Keynote Highlights Steps to a National Standard

The opening address by H. Karl Heidemann seemed somewhat of an odd choice to lead off the event with its in-depth focus on the LIDAR Base Specification that is being developed by the USGSONGP. The presentation highlighted the need for a unified national standard in its promotion of a national LIDAR dataset that is gaining momentum in Washington. I worried a bit about the interests of an international audience, and got bogged down a bit in an alphabet soup of acronyms, but the need for the specification was also well covered to give an understanding of the policy and technology issues that are being debated.

ASPRS Presents Hot Topics

The ASPS Hot Topics session on the first morning of the event provided a good introduction about emerging areas of interest including, mobile LIDAR, data collection, high-performance computing for better performance, and training and education initiatives.

In the mobile session, we learned of the considerable expense of these systems, and also some of the paradigm-shifting possibilities from this technology. This introductory session was followed by a whole series of talks that delved into various applications of the technology.

Matt Bethel, the manager of systems engineering at Merrick and Company, provided a good overview of computer performance issues in the data-intensive LIDAR application space at the ILMF conference in Denver. Merrick has benchmarked a lot of different approaches in their need to increase throughput and decrease processing time for faster results. A good portion of investment is on the hardware/software side in a LIDAR shop, but time to process also factors in greatly to bottom-line costs in this process-centric industry.

Haiti Effort Benefits from LIDAR

The Chilean earthquake was 500 times more energetic than in Haiti, although there were 300 times more deaths in Haiti, making it the sixth most lethal in recorded history. Given the level of deaths, the U.S. Geological Survey is studying Haiti in detail, with funding from USAID to understand what happened there, particularly since the global hazard map didn’t pinpoint the Haiti fault as a significant hazard area.

The LIDAR and imagery combination provides a means to quantify land changes, and to assess in the field when different land changes occurred. Feature offsets give a sense of the slip rate along the fault over time. LIDAR is tremendously powerful for the assessment of offset features to understand where damage occurred in the past.

The USGS will be doing an overall hazard map of the area, and LIDAR has been very helpful to assess damage, understand coastal deformation issues, and has enabled the determination of the location of the fault in areas where it wouldn’t be detectable before.

Fusion Points to New Possibilities

Related Blog Posts

• Continuing the Exploration of LIDAR Applications at #ILMF10
• Mobile Mapping Investment is Considerable
• High Performance Computing Aids LIDAR Work
• LIDAR for Earthquake Planning and Post-Event Assessments
• Fusion of Hyperspectral and LIDAR Yields More Realistic Urban Model for Simulation
• LIDAR is a Key Tool for the Measurement of Ecosystem Services

imagina 2010 was recently held in Monaco. The event included a 3D track together with an architecture and landscape-territory track this year , both of which proved highly successful. Several leaders in the 3D city, building and construction design space were present. Lively discussions and debates about the current future possibilities for evolving 3D technologies and applications were included. A 3D Ethics Charter was signed at the event. Jeff Thurston reports in the second of a two-part summary of the event. 

Stephane Tockler, Manager of the Agglomeration Community of the Pays de Montbeliard delivered a presentation on 3D for this area of France. He spoke about the perceptions people take away with visual representations, particularly maps, and that a need exists to ensure these products are accurate. Tockler also said, "3D is no longer a debate anymore," once again pointing the common theme of this event many expressed - 3D is already here.

Sovereign Prince Albert II signs the 3D Ethics Charter

Pays de Montbeliard is an area of of 250 sq. km., 950 km of roads and contains over 44,000 buildings. The current spatial infrastructure in the city includes the finance department, logistics and numerous other departments. Photogrammetry is available for the entire 250 sq. km2 and orthophotos are also available for an area of 430 sq. km2. It was mentioned that the city manages it's area by considering the surrounding area - thus explaining the larger photo coverage.

Questions in the follow up debates to the session surrounding the return on investment. The cost of aerial imagery was expensive, but the data was being used for more applications. The project was completed over 5 years at a cost of Euro 600,000. Work is now progressing toward involving the public into the data and becoming more aware of the city through visualisation.

Dave Capstick is a research scientist at the Ordnance Survey UK and he spoke about 3D Modeling at the Ordnance Survey. That organisation began in 1791 and includes about 1200 staff, with 250 of them full-time surveyors. It produces several digital map products. OS does not currently sell 3D products. But Capstick said that the organisation is deeply involved in 3D research.

