Digital Visualization and Simulation of the Forest Landscape at the Shanping Ecological Scientific Garden in the Liukuei Area, Taiwan

Abstract

Forest landscape visualization involves the rendering of realistic or abstract images that represent an underlying dataset of forest environments. The dataset may be the product of physical measurements of the real world, or it can be the product of a computational model. Visual images are regarded as being relatively easily interpreted by humans and help people understand complex data and processes. This study used a 3D computer cartographic technique to compile data of the terrain, buildings, roads, and plants in the core area of the Shanping Ecological Scientific Garden (SESG) in the Liukuei Research Center, southwestern Taiwan. SketchUp software was used to build 3D object models and assign allocation to the objects based on a geographic survey. Keyhole Markup Language and Google Earth were also used to generate digitized virtual scenery images. With the aid of the forest landscape simulation system we developed, people could quite easily visit the virtual world of the SESG at home. Finally, 2 scenarios of nursery management in the SESG were designed in this study. It is expected that the 3D simulation technique developed in this study can be utilized in forest recreational areas to design scenarios and elicit public discussion on landscape planning.