There are now a wide array of new digital tools that are able to support the generic activity of planning and design. In urban design, these tools support different stages of the planning process which involve rapid and effective storage and retrieval of information, various kinds of visualization which inform survey and analysis as well as design itself, and different strategie for communicating information and plans to various publics from design professionals to the affected community.

In March 2000 the Corporation of London commissioned CASA to carry out a review of 3d models of cities. The research team rapidly reviewed over 60 cases worldwide. From this review, eight cities were selected for more detailed scrutiny. The models ranged from CAD models through various 3D GIS to VRML Web content and related simulations. Members of the research team visited each city to conduct a series of interviews with private, non-profitmaking and public sector organisation involved in 3d modelling. The eight cities chosen were:

 

Although the full report cannot be made public due to some confidentiality agreements, a few summary points can be made:

There is no standard or predominant technology for 3D GIS modelling of urban environment to date but with the advancement of IT and data manipulation technologies, costs of acquiring and maintaining such models are rapidly decreasing. Most of these models have been developed by media or data handling consultants and are largely computer graphics-based architectural models commissioned by local authorities or large development firms. The primary benefit of such 3D models (when compared to 2D) is in their persuasiveness and visual impact. This appeals to our instinctive comprehension, and radically enhances our ability to visually experiment with various simulations of the future. There is a significant interest in such models from telecommunications companies who require 3D urban morphologies to determine the ideal allocation for base stations.

Part of a model of New York built by Urban Data Solutions. This image shows the data that can be pulled out of the model about specific buildings. (Image courtesy of Urban Data Solutions).

It was generally found that there is a wide acceptance of the role of 3d city modelling. However there is no one preferred strategy for model development and no one strategy emerged as being the most appropriate. The team identified three distinct approaches to 3d city modelling each from very different view points based on different skills. These are:

a) traditional 3d computer aided architectural design
b) engineering approach based on photogrammetric analysis and surveying
c) geographic information systems

It was largely agreed that those 3d models that were strongly coupled with or derived from a GIS were the models that were the most 'information rich' and were 'built to last'.

An example of a model carrying out 3d GIS analysis in Tokyo: This 3D anti-disaster information system simulates the spread of a fire. (Image courtesy of CAD Centre and NTT Data).

At CASA the next stage in this research is to build a 3d model of London - Virtual London.

 

In association with the

^ top