Digital 3D visualizations and simulations of urban areas have been possible for a long time. The shelf life of one of these creations however hasn’t been impressive. I’m sure that most large cities have various moth-balled models that may have been effective for their purpose when created, but now don’t have much utility because they are just like snapshots in time that become dusty and outdated.
The thing that most of the moth-balled models have in common is that they’re simply a different means of rendering rather than really modeling in the full sense of that word. To fully model reality means that the model contains details and intelligence about construction, materials, and various network connectivity so that it can be used for all means of analysis.
The business case for creating a dumb 3D model has always been suspect. It’s received ho-hum reactions from many professional quarters when its realized that it doesn’t have much utility beyond an individual project. Thankfully that old dumb model is slowly going away, and with it goes the ho-hum attitude about models. When users realize that they can access and analyze the model specific to their own interests, then the questions of utility fade away and the business case for their creation manifests itself. The business return on an intelligent model is frankly limitless, because the more intelligence that the model has the more efficient a municipality becomes — saving time and dollars and creating a more livable community.
The model itself is uninteresting. It’s the ongoing use and ever-increasing fidelity and intelligence that will power wider adoption. The rise of intelligent models for more intelligent infrastructure will power a myriad number of careers and business opportunities in the years to come.
