Spatio-Temporal Process Visualization For Marine Hydrological Scale Data

Traditional GIS is mainly applied to land and its study area is just within the domain of three dimensions. A major characteristic of ocean is its spatial and temporal changing, therefore the study of marine spatial and temporal changing process is an important aspect of marine GIS. This thesis breaks through the limitations of three dimensions in traditional GIS by introducing the time dimension into the study of spatial and temporal process. Spatial and temporal process can be observed by human's eyes, so it is very important to develop the methods to realize the visualization. This thesis studies the spatial and temporal process visualization about marine hydrological scale data. Main contents are as following :1. This thesis explains the importance and necessity to study the methods to realize the spatial and temporal process visualization and introduces the research progress both in domestic and abroad.2. This thesis introduces the relationships between time space and process, conceptions about marine spatial and temporal process, classifies the spatial and temporal visualization process according to dimensions in space, brings forth the conceptions of Point Process, Line Process, Surface Process and Volume Process, explains the principles of these methods and the ways to realize them.3. Interpolation which is a key technology to realize spatial and temporal visualization is briefly introduced in this thesis. Spatial and temporal Interpolation is brought forth in this part.4. By using MaXplorer which is an application platform of marine remote sensing and taking water temperature data and altimeter data for example, the author realizes the visualization of Point Process, Line Process, Surface Process and Volume Process.