"The issue for Ordnance Survey surrounds being able to integrate all of our data sources to a wide and varied public with many interests," he said. OS has not only a wide number of products, but a long history of records and data. "Issues relating to interoperability are also important" and "level of detail is a fundamental issue with all of our datasets." He also mentioned that "what looks good in 2D is not simply transferrable to 3D," a point that few people have mentioned to date.

OS has used NGATE with BAE Systems NGATE along with Socet Set to mask and manage data points in 3D. The next question that was of interest to the organisation related to the data storage and how to achieve that optimally.  Capstick said that automated methods for data capture to single heights was being used, and that manual editing supplemented the work. CityGML was mentioned a few times and is being realised using GML 3 for applications and planning.

Other work related to noise simulations, disaster management, GML to XML conversion and different levels of detail within visualisations (LOD). "OS see's many issues relating the use of 3D," he said. Alan Noel is director of the GIS and Urban Development department for the city of Annecy, France. Covering 14 sq. km2 that city was flown and aerial imagery gathered in 2007.

NOOMEO handheld 3D laser scanner

Noel pointed to the three primary areas that Annecy uses 3D data for:

1) real estate
2) topographic maps and cadastre
3) GIS applications

Accurate definitions have been developed for each area based on RGF93 CC46. Orthophotos include 10 cm accuracy and a digital land use registry has been developed. The topographic base is developed in 3D and is based on ArcGIS software with added ArcScene support.  LandSIM 3D has been used to model landscapes based on BAT13D software from IGN France.  Fascades within the model are using CityGML and operations are careful about the terminology they use to avoid confusion. "A key goal for us is not to lose detail from our high quality data," Noel said. Secondly, "we make outools available to all departments as a way to get higher use." 

The city is employing creative means to involve local students as assistants into the community data and to help with managing the systems. Learning and work programs are established. The City of Montreal, Canada was represented by Mr. Richard Mongeau of the division of geomatics within that city. His presentation explored and explained the far reaching gains that Montreal has realised through the use of geospatial tools and technologies, particularly those involving visualisation. He was able to show underground assets in that city in visualisations, something seen as rare by most accounts. 

With 350,000 buildings in the Montreal area, the project began in 2005 and is built upon one model extending throughout the city for multiple users. Vexcel ULTACAM were used to captures imagery and LiDAR and laser scanning data is also included into the data store. AutoCAD 3D is used through most engineering branches of the government and textures along with attribute information are included into the model. 

Mongeau explained how the single georeferencing is helping multiple datasets to integrate information. Nearly  5000 monuments in the greater Montreal area are also included into the database. The city benefits from a RTK GPS network that enables a high level of positioning accuracy across all projects and ensures that data is geo-enabled from the field to the database.

Montreal also includes a rich set of metadata, which, is something few other projects during the conference discussions mentioned. Consequently one can easily see that the city of Montreal is quite advanced in terms of not only integrating it's spatial information, but that includes supporting useability information also.  As Mongeau explained, "we aim to provide different levels of intelligence within the data depending on the users needs." "Generally speaking, one day of surveying results in 3-4 days of indoor work managing and processing that information," Mongeau said. "Our past experiences without standards and accuracy showed problems in cement  work and other construction projects," he said. LOD is seen as a way to inform about level of quality in Montreal.

Helene Durand, a geomatics specialist from Atelier Langeudocien d'information Spatialisee in Montpellier talked about scale issues for visualisations relating to a UNESCO site. Her region included about 400,000 sq. km2 within a model. Ortho-photogrammetry was used to provide multi-view visualisations and videos for the region. "It is important to be able to translate landscapes, to talk about and share them with others - how do we do that with visualisation?" she asked.

ENODO industrial gaming display

I met with the people from NOOMEO, a company from Laberge, France who manufacture a handheld laser scanner. This was an impressive device. Simply by holding the scanner in hand, then sweeping it around an object, that object was captured in 3D and presented.  REFSA is a service center company that is based upon Autodesk products. It displayed the latest products from Autodesk including Revit, 3ds Max, Maya and AutoCAD 2010.

I-Imagner is based upon Open Source 3D and displayed OpenSpace3D, a free platform for editing in 3D. SimplySim is a 3D Engine that can be used to create 3D simulations. While billed as a 'serious game' product, the engine has good application possibilities for geodata use. ENODO is a company that creates high end visualisations and video-game technology for industrial needs. I had the chance to work an excavator using their product. 

