glob3 mobile: a framework for virtual globe development in iOD and Android mobile devices

Over last years, handheld devices have made important advances. Increasing processor speed, emerging platforms with dual processors, improved memory resources, power graphics and more than acceptable programming capabilities have open these platforms to the development of general purpose applications. Of increasing interest on mobile application are virtual globes, GIS applications, maps browsers etc. We present a framework for virtual globe development for familiar iOS and Android mobile devices. Some salient features of our framework are the use of OGC standards, design of server-side information and pre-processed data to enrich the applicability on mobile devices.
Since available CPU and memory resources in mobile devices are generally limited, we have designed our algorithms and data management aiming at simplicity, efficiency and scalability. We implement a LOD strategy for both, textures and elevation data. Special focus has been given to user interaction with the globe by using multi-touch screens and realistic 3D geometric criteria. We include a complete set of finger gestures to afford smooth and pleasant interaction with the globe.

Our implementation guarantees a fine-quality and real time navigation over the virtual globe. The software architecture is an open framework, thereby facilitating the implementation on familiar iOS and Android mobile devices, including some of the most known smart phones and tabs. We show some tests and demos over these devices to provide evidence of the quality of the developed virtual globe.

Future projected work includes gateways to open API’s on the web as climate, geonames, Twitter, Facebook, Tuenti, etc.