Utilization of Geographic Data for the Creation of Occlusion Models in the Context of Mixed Reality Applications

Emergency responder training can benefit from outdoor use of Mixed Reality (MR) devices to make trainings more realistic and allow simulations that would otherwise not be possible due to safety risks or cost-effectiveness. But outdoor use of MR requires knowledge of the topography and objects in the area to enable accurate interaction of the real world trainees experience and the virtual elements that are placed in them. An approach utilizing elevation data and geographic information systems to create effective occlusion models is shown, that can be used in such outdoor training simulations. The initial results show that this approach enables accurate occlusion and placement of virtual objects within an urban environment. This improves immersion and spatial perception for trainees. In the future, improvements of the approach are planned with on the fly updates to outdated information in the occlusion models.