This column is sponsored by ESRI
We’re slowly entering a new era where large-scale investment in high-resolution 3D models will change how we interact with representations of our world. All disciplines that make a living planning, constructing and managing the built environment will increasingly work through shared models. Digital city models have the attention of design software vendors, and the creation of rich, near-virtual 3D models will get much easier and cheaper as a result.
The idea of a highly-detailed and large-scale city model goes back centuries, but most previous attempts have faltered because the costs were too high to update and maintain the model. With a static model, the purpose and use of the model are very limiting. The digital approach provides the means for incremental update, adding layers of detail and realism to approximate reality.
The digital city model plays heavily into achieving greater livability and efficiency, aligning with the increasing will to better manage our environment. The time is right for increased investment in research and development of 3D city model creation tools, and there are many places that these dollars will have an impact.
3D Data Capture
New tools are adding a great deal of realism with much less human interaction, adding automation to the 3D data collection process. With automated tools, the speed for data capture and data update makes the creation of large-scale models inevitable.
Laser scanning from both an aerial and land-based platform is a quickly growing phenomenon. These tools marry point clouds with color imagery to create highly detailed models of existing structures. There’s a growing movement to fuse both aerial and terrestrial LIDAR imagery to create models of large scale. I understand that there’s an outfit in Paris, France that is creating such a model, and I’m certain that it will be a growing trend.
Photogrammetry is another approach to create rich 3D environments quite quickly, but at somewhat of lower quality than LIDAR. Automated processing, such as Microsoft is undertaking for model creation in Virtual Earth, have meant a phenomenal increase in the number of models that can be created in a relatively short time.
Both technologies point to the role of hardware for data capture at large scale. Hardware investment to streamline and speed 3D data capture will continue. For instance, self-registering terrestrial LIDAR scanners will eliminate the need for a surveyor to run these systems, democratizing data capture and potentially adding an army of model creators for a host of industries.
Modeling Software
The capability to create and visualize a rich 3D reality will proliferate within many different software tools. It’s unlikely that GIS, CAD or BIM will be a predominant tool for all 3D modeling tasks. These tools will evolve for somewhat specialized model creation purposes, but models will, and should, be interchangeable within these various toolsets.
Without a centralized repository for city models, the one-off model for projects has prevailed. Model repositories will advance considerably, adding real-time inputs for dynamic processes in order to better evaluate and test plans against real-world parameters. Such inputs as weather, traffic, transport, physics, water flow, energy consumption, etc. will add a level of realism for greater measurement and management of our world.
The addition of dynamic processes will create visually striking environments where shadows cross the virtual landscapes and where wind bends the plants and trees. The ability to turn these items on or off, adjust levels of intensity, and simulate time of day, will make the digital city model a very compelling simulation environment.
Extended Design Space
Added model realism will enable the ultimate design proving ground. Models of infrastructure and buildings will be placed within their virtual surroundings and tested to see if they perform as expected. Projections of lifecycle, and adaptation to growth pressures, will be something that we’ll be able to model in order to make certain we make the wisest investments.
The ability to take a building, campus or neighborhood model and check in any changes into the model space, will provide incredible planning and construction insights. With the virtual reality as an extension to design space, designers and planners will have greater confidence in their decisions and more public awareness and support for their projects.
Fit for Many Purposes
The digital city model may have been slow to adoption because of cost and a lack of understanding on how it would be applied. The GIS camp may look at the model and wonder how they can utilize it. The model designers have long understood the value of the model, but they typically finish the model and then just place it on a shelf.
We’re reaching a critical tipping point where larger, highly-detailed 3D models will be demanded because of multiple fit for purpose. Interoperability among many disciplines will be required to reach this stage, and there are issues of quality standards and liability that need to be worked out. But large-scale and highly detailed digital city models are truly becoming an inevitability, and it’s an exciting point in time that will see rapid advancement on many fronts.
Read what Jeff Thurston has to say on this topic here.
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