The GSD Metropolitan Model Collaborative
Three dimensional digital models are useful for many purposes. We may need to visualize the topography of urban areas in three dimensions to plan for a night on the town or to respond to an emergency. We may need a 3d visualization of a historic urban scene to investigate a situation that doesn't exist anymore. Or we may need a model of an urban place as a starting place to communicate our ideas for a future design scenario. We may want to share these models with the world through a viewer such as Google Earth; or use the model in GIS for analyses such as broad-scale view studies or complex, animated flythroughs of expansive areas. Or we may want a 3d model integrated with our institutional administrative data infrastructure. These applications are illustratied below, and accessible as tutorials with sample data in the navigation panel to the left of this page.
The most complete, authoritative, broad-ranging and versatile 3D model of a city will be compiled from the work of many sources. Many very valuable 3d models of specific areas already exist, created for project specific purposes. The Metropolian Model Collective provides a container and a method for consolodating these resources, either within a single firm or agency, or with the greater community. For an overview of this project, see The Mterpolitan Model Blurb The repository is based on a relationa database schema discussed in this paper THis entire project and all of its ins and outs are the subject of a GSD Course: Urban Topographic Modeling in 3D And the subject of a symposium to be held at the GSD in the summer of 2006.
Visualization
Having All of these models in a large, scaleable database schema allow us to use database logic to retrieve logically consistent views of the city based on past, present and future conditions. Any numer of different thematic views may be drawn upon -- including commercial or emergency management themes.
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To let your clients or contituents (or your mom!) view your scenarios in Google Earth You can uese the model repository to export tall of the scenarios as one google eatrh KMZ file that can be attached to an email, or posted on your web site, like this:
Note that you will need to have installed the free google earth viewer. If your browser is not trained to recognize KMZ files, this file may open in WinZip. If so, just double-click on the doc.kml file inside. The three gund hall scenarios will be sub-folders within the your Temporary Places folder on the Left-hand Places folder in google earth. Choose a room placemark from the 5th floor rooms placemarks file. Turn on the Fifth Floor floorplans. These will be clearer if you turn up the transparency of the current view buildings.
Animations
ArcGIS 3d Analyst provides very good tools for creating animations. ArcGlobe is also superioir to most 3d Modeling packages when it comes to handling very large datasets. Click on the image below to view a QuickTIme animation made in ArcGlobe. showing how the Eiffel Tower fits very nicely in Bosoton's City Hall Plaza.
Click on the image to view the animation (requires Quicktime Plugin
Analysis
Having many different formats in the model repository allow us to use the models for editing in Sketchup, or to uese them in GIS for analytical studies. This study uses the Viewshed function in ArcGIS to analyze threatened views of the Zakim Bridge.
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Roll over blue text to see image
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Administrative Information Infrastructure
Understanding and managing the things that happen to be in Cities and buildings benefits from understanding their location in 3d space. Administrative database are full of spatial references that we can coordinate with three dimensional models to improve opur understanding of how to make things work. This example takes the CAD floorplans of the GSD and coordinates them with our model. These are exported to the google earth link, above.
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