Flood Impact Visualization

SymGEO is excited to demonstrate flood visualization technology built on the Esri Local Government 3D Basemap Solution.  In this example, the City of Laurel, Maryland, has a number of buildings that are located in the floodplain and are therefore at risk of flooding. This information can be conveyed using the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) Viewer as shown below, but we decided to bring this data to life using an Esri ArcGIS Solution instead!

Our journey began with a virtual trip to the Maryland iMap GIS data portal to download the best-available LiDAR data for our area of interest. We then visited the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission GIS Open Data portal to get building footprint information. Finally, after following the defined steps in the ArcGIS Local Government Solution, we were able to visualize flood impacts in realistic 3D from citywide to local perspectives.

Realistic building textures, vegetation, and current imagery allow the user audience to recognize features and landmarks during demonstrations. Streets can be labeled, and buildings of interest can be highlighted with either labels or colors to call attention to focus areas.

Continual improvements using Esri’s 3D rendering and animation technology enable fly-throughs, call-outs, layer transitions, time-lapse visualizations, and other features and functionality that make this 3D basemap solution the perfect tool to communicate risk and mitigation plans.

Contact SymGEO for your 3D visualization and communication needs and start a conversation today!

3d Buildings in the Marketplace

SymGEO is pleased to announce that our newest 3d building model solution is now listed in the ArcGIS Marketplace, the top destination for users to search, discover, and acquire apps, content, solutions, and professional services from Esri’s ecosystem of providers.

This solution leverages ArcGIS Pro for 3d model production, ArcGIS CityEngine for model texturing, analysis, and landscape refinement, and Unreal Engine by Epic Games for rendering and visualizations. Whether the goal is a digital twin or proposed development scenarios, the end result is a virtual environment that can’t wait to be explored!

To learn more about our 3d building environments, contact us to set up a time to talk – SymGEO is excited to help build your virtual world!

Building Imagery and Simulation

There are times when generic building models need to be upgraded to give a better representation of what is actually there. This may be useful for “hero” buildings that are immediately identifiable, or perhaps an area that has planned redevelopment activities taking place. Fortunately, adding custom texture in Esri’s CityEngine is a relatively straight-forward process. In the following example, a building is generated from LiDAR, slightly modified for a complex roof, and then ground photography is mapped as a texture onto the building. Before and after textures are shown below, with the actual building shown in Google Streetview for comparison.

generic building

textured building

google streetview

Another method of adding realism to a presentation is to use the Google Earth platform to capitalize on all of Google’s ground-based LiDAR information and photo mapping (where available). When combined with new building models and a little Photoshop, compelling before-and-after scenarios can be explored in a very cost-effective manner. This example shows where a Kmart complex may be replaced by a high-density residential building.

before-and-after simulation

Viewsheds and site-lines can also be calculated in GIS, as all building models are constructed from either highly accurate geolocated LiDAR information or detailed architectural specifications. This helps pinpoint which existing structures may have their views impacted (shown in green), and so may required additional targeted public outreach before construction begins.

impacted views

Are you planning a new development, want to explore digital 3D data, or need to have your own virtual world built? Let us know, SymGEO is here to help!

Building a Digital City

I was recently asked by a friend in the commercial real estate industry if SymGEO could build a digital representation of Dallas. At the time I was pretty sure we could, based on available data, technology, and 3D modelling experience. However, as we all know in this fast-moving tech-focused industry, being “pretty sure” is a dangerous position, so today was the day to find out.

Our journey started with finding building footprints, which the City of Dallas has made available for download based on 2009 aerial photography. Fortunately, wide-area LiDAR with approximately 1 meter spacing was also collected at the same time and made available through TNRIS. This high-density survey method gave a blanket of point elevations, which are then used to derive digital terrain models (ground), and digital surface models (buildings and trees). When combined with building footprints, these are the best ingredients for a 3D city model.

The next step was to run a series of scripts and tasks within ArcGIS Pro to determine the average height of each building and whether the roofs were sloped or flat. This gave great preliminary results, but due to the complex roofs in the downtown area, some generalization errors were introduced into the model, as each footprint could only have a single height associated with it. These errors can be quickly spotted by buildings that either have LiDAR points above the building envelope (circled in black), or a building envelope above the LiDAR points (circled in white).

Fortunately, due to the relative ease of spotting errors, the building footprints could be quickly modified to break them up based on the roof components to give multiple heights per footprint.

Interestingly enough, several footprint displacement errors were also discovered in the city-provided data during this process, so those were fixed at the same time. After several hours of fixing and segmenting footprints, the scripts were run again to re-calculate the buildings. Needless to say, it was easy and gratifying to see the rapid improvements in the model.

Finally, we brought the model into Esri’s CityEngine to give it a little color. When the digital dust settled, a fine looking model of Dallas emerged. See below, with a similar view of downtown Dallas from Google shown for comparative purposes.

Are you interested in having a digital city built, or would like to find out what else can be done with 3D modeling?

Let us know, as we’re here to help, and “Yes, we can build a digital city.”

3D Building Visualization

SymGEO is excited to share a peek behind the scenes into our cutting edge 3D building visualization products leveraging Esri CityEngine and a little post-processing magic. The end result is a virtual environment that can’t wait to be explored! Each building is generated from building mass information or building footprints. Textures are added based on zoning information and can be fully customized if building photography is available.

Once the existing environment is built out, the fun begins of playing “what-if” scenarios for proposed commercial or residential developments.

Full control over camera and environmental variables allows the presentation of 3D building data in the optimum light.

Video fly-over gives the ultimate in bird’s eye perspective and allows stakeholders full visibility into a proposed development.

Needless to say, this powerful combination of software makes compelling, cost-effective 3D building presentations a reality.

Check out our fun, promotional video on YouTube and let us know if your world is ready for this!