XML (eXtensible Markup Language) has been widely prevalent as a standard data format on the Web since W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) issued a recommendation for XML1.0 in 1998. We pay particular attention to the XML-based vector graphics format in many XML-based technologies. We expect the possibilities of them in statistical visualization. In this site, we show some applications and exapmles with a focus on SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) and X3D (eXtensible 3D), which are XML-based two-dimensional and three-dimensional vector graphics formats, respectively. Moreover, we will collect many related topics in this site.
X3D(eXtensible 3D, VRML-Next Generation) is a virtual reality modeling language and an open standard for 3D on the web. X3D replaces VRML(Virtual Reality Modeling Language) but also provides compatibility with existing VRML content and browsers. The X3D Graphics Working Group is designing and implementing X3D specifications. X3D Encoding has both an XML encoding and a classic VRML encoding. A third binary encoding is expected at a later date.
SVG is a XML format to describe two-dimensional vector graphics. In the days before SVG, microsoft-led VML(Vector Markup Language) and adobe-led PGML(Precision Graphics Markup Language) was proposed to W3C. SVG1.0 was released in September 2001 by W3C as integrated format from them. The current version is SVG1.1 and its recommendation was released in January 2003. Some software and plug-ins for displaying SVG are now available. The most popular plug-in would be Adobe SVG Viewer, which works on Internet Explorer on Windows98-XP and MacOS8.6-9.1. However, the MacOS version only supports static SVG.