{"id":1569622,"date":"2022-05-04T00:57:38","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T07:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=1569622"},"modified":"2025-06-03T11:18:49","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T18:18:49","slug":"visualizing-uncertainty-in-3d-for-urban-planning","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/urban\/3d-gis\/visualizing-uncertainty-in-3d-for-urban-planning","title":{"rendered":"Visualizing Uncertainty in 3D for Urban Planning"},"author":7671,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[23771],"tags":[25781,23811,26171],"industry":[],"product":[36781,36831,409602],"class_list":["post-1569622","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3d-gis","tag-3d","tag-3d-visualization","tag-urban-planning","product-city-engine","product-js-api-arcgis","product-urban"],"acf":{"authors":[{"ID":7671,"user_firstname":"Lisa","user_lastname":"Staehli","nickname":"Lisa Staehli","user_nicename":"lisa8584","display_name":"Lisa Staehli","user_email":"LStaehli@esri.com","user_url":"https:\/\/www.lisastaehli.ch\/","user_registered":"2018-03-26 19:39:56","user_description":"I am a product-minded software engineer &amp; UX designer - combining skills in engineering, design, and leadership. I currently help develop ArcGIS Urban, a web application for urban planners to visualize and plan the future of their cities. I am also an advocate for more diversity in tech &amp; I teach yoga in my free time.","user_avatar":"<img data-del=\"avatar\" src='https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Lisa-254-213x200.jpg' class='avatar pp-user-avatar avatar-96 photo ' height='96' width='96'\/>"}],"short_description":"A call for best practices on visualizing uncertainty in 3D for urban planning.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p>Urban planning projects\u200a\u2014\u200aespecially in long-range planning\u200a\u2014\u200aoften come with a high level of uncertainty. Getting the visualization of uncertainty right will be an essential key to effective decision-making in urban planning processes. What is currently missing are <strong>best practices<\/strong> on how to visualize uncertain urban planning projects in 3D.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, we are exploring different 3D visualization techniques in the context of urban planning. The techniques are discussed regarding intended or unintended impacts on the perception of urban planning projects by stakeholders.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Realistic visualizations<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>static renderings<\/li>\n<li>dynamic 3D scenes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Schematic visualizations<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"jsx-2557148455 \" data-testid=\"ListItem\">sketchy edges<\/li>\n<li class=\"jsx-2557148455 \" data-testid=\"ListItem\">color<\/li>\n<li class=\"jsx-2557148455 \" data-testid=\"ListItem\">floor plates vs. building volumes<\/li>\n<li class=\"jsx-2557148455 \" data-testid=\"ListItem\">transparency<\/li>\n<li class=\"jsx-2557148455 \" data-testid=\"ListItem\">wireframes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Are you interested to learn more, explore the different 3D visualization interactively, and contribute to best practices?<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/stories\/1452a0845e144eb2b1c8304ef06babb5\">Read the StoryMaps article<\/a><\/h2>\n"}],"related_articles":"","card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2022\/05\/card-1.png","wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2022\/05\/banner.png","show_article_image":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Visualizing Uncertainty in 3D for Urban Planning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A call for best practices on visualizing uncertainty in 3D for urban planning. The correct 3D visualization is essentials for decision-making.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/urban\/3d-gis\/visualizing-uncertainty-in-3d-for-urban-planning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Visualizing Uncertainty in 3D for Urban Planning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A call for best practices on visualizing uncertainty in 3D for urban planning. The correct 3D visualization is essentials for decision-making.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/urban\/3d-gis\/visualizing-uncertainty-in-3d-for-urban-planning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ArcGIS Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-03T18:18:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ESRI\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/urban\/3d-gis\/visualizing-uncertainty-in-3d-for-urban-planning#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/urban\/3d-gis\/visualizing-uncertainty-in-3d-for-urban-planning\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lisa Staehli\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c2b3de3e7493feda717e487c5cd68a83\"},\"headline\":\"Visualizing Uncertainty in 3D for Urban Planning\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-04T07:57:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-03T18:18:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/urban\/3d-gis\/visualizing-uncertainty-in-3d-for-urban-planning\"},\"wordCount\":7,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"3D\",\"3D visualization\",\"Urban Planning\"],\"articleSection\":[\"3D Visualization &amp; Analytics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/urban\/3d-gis\/visualizing-uncertainty-in-3d-for-urban-planning#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/urban\/3d-gis\/visualizing-uncertainty-in-3d-for-urban-planning\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/urban\/3d-gis\/visualizing-uncertainty-in-3d-for-urban-planning\",\"name\":\"Visualizing Uncertainty in 3D for Urban Planning\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-04T07:57:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-03T18:18:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"A call for best practices on visualizing uncertainty in 3D for urban planning. 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