imagina 2010 was recently held in Monaco. The event included a 3D track together with an architecture and landscape-territory track this year , both of which proved highly successful. Several leaders in the 3D city, building and construction design space were present. Lively discussions and debates about the current future possibilities for evolving 3D technologies and applications were included. A 3D Ethics Charter was signed at the event. Jeff Thurston reports in the second of a two-part summary of the event.
Stephane Tockler, Manager of the Agglomeration Community of the Pays de Montbeliard delivered a presentation on 3D for this area of France. He spoke about the perceptions people take away with visual representations, particularly maps, and that a need exists to ensure these products are accurate. Tockler also said, “3D is no longer a debate anymore,” once again pointing the common theme of this event many expressed – 3D is already here.
Using examples such as floods, Tockler indicated that visualisation helps people to make informed choices. He felt that 2D really did not enable the same level of choice scenarios and that some of the 3D work would lead toward ‘what-if’ scenarios that were designed to prepare and help people with planning. The issue of 2D being largely in the domain of technicans was raised: 3D helps to democratize data and visualisation because the complexity of explaining 2D to 3D is lost.
Pays de Montbeliard is an area of of 250 sq. km., 950 km of roads and contains over 44,000 buildings. The current spatial infrastructure in the city includes the finance department, logistics and numerous other departments. Photogrammetry is available for the entire 250 sq. km2 and orthophotos are also available for an area of 430 sq. km2. It was mentioned that the city manages it’s area by considering the surrounding area – thus explaining the larger photo coverage.
Questions in the follow up debates to the session surrounding the return on investment. The cost of aerial imagery was expensive, but the data was being used for more applications. The project was completed over 5 years at a cost of Euro 600,000. Work is now progressing toward involving the public into the data and becoming more aware of the city through visualisation.
Dave Capstick is a research scientist at the Ordnance Survey UK and he spoke about 3D Modeling at the Ordnance Survey. That organisation began in 1791 and includes about 1200 staff, with 250 of them full-time surveyors. It produces several digital map products. OS does not currently sell 3D products. But Capstick said that the organisation is deeply involved in 3D research.
“The issue for Ordnance Survey surrounds being able to integrate all of our data sources to a wide and varied public with many interests,” he said. OS has not only a wide number of products, but a long history of records and data. “Issues relating to interoperability are also important” and “level of detail is a fundamental issue with all of our datasets.” He also mentioned that “what looks good in 2D is not simply transferrable to 3D,” a point that few people have mentioned to date.
OS has used NGATE with BAE Systems NGATE along with Socet Set to mask and manage data points in 3D. The next question that was of interest to the organisation related to the data storage and how to achieve that optimally. Capstick said that automated methods for data capture to single heights was being used, and that manual editing supplemented the work. CityGML was mentioned a few times and is being realised using GML 3 for applications and planning.
Other work related to noise simulations, disaster management, GML to XML conversion and different levels of detail within visualisations (LOD). “OS see’s many issues relating the use of 3D,” he said. Alan Noel is director of the GIS and Urban Development department for the city of Annecy, France. Covering 14 sq. km2 that city was flown and aerial imagery gathered in 2007.
A full digital 3D model was developed in 2009 and the project has generated much discussion about the best way to move forward. Initially it started with the use of virtual globes, but has changed to include more details surrounding topographic maps.
Noel pointed to the three primary areas that Annecy uses 3D data for:
1) real estate
2) topographic maps and cadastre
3) GIS applications
Accurate definitions have been developed for each area based on RGF93 CC46. Orthophotos include 10 cm accuracy and a digital land use registry has been developed. The topographic base is developed in 3D and is based on ArcGIS software with added ArcScene support. LandSIM 3D has been used to model landscapes based on BAT13D software from IGN France. Fascades within the model are using CityGML and operations are careful about the terminology they use to avoid confusion. “A key goal for us is not to lose detail from our high quality data,” Noel said. Secondly, “we make outools available to all departments as a way to get higher use.”
The city is employing creative means to involve local students as assistants into the community data and to help with managing the systems. Learning and work programs are established. The City of Montreal, Canada was represented by Mr. Richard Mongeau of the division of geomatics within that city. His presentation explored and explained the far reaching gains that Montreal has realised through the use of geospatial tools and technologies, particularly those involving visualisation. He was able to show underground assets in that city in visualisations, something seen as rare by most accounts.
With 350,000 buildings in the Montreal area, the project began in 2005 and is built upon one model extending throughout the city for multiple users. Vexcel ULTACAM were used to captures imagery and LiDAR and laser scanning data is also included into the data store. AutoCAD 3D is used through most engineering branches of the government and textures along with attribute information are included into the model.
Mongeau explained how the single georeferencing is helping multiple datasets to integrate information. Nearly 5000 monuments in the greater Montreal area are also included into the database. The city benefits from a RTK GPS network that enables a high level of positioning accuracy across all projects and ensures that data is geo-enabled from the field to the database.
