In today's modeling and simulation market, there are many methods that can be used to create terrain databases for the various simulation applications. Some of these use more traditional terrain database generation processes, and some are new and innovative, utilizing the capabilities of cloud computing and geographic information systems. Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages, and some are more suited for specific use cases than others. An emerging approach that VT MÄK has developed is the ability to use open standards streaming terrain in real time virtual and constructive simulation.

In this paper, we discuss the concepts of streaming terrain for modeling and simulation, where applications can subscribe to web servers for geo-data in real time. We start with a discussion of the different types of terrain data and the advantages and disadvantages of each, covering the spectrum from traditional hand and tool modeled terrain databases, to direct from source geo-data, to streaming terrain from a server. We provide examples of each of these types of data, how it is created and used in simulation applications, and which use cases it is best suited to. We discuss the benefits of streaming terrain approaches to more traditional terrain database generation techniques, utilizing Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards like web map service (WMS) and web feature service (WFS) for streaming elevation, imagery, and features. We discuss how the streaming terrain approach is different from other terrain approaches, like the Common Database (CDB).

The streaming terrain approach described in this paper offers a new flexibility to dealing with terrain data. Applications that can make use of streaming terrain provide a lot of flexibility when designing simulation exercises or events, where new sources of terrain data can be found and used directly as an alternative to the traditional terrain database generation approaches.