Abstract

3D Vegetation Visualization in Real-Time: Implications for Visual Quality Management
Track: Architecture, Engineering, and Construction
Author(s): Michael Flaxman, Philip Paar

The landscapes of Spain are both impressive and highly threatened. Around many historic cities and coastal routes, highways are being lined with walls of strip development. As a recent signatory to the European Landscape Convention, Spain has the responsibility to incorporate visual quality management within it existing legal framework, as well as some new policy mechanisms. However, as in many other parts of the world, landscape management is made difficult both by its "public good" characteristics and by the lack of appropriate tools to engage stakeholders in discussion of management options. A recent MIT project investigated new GIS-based landscape visualization techniques. Using an ArcGlobe plug-in, we were able to render complex 3D vegetation models at interactive frame rates. Because previous tools have either ignored vegetation, treated it using 2D billboards, or worked outside of GIS, this approach represents a significant improvement. Implications for visual quality management will be discussed.

Michael Flaxman
MIT
77 Mass Ave
Cambridge , Massachusetts 02139
United States
Phone: 617 258-0461
E-mail: mflaxman@mit.edu

Philip Paar
Lenné3D GmbH
Postfach 33 20 37
Berlin , Berlin D-14180
Germany
Phone: 0049 (0)30/ 841 85
E-mail: paar@lenne3d.com