Designing visualization software for ships and robotic vehicles

One of the challenges of visualization software design is providing real-time tools capable of concurrently displaying data that varies temporally and in scale from kilometers to micrometers, such as the data prevalent in planetary exploration and deep-sea marine research. The Viz software developed by NASA Ames and the additions of the X-Core extensions solve this problem by providing a flexible framework for rapidly developing visualization software capable of accessing and displaying large dynamic data sets. This paper describes the Viz/X-Core design and illustrates the operation of both systems over a number of deployments ranging from marine research to Martian exploration. Highlights include a 2002 integration with live ship operations and the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity.