Tag Archives: 3D Vector analysis
A quick tour of what's new in 3D Analyst at 10.1
The 3D Analyst at 10.1 solidifies the 3D GIS story delivered with 10. Continuing to expand a fully functional and easy-to-use solution for visualizing, managing, analyzing, and sharing your GIS information in 3D.
The 10.1 release specifically targets users of:
- Virtual Cities (Urban Planners, Emergency response, Public safety)
- Virtual Campuses (Facilities Managers, Defense, Universities, Hospitals)
- Surfaces (Civil engineers, Defense, Forestry, Government)
by expanding and improving:
- the online integration of 3D
- support for authoring and maintaining 3D City and Campus-level data
- support for point clouds, with focus on airborne lidar (LAS) data
New shadow templates available
We have made 2 new shadow templates available in our template gallery.
- 3D Virtual City: Shadows over time This template replaces the old shadow analysis template. It describes the process of creating volumetric shadows over time using the new Skyline Tools available in ArcGIS 10.
- Shadow Analysis: Shadow maps This template describes the process of analyzing volumetric shadows over time. The end result in this case is a so-called shadow map.
Enjoy!
Gert van Maren
3D Product Manager
Updated Shadow analysis template
Happy 2011!
The shadow analysis template on our resource center has been updated. We’ve improved the Sun Skymap tool which calculates the sun positions.
Improvements:
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the Sun Skymap tool works now in ArcScene as well as ArcGlobe
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automatically detects time zone based on machine time
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Horizonal elevation parameter (optional)
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Z factor parameter (optional)
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Tool help
The shadow analysis template shows you how to calculate volumetric shadows in ArcGIS10 using the Skyline tools.
Once you have calculated these shadow volumes, you can use them in subsequent analyses. For example you can calculate which windows receive shadow at a particular time.
In the screenshot below, the colored points represent window locations. Using the Inside3D tool, we can analyze which windows will receive sun (yellow), which windows will receive shadows from existing structures (blue) and which windows will receive shadows from the new proposed structure (red).
Along the same lines, we can calculate which facade areas will receive sun or shadow at any particular time. We can use Intersect3D to intersect the facade of a particular building of interest with the shadow volumes. This allows us to calculate the area affected by shadow of existing buildings, shadow of the proposed building or no shadow effect at all.
Please have a look at the GettingStarted_ShadowAnalysis.pdf in the template for more information on volumetric shadow analysis.
Gert van Maren
3D Product Manager
3D Analyst at 10
3D Analyst 10 makes ArcGIS a complete system for 3D GIS.
That is a big statement so let me explain. Not only can you view your geospatial data in 3D Analyst, at 10 you can edit your data in 3D and analyze your data in 3D. Now that is pretty huge. Most companies focus on 3D visualization of geospatial data and some are very good at it. However you can only look at your data on a globe for so long. After awhile, the WOW factor starts wearing off and you’ll want to edit and analyze your data in 3D. This is what makes 3D Analyst different from 3D viewers.
So what does that mean: Edit in 3D and 3D Analysis?
We have enabled the standard ArcGIS editing environment inside both ArcGlobe and ArcScene. You can create and delete individual features, move, rotate, scale and replace feature geometry. This includes the ability to place 3D models (e.g.: COLLADA files) directly into the 3D view as new multipatch features, and then move / scale / rotate them on the landscape. All the standard editing options – Undo, Redo, Edit Templates, etc – are supported, as is the classic Snapping environment.
We’ve also made huge improvements in the analysis of 3D vector features. We have added 3D boolean operators such as Intersect 3D, Union 3D, Difference3D and Inside 3D to be used with closed multipatches, new GP tools that expose 3D vector analysis specifically for virtual city workflows, such as Skyline and Skyline Barrier and enhanced existing GP tools to work better with 3D – ‘Select by Location’ dialog uses 3D distances, multipatch objects can participate in the Line of Sight tool.
edit in 3D Analyze in 3D
So what does this all mean?
It means that 3DAnalyst 10 is a big leap forward for the handling of 3D GIS data. Not only can you view huge volumes of your data in 3D, you can edit your data in 3D, analyze it in 3D and easily share it with your colleagues or the public.
That sounds great but what can you actually do with it?
I’ll get into that in more detail next time.
Gert van Maren
3D Product Manager
