Cloud and Mobile Web-Based Graphics and Visualization

Abstract

Cloud computing is rapidly becoming one of the most prevailing computing platforms. At the same time, the Web browser has become an application platform. Mobile+Cloud, the combination of mobile devices and cloud-based computing is changing how users produce, consume, and use computing resources. With the introduction and penetration of HTML5, and, in particular, its visual capabilities in the form of the Canvas element, the implementation of high-quality browser-based graphics has become a reality. Indeed, WebGL offers capabilities comparable to the traditional (desktop) OpenGL utilizing in browser computing resources. It is now feasible to have high performance graphics and visualization "in your palm, " utilizing a mobile device's browser as the graphics platform as well as the front end interface and the display. In the near future, graphics'"heavy lifting" on a cloud-based platform, coupled with a mobile client will afford high-performance graphics for most users most of the time. We argue that this will become the most common platform for computer graphics and visualization in the not too-distant future. We further argue that such platforms will democratize the use of advanced graphics and visualization and will revolutionize analysis and display of the growing amount of data we all face every day. The goals of this survey are to make the reader familiar with the underlying technologies that make this possible, including(but not limited to) cloud-based computing, mobile computing, their combination, HTML5 and the Canvas element, the Web Gland other graphics libraries, and general Web-based graphics and visualization.