Document Structure

This document utilizes three Internet interfaces simultaneously to allow the reader to interactively explore the basis and results of this hydrologic study of Hays, Kansas. The root document (this window) is structured as a series of HTML (HyperText Markup Language) pages describing hydrogeologic features at Hays, viewable in standard web-browsers. The HTML document is structured hierarchically, so that simply clicking on the button leads the reader through an overview, while navigating the links at the top or bottom of each page displays more detail. A fully navigable 3-D model of the local hydrogeology is included to allow the reader to directly examine the complex geometric relationships at this site. This model requires VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) viewing capability, available through standard Internet browser plug-ins. Guided tours in the Geometry Controls window (requires Java 1.1 support in the browser) lead the viewer through the HTML and VRML presentations simultaneously; buttons in the HTML pages activate appropriate 3-D views in the VRML model. The VRML model can also be explored at will using navigation controls at the bottom of the VRML window.

Figure 1: Example images of the three interfaces used in this web document (HTML text, VRML model, and Geometry Controls Java applet, respectively).