3D Modeling of Microwave Transmission Corridor Obstructions

City of Houston

The City of Houston needed to locate and visualize potential signal obstructions between proposed microwave transmission sites across the city. The GIS Technology Division developed a process that allows for the timely and efficient identification of possible obstructions so that a surveying crew need not physically verify probable signal impediments. The process needed to model and visualize the proposed microwave transmission corridors in order to locate any possible obstructions.

Fifty-four proposed microwave transmission towers to enhance emergency response efforts needed to be tested for obstructions. Lidar and transmission corridor elevation models helped to identify existing obstructions, indicate future building height restrictions, and efficiently illustrate the impacts of different planning scenarios. Many rounds of raster calculations determined the intersections of the earth surface (using lidar) and these aerial horizontal 3D cylinders. These maps were produced from the final analysis, showing the actual obstructions into the microwave transmission cylinders in Houston. This is a new realm of GIS analysis, where 3D objects sometimes do not overlap (with area) in the horizontal extent, but rather the vertical extent

Courtesy of City of Houston, Texas.

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