This type of interactive visualisation has numerous applications for operating equipment in 3D or to learn from remote locations. IGN France is a national agaency that presented numerous materials on that agencies involvement both within France and around the world in terms of the projects and initiatives that it is involved in.

Wacom exhibited their digital pen which is described as "direct pen-on-screen input, the DTU-2231 is designed to optimize efficiency and productivity by allowing geophysicists, oil & gas experts, planners, engineers, cartographers and emergency responders to quickly and easily create original content, edit maps as well as manage, analyze and share geographic information." CaniVIZ exhibited their 3D Multi-media viewer. It handles 3DStudio (3DS), WaveFront (OBJ), Stereo Lithography (STL), Voxel (PTS), XGL files and can export in DXF format. The software allows complex 3D models to render extremely fast.

Wacom digital design pen

Sylvain Hourcade of Genesis spent some time with me explaining 3D sound and running through a few demonstrations. Using his samples, I was able to hear airplanes flying overhead and sounds passing through 3D space.

This technology impressed, particularly since it could be added into 3D landscape sounds and visualizations. Dalibor Cizek and Michael Starr of Cicada Design in Toronto made the trip to the conference to learn about European efforts in visualisation.

They showed me some interesting projects they have worked upon in the city of Toronto and surrounding regions for large scale, high-quality architectural design. 

Jerome Bellocq showed me Patchwork 3D, a program from Lumiscaphe that renders high quality images. In the example we sat with, I was able to order a car and see all the interior options in such a quality that they looked real to me.

It was uncanny and impressive. The product obviously has potential for rendering indoor design materials and textures. LexIP released what is billed as the world's first 3D mouse.

Fabien Rizzotto explained that using the mouse one does not have to move the hand, instead, tipping the palm and balancing the mouse as it moves in place tilting will move the cursor. The net benefit of this lies in the fact that one does not have to slide the hand around a desktop.

In summary, the imagina event was filled with useful information. The conference sessions were excellent with lively debate and discussion which helped to answer many different questions people have and to enable broader understanding of what was being displayed on the show floor.

I wish I could have attended the sessions, but my notepad was filled with useful notes and information from the Landscape and Territory sessions. I hope this continues with next year's show.

Read Part 1 - imagina 2010

More Information:

3DTV Solutions

CaniVIZ

Wacom

Genesis

PNY

MG2

LUMISCAPHE

LEXIP

Architect and urban designer Jean Nouvel

ESRI

Autodesk

imagina 2010 was recently held in Monaco. The event included a 3D track together with an architecture and landscape-territory track this year , both of which proved highly successful. Several leaders in the 3D city, building and construction design space were present. Lively discussions and debates about the current future possibilities for evolving 3D technologies and applications were included. A 3D Ethics Charter was signed at the event. Jeff Thurston reports on the first of a two-part summary of the event. 

imagina 2010 was held February 3-5 in Monaco. This event was extended this year to include a Architecture, Urbanism and Territory Management track which was wholly compatible with and augmented the traditional visualisation tracks involving cinema and video gaming. The 3D track centered upon issues relating to urban and green design. The theme was timely and world renowned architect Jean Nouvel presented several examples of his work including the Ferrari Factory in Modena - Italy, apartments in SoHo - New York, Genoa Trade Fair - Genoa, Italy and several of his designs that have either to be built, were declined or have been delayed at the moment.

Meilleure Maquette Territoriale 3D / Best 3D Territory Model
Société / Company: RÉPUBLIQUE ET CANTON DE GENEVE - SERVICE DE LA 
MENSURATION OFFICIELLE - HEPIA
Pays / Country: Switzerland
Réalisation / Direction - Post Production - Distribution: HEPIA - 
University of Applied Sciences Western
Production: State of Geneva & "HEPIA" - University of Applied Sciences Western 

He said that a design for the Environmental Education Centre in Holland was developed with direct relationship to the topography, with the building becoming part of the landscape.

Nouvel discussed the various 'approaches' to design including algorithmic types that depended upon scripts and mathematical equations to create contemporary designs.

These would include genetic types of designs that mimic nature. Indeed one could see this approach present in much of his work that included fractal designs and crystal-like representations.

This type of architecture represented a step away from pre- fabrication he said, and was based on botanics and natural elements. The 'systems' approach was more in line with ecosystems and the dialogue expanded to include the environment.

