Visualization of geoscience data on Google Earth: Development of a data converter system for seismic tomographic models

We have developed a visualization system for multidisciplinary geoscience data, which visualizes seismic tomographic models, geochemical datasets of rocks, and geomagnetic field models by exploiting Google Earth technologies. As Google Earth supports the ad hoc language, Keyhole Markup Language (KML), we have developed software packages to convert datasets of different fields of geosciences into KML files; we call these software packages “KML generators.” The software consists of two components: the engines of the KML generator and the user interface (UI). We provide both desktop and web UI applications for the KML generators. The web applications are now available (http://www.jamstec.go.jp/pacific21/google_earth). The KML generators provide a graphical UI and a flexible visualization scheme that enable both expert and nonexpert users to handle various geoscience data. In this paper, we describe a visualization schema of seismic tomography on Google Earth. The KML generator for the tomography enables us to display vertical and horizontal cross sections of the model on Google Earth in three-dimensions (3D), which can be useful for understanding the structure of the Earth's interior. In our visualization system, with multiple KML files produced from the KML generators, various geoscience data can be visualized with the same 3D graphics. This contribution can promote cross-disciplinary studies and provide new insights into the Earth’s dynamics.