Integrating GIS and 3D Visualization for Dynamic Landscape Representation in Canada's National Parks

In today's world of multidisciplinary approaches and intensive information exchange, communication of geographic predictions and observations are not strictly limited to the community of Earth scientists. More often it is necessary to communicate these results to the scientist from other, non-related fields, policy makers, share and stake holders and the general public. Given that, humans perceive and absorb visualised information more effectively than numbers alone, the integration of visualization with geographic information science is an emerging tool for geographers to communicate the results of complex geographic models or observations in a novel and visually attractive way. In particular, the 3D approach to visualization, when appropriate, approximates the dimension of human environmental experience and therefore facilitates the absorption of complex contextual information. Therefore, the presentation of different landscape development scenarios using photorealistic, 3D dynamic landscape visualization can facilitate easier and effective yet scientifically-based decision making. The results of ongoing study integrating geographic information systems, remote sensing and photorealistic 3D visualization are reported. This integration is done for the benefit of communicating the utility of earth observation data for the monitoring of ecological integrity within Canada's National Parks. We illustrate the complexity and efficiency of integration of GIS and 3D visualization for dynamic landscape representation.