Subject: VisAD Java class library for visualization

From: billh at ssec.wisc.edu (Bill Hibbard)
Date: 30 Mar 1998 11:55:58 GMT

The VisAD Java class library for interactive and collaborative
visualization and analysis of numerical data is now available.

VisAD features:

  The use of pure Java and Java RMI for platform independence
  and to support data sharing and real-time collaboration among
  geographically distributed users.  Support for distributed
  computing is integrated at the lowest levels of the system.

  A general mathematical data model that can be adapted to
  virtually any numerical data, that supports data sharing
  among different users, different data sources and different
  scientific disciplines, and that provides transparent access
  to data independent of storage format and location (i.e.,
  memory, disk or remote).  Initially supported file formats
  include FITS, netCDF, HDF-EOS (via native library), Vis5D
  (via native library), GIF and JPEG.

  A general display model that supports interactive 3-D, data
  fusion, multiple data views, direct manipulation,
  collaboration, and virtual reality.

  Data analysis and computation integrated with visualization
  to support computational steering and other complex
  interaction modes.

  Support for two distinct communities: developers who create
  domain-specific systems based on VisAD, and users of those
  systems.  VisAD is designed to support a wide variety of
  user interfaces, ranging from simple data browser applets
  to complex applications that allow groups of scientists to
  collaboratively develop data analysis algorithms.

  Developer extensibility in as many ways as possible.

Complete source code, the VisAD Java Class Library Developers
Guide and several example applications are freely available at:

  http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~billh/visad.html

You can get help from the VisAD mailing list.  Join by sending
an email message to majordomo at ssec.wisc.edu with:

  subscribe visad-list

in the first line of the message body (not the subject line).

VisAD requires Java 3D and jdk1.2beta3, available from Sun at:

  http://java.sun.com/

In its initial release VisAD will be more appropriate for
complex interactions and collaboration than for operational
production of visualizations of large data sets.

Bill Hibbard
whibbard at macc.wisc.edu