Montreal also includes a rich set of metadata, which, is something few other projects during the conference discussions mentioned. Consequently one can easily see that the city of Montreal is quite advanced in terms of not only integrating it’s spatial information, but that includes supporting useability information also. As Mongeau explained, “we aim to provide different levels of intelligence within the data depending on the users needs.” “Generally speaking, one day of surveying results in 3-4 days of indoor work managing and processing that information,” Mongeau said. “Our past experiences without standards and accuracy showed problems in cement work and other construction projects,” he said. LOD is seen as a way to inform about level of quality in Montreal.
Helene Durand, a geomatics specialist from Atelier Langeudocien d’information Spatialisee in Montpellier talked about scale issues for visualisations relating to a UNESCO site. Her region included about 400,000 sq. km2 within a model. Ortho-photogrammetry was used to provide multi-view visualisations and videos for the region. “It is important to be able to translate landscapes, to talk about and share them with others – how do we do that with visualisation?” she asked.
Durand’s process involved segmenting landscapes into sections, then visualising them from different angles. Tablets with GPS were used to markup images for later inclusion with databases, trees were dientified indivdually and about 26,000 buildings were also accurately recorded. Careful attention was paid to vegetation for the region and topographic data were also included into visualisations.
A discussion after the 3D City Modeling and Territory session included issues related to cost of data collection, need for metadata and the role of visualisation within cities. It was suggested that more education needs to take place with the public to engage them into the discussions and creation of these models. But there is also a need to help them to understand what it means – what the visualisations are ‘saying’ and describing.
I met with the people from NOOMEO, a company from Laberge, France who manufacture a handheld laser scanner. This was an impressive device. Simply by holding the scanner in hand, then sweeping it around an object, that object was captured in 3D and presented. REFSA is a service center company that is based upon Autodesk products. It displayed the latest products from Autodesk including Revit, 3ds Max, Maya and AutoCAD 2010.
I-Imagner is based upon Open Source 3D and displayed OpenSpace3D, a free platform for editing in 3D. SimplySim is a 3D Engine that can be used to create 3D simulations. While billed as a ‘serious game’ product, the engine has good application possibilities for geodata use. ENODO is a company that creates high end visualisations and video-game technology for industrial needs. I had the chance to work an excavator using their product.
This type of interactive visualisation has numerous applications for operating equipment in 3D or to learn from remote locations. IGN France is a national agaency that presented numerous materials on that agencies involvement both within France and around the world in terms of the projects and initiatives that it is involved in.
Wacom exhibited their digital pen which is described as “direct pen-on-screen input, the DTU-2231 is designed to optimize efficiency and productivity by allowing geophysicists, oil & gas experts, planners, engineers, cartographers and emergency responders to quickly and easily create original content, edit maps as well as manage, analyze and share geographic information.” CaniVIZ exhibited their 3D Multi-media viewer. It handles 3DStudio (3DS), WaveFront (OBJ), Stereo Lithography (STL), Voxel (PTS), XGL files and can export in DXF format. The software allows complex 3D models to render extremely fast.
Bruno Deschandlliers of 3DTV explained that company’s 3D display which does not require glasses. The example I saw was of a jet engine and it allowed for a detailed view to inspect all parts. Laurent Chapoulaud of PNY Europe and I chatted about the new NVIDIA graphics cards (Note: I use PNY graphics). On display were the new Quattro and GeForce graphics cards from NVIDIA. I asked him why visualisation depend upon advanced graphics cards, “speed, clarity and the ability to keep all your high quality data visualised,” he said. MG2 Systems manufactures 3D printers that allow for complex 3D creations and prototyping.
Sylvain Hourcade of Genesis spent some time with me explaining 3D sound and running through a few demonstrations. Using his samples, I was able to hear airplanes flying overhead and sounds passing through 3D space.
This technology impressed, particularly since it could be added into 3D landscape sounds and visualizations. Dalibor Cizek and Michael Starr of Cicada Design in Toronto made the trip to the conference to learn about European efforts in visualisation.
They showed me some interesting projects they have worked upon in the city of Toronto and surrounding regions for large scale, high-quality architectural design.
Jerome Bellocq showed me Patchwork 3D, a program from Lumiscaphe that renders high quality images. In the example we sat with, I was able to order a car and see all the interior options in such a quality that they looked real to me.
It was uncanny and impressive. The product obviously has potential for rendering indoor design materials and textures. LexIP released what is billed as the world’s first 3D mouse.
Fabien Rizzotto explained that using the mouse one does not have to move the hand, instead, tipping the palm and balancing the mouse as it moves in place tilting will move the cursor. The net benefit of this lies in the fact that one does not have to slide the hand around a desktop.
In summary, the imagina event was filled with useful information. The conference sessions were excellent with lively debate and discussion which helped to answer many different questions people have and to enable broader understanding of what was being displayed on the show floor.
I wish I could have attended the sessions, but my notepad was filled with useful notes and information from the Landscape and Territory sessions. I hope this continues with next year’s show.
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More Information:
LEXIP
Architect and urban designer Jean Nouvel
imagina 2010: Dassault Systems Moving into the Digital City
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