Week 12 - 3D Mapping

This week in GIS3015 we explored the world of 3D mapping with ArcScene and Google Earth. Most of our time was spent with ArcScene within the context of an ESRI online training course. The course provided an overview of how to use ArcScene, how to extrude features, set lighting effects, and much, much more. The course also introduced the concepts of terrain datasets and multipatches - both of which are used extensively within ArcScene to model features and provide a 3D-like experience.

Outside of the ESRI course we created 3D images from 2D features - in our lab example it was the buildings of downtown Boston. The buildings were made using created mass points and building roof elevation values. Our final result was exported as a KML file, for viewing in Google Earth.

Gray 3D buildings add dimension to downtown Boston.

Using 3D maps definitely has a 'wow' factor attached to it, so if attracting an audience is your goal then this is the medium to use. Its analytic capabilities are also pretty cool - some of the examples provided in class included showing varying rates of sun exposure on buildings, or views of available space for rent by floor within individual buildings. One use that really popped out at me is how it can show 'below ground' features and enhance the elevation of a dataset with vertical exaggeration effects. To me this would make a pretty neat way to show archaeological excavations in context. Seriously, people spend hours upon hours analyzing this type of stuff - how awesome would it be to see it fully realized in 3D?

There are some drawbacks to using 3D however - first and foremost being the creation of 3D objects. Essentially, the learning curve can be steep (and costly) when it comes to creating the individual elements that make up a 3D map. For realistic looking data one might need to spend a lot of time and money creating it. And 3D is not always the answer for all situations - its very appearance means that the map can only be viewed on a computer. Sure, there are screenshots that can be taken and printed, but why? If you were going to print out the map anyway then why go through all the trouble of creating one in a specialized 3D format? On the whole though I think that for the average data analysis-minded user the benefits outweigh the costs - especially since for basic analysis one does not need fancy graphics, and learning the basics is no more difficult than learning ArcMap itself.