Patent ID: 8638330
Filing Date: 2014-01-28
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. A computer-based geographical information system for approximating terrain data representing a water surface for transmission over a network to a client device for display, comprising: a memory that stores terrain data; a mesh generator that converts the terrain data into an initial water surface mesh and an initial water bottom mesh, wherein the initial water surface mesh is tessellated with primitives that include vertices having data representing the water surface, and wherein the initial water bottom mesh is tessellated with primitives that include vertices having data representing the water bottom; a mesh simplifier that simplifies the initial water surface mesh and the initial water bottom mesh to obtain a simplified water surface mesh and a simplified water bottom mesh, wherein the mesh simplifier simplifies the initial water surface mesh while accounting for water/land boundaries, and wherein the mesh simplifier simplifies the initial water bottom mesh while accounting for geographic features; and a surface inversion corrector that corrects at least one of the simplified water surface mesh and simplified water bottom mesh to avoid having a water bottom surface incorrectly appear above a corresponding water surface relative to a viewpoint during rendering for display, wherein the surface inversion corrector: