1 (10) 2010

Article	CREATING AND USING 3D CITY MODELS
Authors	Wolfgang Dokonal, Department of Urbanism, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria
Abstract	City modelling is a topic which has been on the agenda for a long time and two main approaches from different angles in this field can be identified. GIS experts have attempted over the years (in collaboration with programmers) to build information systems for cities by means of combining graphical information with related metadata. Architects also started to get involved in this field. Most of them came out of academia and they were mainly interested in the spatial aspects of a city model. So they created their own “city models” for different purposes in different ways. Today crucial questions concerning the creation of a city model are resolved. The question is no longer “How to do a city model?” but “What to do with it?” The visions of the automatic generation of the 3D geometry of a city out of high resolution digital aerial images are a reality now. It shifted away from academia into the “real world” and into the “real cities”. These new developments decreased the cost for creating and maintaining a 3D city model of a complete city significantly. But still there is a substantial amount of money necessary in this field so the cost/benefit analysis must be clearly visible. This paper wants to give an overview about current applications and uses in this field. The implementation into daily work becomes more and more important. The question: “what to do” with all the accumulated data and the benefits out of a 3D city model are shown with examples (Graz and Vienna city models).
Keywords:	city modelling, collaborative modelling, digital design, architectural education
	Article
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