Abstract

—Interaction and communication in simulation scenarios on a Web platform presents several problems and limitations. One particular problem, when using video-games, is the optimal visualization of 3D terrain in the scenarios. Another problem is the interplay between the video-game scenarios and the Web platform. Given the scenario is not a static and isolated module from the Web platform, it must interact with it, becoming a complimentary tool that directly support the content that the platform brings to the end user. In particular, using the Unity3D plug-in, the key issue is to set a bidirectional communication channel between Unity WebGL and HTML5, using JavaScript. This development was used in a dynamic Web environment (simulator) aimed at developing decision making skills on people fighting wildfires. This article describes functionality that simplify and improves the real-time communication between the different modules of the simulator, enhancing also integration flexibility. Specifically, the work focused on bidirectional communication channel that enables real-time updating of the WebGL based on the status of the Web platform. Results are very encouraging, given the performance and consistency contained between the Web platform and the WebGL container, in particular in maintaining synchronous information between elements of the simulator such as between Google Maps plug-in, Unity3D plug-in, and the rest of the Web platform. This functionality proves to be very successful for presenting highly dynamical phenomena, such as wildfires, on different containers/viewers of the Web platform.