical and economical solutions. Following the method of structured and focused comparison according to George and Bennett, fourteen current software solutions are presented as examples. The applications can be classified according to the taxonomy of Anthes et al., with regard to output devices and software development. A comprehensive networking matrix for applied interactive technologies will be introduced for SME partner searches in related software developments. The evaluation criteria of integration capability, operability without programming knowledge and cost-effectiveness allow for a subsequent discussion and evaluation. Finally, this paper presents a simple proprietary and open-source software solution for small and medium-sized enterprises. Map illustrations and methods for georeferencing are explained. Exemplary digital products and data formats are presented at the Landesamt für Digitalisierung, Breitband und Vermessung (LDBV) in Bavaria.