Cognition-Based Augmented Reality Visualization of the Geospatial Data

The achievements of computer graphics have supported the developments of augmented reality (AR), a technique of an automatic connection of additional information generated from a computer model to reality, which is offered to enhance or augment the cognition to the real world of a user. Especially due to the developments in hardware in the recent years not only visualization but also interaction with these environments has become possible. Outdoor AR system integrates the presentation of three-dimensional objects out of a database on site in a Geographical information system (GIS). It not only expands a GIS to the third dimension, also reacts to the current position and viewing field of the user. From the perspective of the theory of spatial cognition and visualization, the paper puts forward there search contents and basic structure of spatial data AR visualization by analyzing the research status and related research works, comparing there exists frameworks. Furthermore it sums up the key technologies in detail and proposes the improved approaches. By a case study, it verifies the procedure of AR visualization of geospatial data. Lastly, it discusses the significant applications and development prospects of AR visualization of geospatial data.