The concept of Green Design would fall into the later category, while efficiency was also considered and the design complexity was evident. He spoke about networks and the flow of building patterns, an example being Ecosystema Urbano - Spain. Others included Solar Tower Energy - Australia, a design that was based on managing solar energy. "Digital 3D technology is not something we guess about now, it has matured and is available now and has been for twenty years," Nouvel said.

Anne Asensio is vp Dassault Systemes Design Experience and I sat with her asking about that company's presence into the Green Building and Design space. She indicated that Dassault Systemes brings a wealth of experience and knowledge about design to the green - environmental field since it is a systems based company that has learned (and experienced) a wealth of knowledge about processes through design projects that it re-applies to new projects and applications. 

Meilleure Maquette Territoriale 3D / Best 3D Territory Model
Société / Company: NUMERICA
Pays / Country: France
Réalisation / Direction: CAPM
Production - Distribution: Sem Numerica
Post Production: Virtuel City 

Pierre Jaboyedoff is a research and development engineer at Sorane SA and he explained the value of 3D through example. In one case a project had lighting issues in the design and through 3D these issues were solved. He showed how balancing energy in 3D helped to design a naturally ventilating stairwell.

The CSTB was represented by Eric Lebegue who spoke on the topic of building trade and the need for identifying ways to involve more people into the digital design of buildings and construction. "We have a highly heterogenous environment with low interoperability between technologies," he said. He specifically pointed to the work being dome on Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs) and some of that agency's projects including CLIMAWIN, ELODIE AND OPTIMI. Lebegue says builders are moving toward an integrated approach where systems are prevalent and collaboration is high.

"Each of these systems will have high performance levels and users will be able to choose standardized products for inclusion into building systems." Some of this work coincides with the BuildingSmart initiative. He suggested that certain building tasks will trigger the use of systems in the future and help to automate the building process. "The real question becomes a challenge once this starts to happen because it is the adjacent spaces that will need to be realised as this process occurs."

Each of the tracks was followed by a Q&A and I have to say that these were some of the best that I have attended. The audience remained in place and their wide ranging experiences contirbuted toward a lively discussion - one that the organisers left ample time for, which is seldom appreciated in most conferences. Topics ranged from discovering new ways for making collaborative data available, including standards and privacy related issues. It was mentioned that transparent tools are needed that conform to traceability, assessment and reliability checks.

One person noted that savings due to 3D need to be documented better. There was a sense that money needs to be invested in 3D for communication as compared to seeing communication as a budget item to be cut. "Why collect, design and create then not follow through on talking and representing?"

There was also mention of the need to talk about 3D quality. "We need 3D without explanation," someone said. Other quesions realted to neogeography and public participation in the building and design process. Some surveys have shown that 60% of the people in project design neighbourhoods are looking for ways to participate in 3D design projects. I found this fascinating. While the industry has been developing general social tools, the creation and availability of public design tools is yet to come.

Dassault Systemes presented on the topic of their upcoming City Life 2.0 product which is expected in early 2011. The idea behind the product follows through on the company's approach to projects, namely, to integrate complex systems from a multitude of experiences. In this case social tools would coincide with the development. Energy would become part of the equation for establishing balanced, sustainable cities and it is expected that Dassault Systemes would include several types of tools within the project. They also spoke about the development of a series of 3D tools for participation and design. Based on their development, the company expects the path for development will include:

• Content - shared simulations, noise, traffic etc.
• Services - interactions, access, citizen services, citizen watch
• Communities - partnerships and collaboration

Dassault Systemes has explored the business model for creating a single digital model. While a city needs a digital city model, different providers (with purposes) will need to access that model. It was mentioned that software toolkits could be sold through the model to create a series of services. When I step back to consider this, that approach would tie neatly to the standards being developed for IFC and some of the ongoing CityGML work being done. Individuals and organisations could not only participate, but sell specialised tools within a framework of digital city models. Looking for an analogy? Think about airlines sharing booking systems - then extrapolate it.

Architect Jean Nouvel

Eric Piccuezzu of Dassault Systemes spoke about the partnership with Gehry Technologies and the need to have tools that enable higher productivity. He explained what is termed 'Building In Life' and the 'BIMification' currently evident but also lacking in collaborative tools.

This was impacting the industry in a negative light he felt and making it difficult to attract younger people into the building and construction industry. The lack of skilled labor being a constantly voiced thought around the world. "Sustainable design will include and depend upon compliance with new regulations, new simulation and product life management."

