Winter/Hiver 2005 20

I
n an era when computers offer
realistic high-end graphics for education
and entertainment, virtual reality (VR)
can now be used by planners to give
communities a window onto the future.
Virtual worlds downloaded from the
web onto a personal computer can be
vehicles for creating interactive virtual
representations of our cities. As test-
beds, virtual worlds offer planners a
unique opportunity for consulting with
the public about concerns in their
neighbourhood, community and city.
What is Virtual Reality?
Many members of our community, mostly
under the age of 25, access virtual reality
technology daily by playing games on
personal computers (PCs) or game
consoles in their homes or college
dormitories. These real-life worlds may
be placed in the past, present or future,
contain talking characters with
personalities, and play out fantasy against
characters with articial intelligence. For
many games today, accessing other game
players is possible through an Internet
connection, offering real-life play against
actual competitors.
For the planner,VR technology introduces
the possibility of testing alternative
designs and scenarios in a community
context. For over a decade at the
University of California, Los Angeles
(UCLA), the Urban Simulation Team
has been working with the City of Los
Angeles on applying this technology to
issues of urban design, transportation
planning and pedestrian access
(http://www.ust.ucla.edu/~bill/./UST.html).
One notable example of how virtual
reality is changing the shape of planning
comes from the Los Angeles model. The
preliminary designs for the new UCLA
hospital by architect I. M. Pei were loaded
into the LA model two years before
construction began. This allowed the
medical staff, administrators and others
involved in the project to virtually walk
through every inch of the medical
centre. According to the Director of the
laboratory, Professor William Jepson,
This helped everyone clearly understand
all that was being planned.From
there, they could make the appropriate
decisions. This included identifying and
remedying problems which otherwise
might not even have been noticed until
it was too late. The success of their
work has encouraged other communities
and researchers to develop virtual models
to be employed in the review of
development proposals and master plans.
At the University of Calgary, the
Schlumberger Virtual Reality Computer
Automated Visualization Environment
(CAVE) is being used by the author to
present 3D worlds of historic and
architectural interest. In these worlds
visitors can explore a reconstructed
temple site in Phimai, Thailand
(www.phimai.ca), a hospital room or
an historic building from Calgarys
downtown. In these environments, it is
possible to walk through these virtual
landscapes and interact with objects in
the scenes. In a residential building,
doors can open and furniture can be
moved. In a commercial building,
revolving doors, escalators and elevators
can be made to operate just as in the
real world. In an urban environment, it
is possible to simulate auto trafc and
have the user test various driving
conditions as they navigate through
these virtual cities.
Basic Components of VR
To create and display virtual worlds for
planning, three components are required:
hardware, software and data. On the
hardware front, virtual worlds will now
run on stand-alone PCs that are connected
to either a standard graphics display or
data projector. The critical component
in this hardware conguration are the
VIRTUAL REALITY:
ATOOL FOR PLANNERS
by Richard M. Levy
Summary
This article is based on a presentation given by Dr. Levy at the CIP 2005 Conference in Calgary on the use of real-time virtual world
technology in the design and review of urban design and architectural projects.
Sommaire
Cet article est base sur une prsentation donne par M. Levy lors du Congrs 2005 de lICU Calgary. Il est question de lutilisation des
techniques virtuelles en temps rel applique la conception et lvaluation des projets damnagement urbain et darchitecture.
21 Winter/Hiver 2005
high-end video cards needed to achieve
speed and quality in the graphics. This
essential element guarantees the user
high quality real-time graphics. Graphics
cards that cost thousands of dollars a
few years ago are today priced for a
few hundred dollars at most major
consumer retailers.
To achieve a truly immersive experience,
investment in a stereo projection
system can be assembled for as little as
$10,000 per display screen. Projected
on an eight by 10 foot screen, cityscapes
can be seen in 3D with an actual sense
of depth by a small group of 20 to 30
people. This is accomplished by creating
two images of the world from virtual
cameras located in the 3D model,
corresponding to the left and right eye.
By using polarizing lters on the projector
and special glasses worn by the user, a
left and right image of the scene creates
an articially constructed 3D world.
When multiple screens are arranged to
create a room-like space, the experience
is completely immersive. These CAVEs
have been used in industry and the
military for more than a decade. Now,
the vast reduction in costs can make
these environments commonplace in
universities, schools, museums and
government.
Another solution that is becoming popular
is the use of special plasma screens that
can project a 3D image without the
need of special glasses. A useful addition
to most conference rooms, these screens,
which cost anywhere from $3,000 to
$15,000 depending on size, can be used
by a single person or groups of ve or
six people. Even a laptop version is
available for demonstrations and personal
use, making VR worlds in 3D portable.
