The implementation of virtual and augmented reality environments on the web requires integration between 3D technologies and web technologies, which are increasingly focused on collaboration, annotation, and semantics. Thus, combining VR and AR with the semantics arises as a significant trend in the development of the web. The use of the Semantic Web may improve creation, representation, indexing, searching, and processing of 3D web content by linking the content with formal and expressive descriptions of its meaning. Although several semantic approaches have been developed for 3D content, they are not explicitly linked to the available well-established 3D technologies, cover a limited set of 3D components and properties, and do not combine domain-specific and 3D-specific semantics. In this chapter, the authors present the background, concepts, and development of the Semantic Web3D approach. It enables ontology-based representation of 3D content and introduces a novel framework to provide 3D structures in an RDF semantic-friendly format.