Piccuezzu neatly identified how the building strategy of the Dassault Systemes coincides with the overall green and sustainable strategy built upon community, content and services. The Gehry Technologies initiative was built on the notion that 3D can solve incredible problems.

It began in 2003 with Dassault Systemes and Gehry technologies signing a partnership. This resulted in CATIA in 2004, the leading 3D design tool from the company. It has been estimated that 90% of all building projects are over budget and these tools are used to reduce that inefficiency. The challenge is to more fully optimise the design process. The use of 3D is viewed with many benefits including:

• incorporate automation processes
• precise geometry
• transferrable design models
• precise budgeting
• financial modeling optimisation
• project controls
• design internalisation
• quicker design to fabrication
• performance driven optimisation
• development of construction logistics
• better provisioning
• assistance with design quantities
• shade and light adjustment
• interactive illuminance

Christian Pere, a lecturer at L'ENSAM Cluny presented on that engineering school which has 8 different centres. At Le Project Gunzo in Burgundy there are 5000 people. This location was the center of Europe in the middle ages and had the highest church in the 12th century. It was destroyed in 1799 with only 8% of the original structure standing today. It is now managed by the French National monument authority and receives over 100,000 visitors annually. Pere said that a new initiative began in 2002 to create a virtual simulation of the church. Work focused on volumes and lighting. By 2010 the Gunzo Project was ready to celebrate 1000 years in a ceremony and the project nearly complete.

This involved the use of Trimble GPS equipment for digitisation and location finding along with laser related work. Fragments of stone were scanned and positioned in a new 3D model and high resolution pictures were taken by digital camera from balloon. Engineers, geographers and historians worked together to reconstruct the site in exact detail together with textures in the visualisation. The work was completed using CATIA.

The Thursday session turned attention toward 3D City & Territory Modelling: Issues and Perspectives. GIS was used discussed by Jean Francois Coulais of the same institution in terms of the system of tools being used in design processes. ArcGIS allowed for scales and historical documentation to be included into workflows. At one point people broke away from the GIS paradigm he mentioned, instead preferring to work alone. "Now it appears that collaboration and the integration aspects of GIS are bringing people together once again."

Coulais spoke about hand drawings in the development of city designs. "We want to work in different scales for different purposes," he said. "It is important to work with history. Memory - hisotry - identity and function."Jacques Soignon, Director of City Parks for the City of Nantes, France presented on the interesting work in that city. He described the GPS located trees and vegetation and suggested that this work had great potential leading toward the development of ecological services and biodiversity management as it impacts legislation.

Towards that end Coulais described the Skyline web browser for using historical information, including archaeological information. There are questions remaining though, such which thematic layers to include, scale issues and different types of models all operating within one historical or city environment. To meet these challenges he suggested more interoperability, working toward standards for historical information, integrity of data, need for virtual tools inside buildings and files that are lightweight.

"Perhaps we need enhanced reality beacons," he said. These being screens that assist to guide us. At CLUNY the institution has become the laboratory for experimentation. The work there has led toward tablets that people carry through historic sites, each filled with advanced reconstructions of those sights and changing pictures through the use of gyroscopes. Henri Pornon of leti Consulting pointed out that GIS was likely part of the 3D future due to it's integrative nature and new ways of GIS would likely arise in the future.

The final day saw a larger number of presentations on 3D Modelling for areas. Methods and results were presented and Jean Marie Fournillier, Director of Urban Development for the City of Lyon presented on very high definition modelling for the Pays de Montbeliard. Lyon includes 57 communities, 51,500 ha of land management with 80% of it's 1.3 million inhabitants located within Rhone. Applications tied together in the mangement infrastructure include water, sewage, highways, parking, documents and housing information. All information is RGE ZVD compatible and are updated in 6 month time periods.

Included are 16x24 pixel imagery, DTM and 1:200 topographic plans. Lyon has been working on a digital city framework for nearly 20 years Fournillier said. The city uses ArcInfo, AutoCAD Map 3D, MapGuide and several Open Source software including MapServer, Postgresql, ERMapper and Safe Software's FME. "People in our region are demanding more 3D," Fournillier said. Working with the company SpaceEyes, 3D models are now being developed for the Carre de Soie neighbourhood and 6 sq. km have been developed to date.

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Next Week read Part II of the imagina 2010 event on topics related to digital cities, 3D models in government and some of the many private industry company's in attendance at the event.

