GeoPackage: Unifying Modeling and Simulation with Mission Command Geospatial Data
(Room S320C)
28 Nov 17
2:00 PM
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2:30 PM
OpenFlight™ (a trademark of Presagis, Inc.), the de-facto standard for 3D models and terrain for simulation and training, has been in common use for decades. Despite revisions and expansion over the years, the format remains largely unchanged. The OpenFlight format does not lend itself to storage of abstract feature data and relationships between 3D visual objects and related abstract objects. A typical OpenFlight terrain database or 3D model built for one Image Generator (IG) may lack collision volumes or trafficability rules needed by another system. The OpenFlight database cannot preserve the relationship of polygons to the source features they were built from. Modern SAFs and specific gaming systems all require conceptually different data models, meaning many output files and formats are required to support a confederate of training and simulation platforms. Meanwhile, the Open Geospatial Consortium has adopted the GeoPackage format for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data. GeoPackage provides a data model and consistency across applications. GeoPackage is built on SQLite, an open source, self-contained, cross-platform embedded database engine. As such, GeoPackage is ideal for expansion in support of the simulation industry. By storing abstract features with relationships to their specific counterparts, a single GeoPackage file could be used to exchange correlated data for simulation systems as well as mission command and GIS applications. A single feature stored in a GeoPackage file can have a relationship to a 3D model used in a legacy image generator and also a model designed for use in a gaming system or SAF.
This paper reports on SE Core’s investigation into expanding on the GeoPackage standard for use in simulation and training. We present a demonstration where a single database with visual and abstract objects can provide all the intermediate data necessary to create database products for use in production.