The nal component of a VR system is
the software needed to produce 3D
walk-throughs on a PC. Applications
developed largely for a gaming industry
that needs tools for creating interactive
games require some expertise in
computer science. For those with few
nancial resources, several video games
make available their video game-making
tools for the amateur or professional at
no cost. With these free editors you can
create virtual worlds that can be shared
over the Internet. For the planner,
simulation packages like Mulitigen-
Paradigm have been used for more than
a decade on high-end workstations and
servers. More recently, applications that
integrate into existing geographic
information systems (GISs) can produce
3D worlds from 2D data. Applications
like Community VIZ offer the user the
ability to test both the economic and
visual aspects of a project with their
unique model-building tools.
Data and 3D Worlds
Ultimately, it is the exploration of urban
space that makes this technology
interesting to planners. Where a 3D
model has not been built, it is possible
to build a world from a 2D set of layers.
This required data can be found in most
corporate GIS or computer-assisted
design (CAD) systems used to manage
a citys infrastructure. The process of
building a 3D model is straightforward.
Footprints of buildings are extruded
into a simple massing element. Terrain
can be created from existing topographical
data usually in the form of a point or
contour layer. Roads and sidewalks can
be built from existing planimetric data.
Finally, details such as trees and light
poles can be mapped to their location
found in the CAD and GIS data. With
catalogues of models available at
reasonable cost, cars, trucks, buses,
people and street furniture can be
dropped into a 3D model. Where no
base model exists of a community, a
model can be constructed from air
photos using Silvereye, software from
GeoTango (www.Geotango.com). These
models can be augmented by taking
digital images from sidewalk level and
from additional detail gained from
traditional surveying and laser scanning.
For detailed models of existing buildings
and structures, laser scanning offers the
planner a tool for acquiring detailed 3D
models of both the interior and exterior
of buildings. Using a laser that sends off
pulses that are reected back to the
receiver, a set of point data or point
clouds is created. Accurate to a few
millimetres, these point clouds can be
used to describe the surface of buildings,
bridges and streets. In cities like Ferrara,
Italy, entire city blocks are being scanned
to create an accurate base-line model
to be used in planning the future of the
city. At the University of Calgary, laser
scanning has been used to create archival
digital models of historic buildings for
teaching research and preservation. For
example, the author has used laser
scanning to create a virtual 3D base
model of the Central United Church in
Calgary, where renovation plans can be
viewed and tested in the CAVE at the
Schlumberger I-Centre at the University
of Calgary (gures 1 and 2).
Figure 1: Central United Church virtual 3D model (exterior).
Winter/Hiver 2005 22
Conclusion
Many areas of planning can potentially
benet from the application of VR
technology to specic planning problems.
The most obvious application is in urban
design review. By establishing the
requirement of a 3D CAD model as
part of the submission requirement for
a development permit, planning
departments can review proposed
designs from any vantage point prior to
construction. Understanding the value
of historic resources, context and scale
can be accomplished easily within an
interactive 3D model. As a tool for
marketing, real-time 3D models can also
serve to promote a community as an
attractive place for development. For
tourism development, an interactive
version available from the Internet can
help visitors plan their visit. For those
involved in emergency services, having a
3D model can be critical in planning
public events and developing video
surveillance systems. In transportation
planning, 3D models can be used to
evaluate the ease of driving on a city
street crowded with other vehicles and
pedestrians.
Ultimately, the use of VR must be
integrated into the planning process, if it
is to have value to the planners and the
public. Like drawings and models, 3D
interactive models can be used as part
of a design charette, providing context
and allowing alternative designs to be
viewed by a committee or a community.
As part of an interactive web site,
members of the public can be solicited
for their input on important commissions,
master plans or a major project. In an
age in which we must provide greater
access and transparency to the planning
process, web-delivered worlds may be
one means to reach out to the public.
Richard M. Levy, PhD, MCIP, is a professor
of Planning and Program Coordinator, Planning
Program, University of Calgary, and Director of
Computing in the Universitys Faculty of
Environmental Design. He can be reached at:
rmlevy@ucalgary.ca
Figure 2: Central United Church virtual 3D model (interior).
References and Notes
For software for building 3D urban models see:
www.geotango.com
http://www.multigen.com
http://gis.esri.com/library/userconf/proc03/p0347.pdf
For examples of 3D worlds see:
http://www.ust.ucla.edu/~bill/./UST.html
www.phimai.ca
https://webdisk.ucalgary.ca/~rmlevy/public_html/Centr
al_United/CMO/CentralInt.htm
https://webdisk.ucalgary.ca/~rmlevy/public_html/Centr
al_United/CMO/CentralExt.htm