IMAGE-BASED LANDSCAPE MODELING: ENVIRONMENT UNDERSTANDING AND VISUALIZATION WITH E-LEARNING FUNCTIONALITY Dr. ATHANASIOS D. STYLIADIS Department of Information Technology The Alexander Institute of Technology & Education (ATEI), Thessalonika, Greece ABSTRACT: Computer graphics, CAAD, e-learning, visualization and virtual reality technologies are increasingly used to communicate the implications of environment understanding and management changes in landscapes and biological systems, as well as in national parks and forests. Image-based and data visualization techniques can be used, not only by scientists but also by managers, the public, and desicion-makers, to comprehend massive databases, to interpret dynamic environmental changes, and to evaluate the range of outcomes likely from different management strategies. Recently, however, most developments have been fragmented, the links between different applications regarding learning, understanding and landscape visualization have been few and poor, and the validity and reliability of the visual representations regarding natural (landscape) phenomena have not been tested. This paper introduces (in an initial phase - as a discussion rather than as a well-definedmethod) a coordinated image-based e-learning environment with four modules: landscape data collection, tree modeling, landscape database and landscape data communication, for environment understanding, visualization, real-time interaction and management, and describes four relative goals for tree-based forest visualization with e-learning functionality. Keywords: Image-based e-learning; Environment understanding; Tree-trunk modeling; Virtual reality; Forest inventory data. 1. Introduction Computer graphics, CAAD, e-learning, visualization and virtual reality technologies are increasingly used to communicate the implications of environment understanding and management changes in landscapes and biological systems in national parks and forests. Data visualization has been widely applied to the inventory, evaluation, and management of environmental resources [1,2]. Visualization tools increasingly have been used to assist in the compilation of large and complex natural resource data sets [3], usually by natural resource scientists seeking to better understand their sciences [4], and by social scientists seeking to better understand human behaviors vis-a-vis those resources [5,6]. However, visualization users have identifiedseveralpressingneedsinthedevelop ment of new Information Technology-based tools (like CAAD and e-learning) for photography-based 3D modeling [7], environment management and understanding and groupware collaborative e-learning and assessment [8,9]. Obviously, 3D tree models, and particularly tree-trunk models, are the basis for constructing 3D natural scenes for environment understanding and management [10,11]. Also, for a successful scene visualization the proposed methods are based on image analysis and computer (artificial)visiontechniques[12,13,14]. Recently, however, most development has been fragmented, the links between different