目前的地理資訊查詢大都是以二度空間為主；本論文研究的目的即是要將地理資訊的查詢直接以三度空間來表現。研究的內容包含一個建構三維虛擬都市環境 (virtual city) 的編輯器、一個建構查詢資訊的編輯器、及一個三維地理資訊查詢子系統。都市環境編輯器可以讓使用者以滑鼠及鍵盤互動式的編輯整個城市模型，包括多重解析度的地形、各式建物、及設施；並且可以讀取各式模型或由遙測影像所建構的建物模型，直接加入虛擬都市環境中。查詢資訊編輯器可以讓使用者加入相關的地理屬性資料於資料庫中，並建構三維空間與其屬性的關係，以供日後資料的查詢及展示。地理資訊查詢子系統可以讓使用者直接從三維空間查詢該空間的相關空間及屬性資料，也可以反向的從屬性資料查詢相關的屬性資料及三維空間資訊並以三維的方式展示出來。 Traditionally, queries in geography information systems (GIS) are mainly in two-dimensional style; in this thesis, we want to directly present queries for GIS data with a 3-D scene. Three sub systems: (i) a builder for a 3-D model construction, (ii) an editor for attribute construction, and (iii) a 3-D interface for attribute query, are included in the proposed prototype system. A user is able to compose the whole 3-D virtual city scene interactively using a mouse and a keyboard with multiresolution terrain models, kinds of building models, and various facilities models. Also, the users can directly import several file formats of 3-D building models or models extracted from remote-sensing images into the virtual city. The editor for attribute construction let users add relative geography information and save into a database to construct the relationship between 3-D entities and the attributes for visualization and query. The query interface let user query the relative spatial and attribute data from the spatial entities in the 3-D scene, and reversely query relative attribute data and the spatial relationship from attribute data.
