The model base data was produced using oblique aerial images and LiDAR data. The LiDAR data was used to generate the digital terrain model which was then textured with rectified ortho imagery. The buildings were created by taking point cloud data from the LiDAR scans and extruding the building forms. Structures were then textured using images harvested from the oblique imagery.

The model is run within a real-time system on a spatially accurate digital globe which is capable of viewing GIS information through the SHP file format. This is key as it allows any other spatial dataset to be visualised and queried within the model.

Hats off to Brisbane for putting the model to use for public consultation. As readers will know sadly our own efforts five years ago failed due to issues with copyright on the base data (see The Guardian Article for full info). Its also nice to use the term ‘Online Planning’ again as it was the title of our PhD thesis.

Planning is about communication, the communication of space and place in relation to built form. The advent of digital networks provides the opportunity to radically change the concept of communication within not only the urban planning system but also wider fields related to the development of the built environment.

How we communicate is increasingly becoming digital and the rise of the Internet in particular during the last decade has freed planning from the constraints of working hours and the reliance of specific locations and times to portray information.

Information can now be visualised, communicated and manipulated at any location, any place, at any time, as long as we have the political, cultural, and economic means that gives us access to the relevant technologies. These technologies are on the edge of a new revolution in our ability to design, communicate and plan at a distance.

The revolution on the horizon is one of inhabited virtual place; a place where the environment is represented digitally in three dimensions and communication is achieved through avatars, defined as an individual’s visual embodiment in the virtual environment. Avatars in these emerging environments are the stakeholders, the occupants and the commuters of the digital realm. As such they are also the citizens that will design, occupy and manipulate built form in the development of digital planning and they will have a say in the future planning process. These developments contribute towards a digital, ‘Online’ planning system, which is explored in a series of working examples throughout the thesis.

You can read the Online Planning/Digital Urban PhD Thesis here (15Mb PDF).

Take a look at Virtual Brisbane.

The post Virtual Brisbane: Developing 3DGIS and Online Planning appeared first on Digital Urban.

The model base data was produced using oblique aerial images and LiDAR data. The LiDAR data was used to generate the digital terrain model which was then textured with rectified ortho imagery. The buildings were created by taking point cloud data from the LiDAR scans and extruding the building forms. Structures were then textured using images harvested from the oblique imagery.

The model is run within a real-time system on a spatially accurate digital globe which is capable of viewing GIS information through the SHP file format. This is key as it allows any other spatial dataset to be visualised and queried within the model.

Hats off to Brisbane for putting the model to use for public consultation. As readers will know sadly our own efforts five years ago failed due to issues with copyright on the base data (see The Guardian Article for full info). Its also nice to use the term ‘Online Planning’ again as it was the title of our PhD thesis.

Planning is about communication, the communication of space and place in relation to built form. The advent of digital networks provides the opportunity to radically change the concept of communication within not only the urban planning system but also wider fields related to the development of the built environment.

How we communicate is increasingly becoming digital and the rise of the Internet in particular during the last decade has freed planning from the constraints of working hours and the reliance of specific locations and times to portray information.

Information can now be visualised, communicated and manipulated at any location, any place, at any time, as long as we have the political, cultural, and economic means that gives us access to the relevant technologies. These technologies are on the edge of a new revolution in our ability to design, communicate and plan at a distance.

The revolution on the horizon is one of inhabited virtual place; a place where the environment is represented digitally in three dimensions and communication is achieved through avatars, defined as an individual’s visual embodiment in the virtual environment. Avatars in these emerging environments are the stakeholders, the occupants and the commuters of the digital realm. As such they are also the citizens that will design, occupy and manipulate built form in the development of digital planning and they will have a say in the future planning process. These developments contribute towards a digital, ‘Online’ planning system, which is explored in a series of working examples throughout the thesis.

You can read the Online Planning/Digital Urban PhD Thesis here (15Mb PDF).

Take a look at Virtual Brisbane.

The post Virtual Brisbane: Developing 3DGIS and Online Planning appeared first on Digital Urban.

The aim of digital cities is to combine photorealistic urban visualisations with rich analysis tools for built environment professionals and the public. We’ve seen some exciting advances towards this goal recently, but we’re not quite there yet. Right now it’s difficult to make the link between the analysis and database functions of GIS software, and the photorealistic visualisations that 3D graphics software provides. 3D GIS applications like ESRI ArcScene are a step in the right direction, but don’t yet offer the 3D graphics power, or web publishing functions, that ideally we’d like to see.

The software developer 3D Geo GmbH, a spin-off of the Hasso Platter-Institute for system technique (HPI), has recently released their LandXplorer software to allow the creation of 3D city models that combine GIS functions with photorealistic graphics. LandXplorer was used to create the excellent Berlin and Dresden 3d models published in Google Earth. 3D Geo are also a key developer in the CityGML standard for 3D urban data. We’ve been testing LandXplorer Studio and are impressed with its features.

The YouTube movie embeded below shows some highlights:

Very large terrain datasets can be viewed and explored in 3D. We managed to load in all of Greater London at 4m resolution, and our Stratford data at 1m resolution. It is straightforward to import shapefiles of building outlines to create basic 3d city models on top of this terrain layer. The building models can be classified with attributes as the Stratford example shows. You can skip between the 3D attribute view and phototextured views, with the software handling aerial photography well and allowing the importing of textured buildings in 3ds format.

Overall LandXplorer is an innovative piece of software that brings functional digital cities a step closer. Currently it doesn’t offer much in the way of spatial analysis, but 3D Geo as ESRI have recently become integration partners so this should improve in future releases.

Take a look at the Land eXplorer home page for a free viewer and a ‘try before you buy’ demo.

Thanks Duncan…

The post 3D GIS – Land eXplorer Review appeared first on Digital Urban.

The aim of digital cities is to combine photorealistic urban visualisations with rich analysis tools for built environment professionals and the public. We’ve seen some exciting advances towards this goal recently, but we’re not quite there yet. Right now it’s difficult to make the link between the analysis and database functions of GIS software, and the photorealistic visualisations that 3D graphics software provides. 3D GIS applications like ESRI ArcScene are a step in the right direction, but don’t yet offer the 3D graphics power, or web publishing functions, that ideally we’d like to see.

The software developer 3D Geo GmbH, a spin-off of the Hasso Platter-Institute for system technique (HPI), has recently released their LandXplorer software to allow the creation of 3D city models that combine GIS functions with photorealistic graphics. LandXplorer was used to create the excellent Berlin and Dresden 3d models published in Google Earth. 3D Geo are also a key developer in the CityGML standard for 3D urban data. We’ve been testing LandXplorer Studio and are impressed with its features.

The YouTube movie embeded below shows some highlights:

Very large terrain datasets can be viewed and explored in 3D. We managed to load in all of Greater London at 4m resolution, and our Stratford data at 1m resolution. It is straightforward to import shapefiles of building outlines to create basic 3d city models on top of this terrain layer. The building models can be classified with attributes as the Stratford example shows. You can skip between the 3D attribute view and phototextured views, with the software handling aerial photography well and allowing the importing of textured buildings in 3ds format.

Overall LandXplorer is an innovative piece of software that brings functional digital cities a step closer. Currently it doesn’t offer much in the way of spatial analysis, but 3D Geo as ESRI have recently become integration partners so this should improve in future releases.

Take a look at the Land eXplorer home page for a free viewer and a ‘try before you buy’ demo.

Thanks Duncan…

The post 3D GIS – Land eXplorer Review appeared first on Digital Urban.