Dynamic visualization of high resolution GIS dataset on multi-panel display using ArcGIS engine

Geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) have been used extensively in many land surveying and natural resources management applications. With ever-advancing technology, geospatial data collection is done at increasingly wide extent and finer resolution. A single remotely-sensed image and other raster data can easily exceed a gigabyte (GB), which further challenges the storage, manipulation, and visualization of such data even on high-end computer systems. One approach to processing and handling display of these huge datasets is through clustered computing and rendering. In this project, we proposed and implemented a multi-panel visualization mechanism that allows dynamic visualization of large, high resolution GIS datasets using ESRI® ArcGIS® Engine. The multi-panel display system is composed of a seven-personal computer (PC) (or seven-node) cluster. Six PCs (referred to as, render nodes or client nodes) display output forming the tiled display and the seventh PC (master node) serves as the master control. The client nodes are controlled by the master node to achieve synchronous visualization of GIS data rendered in the ESRI® ArcScene® environment, which is installed on each of the client nodes. The system is capable of all of the navigation functions offered in the ArcScene® environment and it can be easily expanded to include more nodes and display tiles. The detailed implementation strategy and the latest visualization techniques are discussed in this paper.