The Virtual World Data Server is a multi-user, distributed, real-time data server intended for very large virtual environment simulations. The heart of this system is the Real-Time Storage Server (RTSS). The RTSS is designed to efficiently store and retrieve large amounts ( > 1 terabyte) of spatially distributed heterogeneous data. The RTSS communicates over high speed asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) connections with multiple interactive real-time simulations. It establishes a two-way link with each active simulation in order to determine where the current viewing position is and where the viewer is headed. The RTSS makes a determination of what 3-dimensional information is needed, retrieves that information from disk in an optimized fashion and delivers it to the simulation in a just-in-time manner. The RTSS is complemented by an advanced three-dimensional visual simulation system. Together these two systems are capable of supporting a variety of demanding applications including (but not limited to) urban planning, medical, emergency response, physics, architecture and urban design. This system promises to dramatically improve the way that cities are planned and scientific and medical experiments are visualized. It allows community members and interested citizens to understand and evaluate the impact of policy and planning decisions and it provides capabilities for scientists to visualize datasets over 100 times larger than that which is possible today.
