Based on principles of panorama maps we present an interactive visualization technique that generates multi-perspective views
of complex spatial environments such as virtual 3D landscape and city models. Panorama maps seamlessly combine easily readable
maps in the foreground with 3D views in the background – both within a single image. Such nonlinear, non-standard 3D projections
enable novel focus & context views of complex virtual spatial environments. The presented technique relies on global space
deformation to model multi-perspective views while using a standard linear projection for rendering which enables single-pass
processing by graphics hardware. It automatically configures the deformation in a view-dependent way to maintain the multi-perspective
view in an interactive environment. The technique supports different distortion schemata beyond classical panorama maps and
can seamlessly combine different visualization styles of focus and context areas. We exemplify our approach in an interactive
3D tourist information system.
Keywords multi-perspective views - focus & context visualization - global space deformation - 3D city models - virtual 3D landscape models - geovisualization