Abstract: A system and method for the rendering and display of multi-dimensional data on a thin client. The system allows for the collection of multi-dimensional data layers from internet servers, the compositing of the layers and the rendering of the layers as rasterized images to be sent to a client or in a scene descriptor language for interpretation by a client. The system also allows for the creation and display of multi-media objects overlaid onto the images.

Abstract: A multi-source data retrieval system is shown. The system includes a list retriever for retrieving a list of data sources and a graphical user interface for presenting the list of data sources to a user. A fetch manager retrieves information about the data sources and downloads information from the data sources. A data combiner combines the downloaded information into composite data for use by another application.