Lively3D: building a 3D desktop environment as a single page application

Abstract

The Web has rapidly evolved from a simple document browsing and distribution environment into a rich software platform, where desktop-style applications are treated as first class citizens. Despite the associated technical complexities and limitations, it is not unusual to find complex applications that build on the web as their only platform, with no traditional installable application for the desktop environment - such systems are simply accessed via a web page that is downloaded inside the browser and once loading is completed, the application will begin its execution immediately. With the recent standardization efforts, including HTML5 and WebGL in particular, compelling, visually rich applications are increasingly supported by the the browsers. In this paper, we demonstrate the new facilities of the browser as a visualization tool, going beyond what is expected of traditional web applications. In particular, we demonstrate that with mashup technologies, which enable combining already existing content from various sites into an integrated experience, the new graphics facilities unleashes unforeseen potential for visualizations.