Virtual Reality and Distributed GIS

Introduction
Geographic information systems (GIS) are often referred to as computer systems capable of collecting, storing, manipulating, and displaying geographically referenced information, (i.e. data identified according to their locations). Basically, GIS depicts spatially distributed data as they would be shown on a map, a two dimensional surface, viewed from nadir via a high platform, with spatial objects represented by a mosaic of colors and patterns. The reason for the importance of GIS is that GIS technology is to geographic analysis what the microscope, telescope and computers have been to other sciences. GIS could therefore be the catalyst needed to dissolve the regional-systematic and human-physical dichotomies that have long plagued geography and other disciplines, which use spatial information. GIS integrates spatial and other kinds of information within a single system thus offering a consistent framework for analyzing geographic data. GIS makes connections between activities based on geographic proximity suggesting or showing new insights and explanations. The linkage between spatial and non-spatial, which often seems so obscure and distant, now makes more sense thanks to GIS. This in turn can be vital for understanding and managing resources.

As with any technology, even GIS cannot stand the test of time, and strains have begun to show on the “Core GIS”. The reason is that users have started bombarding GIS with more complex problems that conventional GIS finds hard to solve let alone interpret. One such example is the way current GIS visualizes terrain, upon which most GIS analyses are carried out. The land surface is undulating, objects viewed are three-dimensional and have characteristic structures that appear smaller in the distance, and features are located above, below and around the observer. Unfortunately all GIS simulations are visualized over a 2D representation of the terrain (spatial data). Recently, the 3D GIS capabilities added to GIS software have added more freedom to visualize the global and spatial data, but the fact remains that in the actual world humans view these features much differently. One such technology, which promises much more freedom and realism to the user, is Virtual Reality. It fully engages all the user’s senses and provides full interactivity and that too, in real time. Virtual environments provide greater immersion into the world or environment of scientific data, thereby enhancing the researcher's perception of its features and forms.