This contribution will present a new Geographical Exploration System, called 
GRIFINOR, developed at the Center for 3DGI at Aalborg University. Like other GESs 
(Nasa World Wind, Google Earth...) it provides a three-dimensional, interactive 
representation of the Earth, through the Internet. The presentation will focus on 
the original aspects of this open source GES, and on its potential applications. 
GRIFINOR is not currently thought of as an end user product, but more as a platform 
for applications. It uses TIN as a data structure, which can be used for analytical 
applications and geometrical modeling, building the foundations for a true 3D GIS. 
The programming language used (Java) also gives GRIFINOR many interesting features. 
Another main originality of GRIFINOR is its peer-to-peer decentralized structure, 
that allows to share and visualize data over the network without passing though a 
central server. Attendants to this presentation will have the opportunity to see 
the beta version of GRIFINOR, working over the Internet. More information is 
available on www.grifinor.net.

This contribution will present a new Geographical Exploration System, called 
GRIFINOR, developed at the Center for 3DGI at Aalborg University. Like other GESs 
(Nasa World Wind, Google Earth...) it provides a three-dimensional, interactive 
representation of the Earth (a global model-map), through the Internet. The 
presentation will focus on the original aspects of this open source GES, and on its 
potential applications. 
GRIFINOR is not currently thought of as an end user product, but more as a platform 
for applications. It focuses on 3D objects and analytical applications. The data 
referencing is based on a geocentric coordinate system. GRIFINOR's data structure 
is based on a Triangulated Irregular Network, which can be used for analytical 
applications and geometrical modeling. This offers a great potential for GRIFINOR 
to be not only a visualization tool, but also an analytical tool, building the 
foundations for a true 3D GIS. 
GRIFINOR is programmed in Java. It allows to start the viewer directly from a web 
page and to avoid tedious installation and update processes. The GRIFINOR platform 
also takes advantage from the fact that Java is an object-oriented language. Each 
feature in the model-map is treated as an object from a programming point of view. 
This offers a great potential for the communication between the model-map and 
future applications. 
Another main difference with other GESs is that GRIFINOR is a decentralized system. 
The design is such that both client and server components are tightly coupled. This 
means that a GRIFINOR instance can behave as both client and server, which allows 
to build a peer-to-peer network. Any users with a GRIFINOR instance on  their 
computers can use it to visualize their own data, and share their model map over 
the Internet, without passing through a central server. 
This system provides a platform for applications in many different fields, 
including urban planning and development, management for local communities, 
tourism, gaming, environmental management ...
The source code is available under the LGPL license. GRIFINOR is at the moment 
functional on a client-server mode. Attendants to this presentation will have the 
opportunity to see the beta version of GRIFINOR, working over the Internet. More 
information is available on www.grifinor.net.