Choosing the 3D display environment
Release 9.2 Last modified August 5, 2010	Print all topics in : "Creating 3D views"

ArcGIS offers two 3D visualization environments in which to work. ArcGlobe and ArcScene allow you to display, analyze, and animate your 3D or 2D data in a 3D space.

ArcGlobe

ArcGlobe is part of the ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension. This application is generally designed to be used with very large datasets and allows for seamless visualization of both raster and feature data. It is based on a global view, with all data projected into a global CUBE projection and displayed at varying levels of details (LOD), organized into tiles. For maximum performance, cache your data, which will organize and copy the source data into tiled LODs. Vector features are generally rasterized and displayed according to their associated LOD, which assists in very fast navigation and display.

ArcScene

ArcScene is a 3D viewer that is well suited to generating perspective scenes that allow you to navigate and interact with your 3D feature and raster data. Based on OpenGL, ArcScene supports complex 3D line symbology and texture mapping as well as creating surfaces and displaying TINs. All data is loaded into memory, which allows for relatively fast navigation, pan, and zoom functionality. Vector features are rendered as vectors and raster data is either downsampled or a fixed number of rows/columns you set.

Main differences between ArcGlobe and ArcScene

Projected Data

ArcGlobe projects all data onto a globe shaped surface. Being spherical, this application is optimized for visualizing geography at a global scale. It also renders a representation of the surface of the earth more realistically than other projections.

ArcScene projects all data in an ArcScene document according to the first layer added to the document. Usually a planar projection, ArcScene is geared for those with smaller spatial datasets who wish to examine a defined study area.

Cached data vs. memory management

One of the most significant differences between ArcGlobe and ArcScene is how each application handles information management. Since ArcGlobe is designed to be used with very large datasets, you should cache your data for optimum performance. The process of caching indexes and organizes all your data into tiles and levels of detail. This allows for fast display and visualization as you zoom in and out, pan around, and navigate to different places in your ArcGlobe document.

Learn more about cache management in ArcGlobe

ArcScene loads all data into available memory and uses paging files if necessary. This is one of the reasons why ArcScene is optimized for smaller study areas with less amounts of data.

Analysis

ArcGlobe is an excellent application for visualizing large, global data. It has very good performance at navigation and rendering high and low resolution raster and vector data. However, ArcScene is better optimized for analysis. The 3D Analyst tool bar is fully supported in ArcScene, as are Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) surfaces. ArcScene renders sub-surface data and volumes very well. ArcGlobe supports the Terrain dataset, but ArcScene does not. All the geoprocessing tools are available in both applications.

Viewing and display

In ArcGlobe, you have the option of displaying vector data as rasterized on the surface layer or rendering it as a vector layer with independent properties from the surface layer. This option is particularly useful with annotation feature classes, which can be draped on the surface or automatically billboarded to face the viewer. In ArcScene, vectors remain in their native format and can float independently of the raster surface. You have control over the amount of downsampling that occurs with the raster data in ArcScene. Annotation features cannot be displayed in ArcScene.
Another difference between the two applications is the ability of ArcScene to support stereo viewing. Stereo viewing is a great way to enhance the 3D visualization experience.

Learn more about viewing in stereo in ArcScene

Examples of choosing the 3D display environment

Example 1 - Presenting a county relief map

Data: You have detailed data for the entire county. Your data includes a series of aerial photographs, road centerlines, parcel boundaries, building footprints, land use regions, and points of interest. For elevation data, you have a number of tiled DEM rasters that cover the entire county.

Goal: To visualize the county in three dimensions for promotional purposes, such as images for brochures and animations for videos.

Environment: ArcGlobe is the best choice because:

• The data volume is high and would most likely require caching to be used at full resolution
  
• The extent covers a wide region where curvature of the earth may come into play
  
• You have a series of DEM tiles that you would like treated as a seamless elevation source
  

Example 2 - Investigating local mining data

Data: Most of your data is within one square mile around a group of oil wells. You have an aerial photograph, 3D polylines for the vertical drill paths, multipatch data for underground salt domes, and 2D lines for the outgoing oil pipelines. You also have a raster DEM for about 10 square miles around the wells.

Goal: To visualize the oil wells in three dimensions to see the effectiveness and coverage of your bores.

Environment: ArcScene is the best choice because:

• The data volume is small
  
• The visualization is limited to a small extent
  
• You want to see the data as though it has been sliced out of the ground
  

Example 3 - Building a virtual city

Data: You have building footprints, road centerlines, park areas and transportation infrastructure data for a city, based on a prediction model for fifteen years in the future. You also have a TIN for elevation relief.

Goal: To create an interactive environment for general display and analysis.

Environment: ArcGlobe and ArcScene are both viable choices, because:

• The data is not excessive in volume
  
• Both applications support the applicable symbology options
  
• Both applications support graphics for 3D view adornment, such as 3D trees, cars and street furniture
  
• Both applications support TIN data as an elevation source
  

Example 4 - Running a line of sight analysis for placement of a forestry fire watch tower

Data: You have raster data for elevation, vegetation type and fire risk. You also have vector data for the fire road network and streams.

Goal: To identify the best candidate locations for placing a forestry fire watch tower.

Environment: ArcMap is the best choice because:

• You will be creating many raster surfaces, some temporary, as you run geoprocessing tools and models
  
• You do not gain anything by interactively seeing the analysis results in 3D
  
• You can easily copy final raster and vector data layers into ArcGlobe or ArcScene when the analysis is complete
  

Functional differences between ArcGlobe and ArcScene

Functional differences

This is a sampling of some of the more significant functional differences between ArcGlobe and ArcScene.

Functional Differences between ArcGlobe and ArcScene

Description	ArcGlobe	ArcScene
3D Analyst Toolbar (i.e. contour, steepest path, line of sight, profile, etc.)	Not supported	Supported
Ability to handle large volumes of data via caching	Supported	Not supported
Terrain surfaces	Supported	Not supported
Consuming TINs as elevation sources	Supported	Supported
Displaying TINs	Not supported	Supported
Dynamic hillshading	Not supported	Supported
Annotation feature classes	Supported	Not supported
Stereo viewing	Not supported	Supported
Complex 3D symbology	Not supported	Supported
Animation (move layer along path)	Not supported	Supported
Non-projected data	Not supported	Supported
VRML support	Can import	Can import/export
Representation symbology	Supported for rasterized layers	Not supported

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