Three-Dimensional Visualization Tools

Community planners, architects, urban designers, and land use planners are increasingly using three-dimensional visualization tools. Citizens and public officials can visualize the impact of urban design projects and proposed land use and zoning changes or envision the results of smart growth initiatives.

SiteBuilder 3D helped planners visualize the potential development of the Tacoma Dome area in Washington state.

Three-dimensional GIS tools facilitate public participation by communicating both complex and simple geographic and man-made phenomena. Combining these tools with planning support systems allows the public and decision makers to interactively change or simulate existing and proposed modeled environments or scenarios.

SiteBuilder 3D made it possible to explore and model different height proposals for the mixed use development, and three-dimensional visuals were created for specific proposed developments.

ArcGIS 3D Analyst enables planners, stakeholders, and decision makers to effectively visualize and analyze proposed design plans. Using 3D Analyst, you can view a design from multiple viewpoints and determine what is visible from any location. The core of the 3D Analyst extension is the ArcScene application. ArcScene provides planners with the capabilities for viewing multiple layers of three-dimensional data.

Learn More

Read 3D GIS Newsletters by Green Mountain GeoGraphics, Ltd. to learn more about visualization and simulation, 3D styles and symbols, and 3D GIS tools facilitate public participation.

Further Reading

• Working with 3D Symbols in ArcScene 9.0 [PDF-462 KB, 2 pages]
• Virtual Campus 101: A Primer for Creating 3D Models in ArcScene, ArcUser, April-June 2005
• ArcGIS 3D Analyst 9 With ArcGlobe, ArcNews, Winter 2003/2004
• Real Symbols for ArcGIS 3D Analyst, ArcNews, Summer 2004
• Virtual Reality Meets GIS: 3D on the Wall, ArcNews, Summer 2004
• Essex, Vermont, Discovers the Power of 3D Analysis, ArcNews, Summer 2004