Web3D Visualization of High Detail and Complex 3D-mesh Caves Models

This paper presents the novel architecture of a web3D server that stores 3D models with different levels of detail and complexity that enables the interactive visualization and navigation in a web browser and the determination of detailed geomorphological structures of an underground cave. We surveyed an underground cave using a Terrestrial Laser Scanning to acquire a high-level detail point cloud with millions of points. This data allowed generating a high detail 3D-mesh to represent the surface model of the cave chamber, which can be important in studying geomorphological features. The web3D server uses a simplified version of the cave with about 250 thousand triangles that enables client applications to navigate and interact with this simplified model in a Web browser. The more detailed and complex model of the cave with millions of triangles is also stored in the web3D server. This model is used for the identification of geomorphological structures. It provides topological and geometrical information that is implemented in an octree data structure for the design of efficient algorithms to determine important speleothems and stored in a database to make it possible to work with big data models that can exceed the computer´s memory.