/Cesium-GeoserverTerrainProvider

plug in to use geoserver as terrain provider

Primary LanguageTypeScriptOtherNOASSERTION

cesium-GeoserverTerrainProvider

GeoserverTerrainProvider: A terrain provider which works with geoserver providing elevation datas in bil, png, gif and jpeg formats. The png format should be prefered.

Cesium version

Tested with Cesium 1.95 and geoserver 2.21.

License: Apache 2.0. Free for commercial and non-commercial use. See LICENSE.md.

Usage

  • Optional: import mySLD.xml as a new style in geoserver to render your layer (16 bits grayscale) in other color range.
  • Import the GeoserverTerrainProvider.js file into your html codes after importing Cesium.js.
  • Create a new instance of GeoserverTerrainProvider with url of your geoserver and name of elevation layer.

After that, the GeoserverTerrainProvider will determine the capabilities of geoserver (request getCapabilities) and will be ready to provide terrain data.

Example

    <script src="/path/to/Cesium.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script src="/path/to/GeoserverTerrainProvider.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    <body>
    <div id="cesiumContainer"></div>
    <script>
      async function init(){
        const container = document.getElementById('cesiumContainer');
        const terrainProvider = await Cesium.GeoserverTerrainProvider({
              "url": "http://localhost:8080/geoserver",
              "layerName": "elevation:SRTM90"
        });
        const imageryProvider = new Cesium.WebMapServiceImageryProvider({
          "url": "http://localhost:8080/geoserver/ows",
          "parameters": {
                  "format": "image/png",
                  "transparent": true
                },
          "layers": "raster:naturalEarthPyramid",
          "maximumLevel": 15
        });

        const options = {
          imageryProvider: imageryProvider,
          baseLayerPicker: false,
          showRenderLoopErrors: true,
          animation: true,
          fullscreenButton: false,
          geocoder: false,
          homeButton: false,
          infoBox: false,
          sceneModePicker: true,
          selectionIndicator: false,
          timeline: false,
          navigationHelpButton: false,
          navigationInstructionsInitiallyVisible: false,
          targetFrameRate: 30,
          terrainExaggeration: 1.0,
        };

        viewer = new Cesium.Viewer(container, options);
        viewer.terrainProvider = terrainProvider;
      }
      init();
    </script>
  </body>

Where

  • "http://localhost:8080/geoserver" is the url of geoserver (mandatory)
  • "elevation:SRTM90" is the name of the layer in "elevation" workspace (mandatory)

Display created with bing map imagery provider and geoserverTerrainProvider. This last was configured with SRTM map of 90 meters resolution.

More precisions on styleName parameter

  • You'll find "styleName" parameter after inserting mySLD.xml as a new style usable for the elevation layer (here it's grayToColor)

The "styleName" parameter is useful when bil plugin can't provide good data. Nevertheless it takes lots of time to geoserver to generate a new image with style. Beforehand, thank to GeoWebCache you can generate the styled images (very long process).

Which format?

GeoserverTerrainProvider can work with BIL/DDS (use of BIL/DDS plugin in geoserver), styled Images (use of mySLD.xml) and converted Images (see here). The images have to be process by internet navigator also the image formats are gif, jpeg and png.

Original geotiff

It's a 16 bit grayscale geotiff used by BIL/DDS plugin to generate an arrayData.

Styled geotiff

It's a 8 bits red green blue geotiff format that geoserver serves as an image where most significant byte from 16 bit grayscale is stored in color red and least significant byte from 16 bit grayscale is stored in color green. Moreover there is an offset of 32768 meters in order to have only positive numbers.

Converted geotiff BREAKING CHANGE

It's a 8 bits red green blue geotiff format that geoserver serves as an image where most significant byte from 16 bit grayscale is stored in color red and least significant byte from 16 bit grayscale is stored in color green. Moreover there is an offset of 32768 meters in order to have only positive numbers. The third color (blue) indicates if the pixel has a no data value.

In nutshell

BIL/DDS styled images converted images
HOW TO insert BIL/DDS plugin into geoserver library insert mySLD.xml into the list of styles in geoserver use GeotiffTranslate in order to convert your 16 bit grayscale geotiffs into 8 bits RGB color geotiff. The converted geotiffs must be inserted in a workspace of geoserver
PROS
  • quick to process for geoserver and GeoserverTerrainProvider
  • quick to process for GeoserverTerrainProvider
  • quick to process for geoserver and GeoserverTerrainProvider
  • classical use case of geoserver (without SLD!!)
CONS
  • need to insert BILL/DDS plug in in geoserver library
  • BILL/DDS seems to be buggy for certain coordinates also in this case and to compensate, GeoserverTerrainProvider request, in image format, the same data (which could be long to process for styled images)
  • can be slow to process for geoserver if not precached with GeoWebCache
  • precaching styled images can take a very long time
  • need to convert original geotiff with GeotiffTranslate (see here)
  • loss of precision, some terrains have breaches...

Which service ?

GeoserverTerrainProvider can use:

  • Web Map Service provided by geoserver or geoWebCache (version 1.1.1 and version 1.3.0) more details here
  • Tile Map Service provided by geoWebCache (version 1.0) here
  • Web Map Tile Service provided by geoWebCache (version 1.0) here

Little helps to use SRTM (elevation maps) in geoserver