[PART - 2]

More Information:

Keynotes Focus on Technology Advancement and Reality

Allan Carswell, the founder of the Canada-based LIDAR company Optech, provided the opening keynote. Carswell has been working with LIDAR since 1960 and has been responsible for a great degree of technological advancement as well as the application of the technology in areas as diverse as the capture of measurements of the built world to use on Mars exploration missions.

Carswell spoke about the future development of the technology with greater and greater pulse rates of lasers and the measurement of multiple returns for whole new levels of accuracy and measurements that can be classified. On the software side there is a need and interest to provide synergy among the different sensors and to automate the data collection.

Carswell was asked about the application of these tools for global warming and global change. He asserted that atmospheric LIDAR are leading the way, particularly at the poles, for our understanding of warming. The tools are also of great use in improving our energy efficiency, with measurements of buildings for retrofit. He also discussed the application of coherent LIDAR systems that send out a beam to measure wind several kilometers out for precise wind measurements that avoid for wind farms.

The level of potential for this technology was referred to as the LIDAR Revolution, given the great potential. Carswell indicated that we’re just scratching the surface and there are all sorts of potential applications with exponential growth that will be accompanied by a great degree of changes in all aspects of technology application from planning, procedure, data acquisition and assimilation.

Dr. Paul Debevec, director of the UC Institute for Creative Technologies, provided an inspiring keynote about the collection of data for realistic rendering and simulation. His work is at the forefront of what’s possible for the application of scanning and rendering for film-based animation in the entertainment industry.

Debevec provided a technology progression from his pioneering work that was done for his Ph.D. He developed some of the first software for the stitching of photos together in an automated fashion (think PhotoSynth) that applied photogrammetry techniques to create a realistic model of the Berkeley Campus back in 1997. He showed the use of kite-based aerial images along with other low-cost, low-tech capturing methods to provide a realistic model of the campus. A short movie was made that caught the eye of Hollywood and some of the techniques that were developed were used in the development of the Matrix movie series to provide the background images to the slowed-down scenes where the hero Nero dodges bullets.

Debevec continues to fine-tune the realism of his models, with the ultimate goal of realistic animated computer renderings. The level of technical hurdles to capture true realism shows the many benefits that Hollywood investments will enable in other fields, including forensics, medical, AEC, etc.

Mobile mapping seemed to explode at this year's event with six different mobile mapping platforms on display outside the convention center. Mobile mapping is being touted as breakthrough technology that will usher in a new paradigm for collecting survey and GIS data. This technology offers the ability to collect millions of points at once at highway speeds that you can then distill down and use for all sorts of applications.

This image features the Optech Lynx system that is being utilized by McKim & Creed.

Scan to BIM

At last year’s SPAR Conference, there was a good deal of discussion about the potential for scanning within the BIM community, but this year there was more of a focus on actual projects. A telling story of the progression of the productivity shift that has happened with the advent of LIDAR tools is that in the past a large project may have needed five surveyors in the field with just one CAD operator. When tripod-mounted LIDAR arrived that shifted to one or two field workers, and five CAD jockeys back in the office. That further shifts with mobile LIDAR to one or two operators in the field and twenty back in the office. With this change to heavier data processing burdens, and the increasing volumes of data that accompany the more advanced collection tools and methods, there’s an obvious and glaring need for quicker and more automated processes.

In all of the Scan to BIM sessions at the event, there was a great degree of discussion about format and software manipulations. In a GSA project in Chicago, a team used no fewer than 14 different software packages and discussed a format workflow that includes COBIE, gbXML, IFC, DGN, DWG, etc.

The worldwide architectural design firm HKS has been doing some impressive large-scale scan to BIM projects. HKS assigns one person as a controller of this complex process to facilitate and manage the manipulations of files and formats to develop a central integrated file. This person aptly holds the title of Data Wrangler.

Given the complexity of the tasks and the limitations of the software to capture and quickly render the level of details in such large models, it’s only a matter of time before more interoperability and performance are brought to bear on the problem. Until these issues are ironed out, any firm conducting such work should be prepared for data wrangling pains.

The participants at the event came from far and wide to see the latest in technology innovation and application. There was a good level of technology innovation since this group met last year, and a number of large and impressive projects on display. Given this high level of activity worldwide, we can expect this technology sector to continue along its rapid growth path, with more gains on display at next year's event.

Related Blog Posts

• SPAR 2010 Keys on Application Opportunities
• LIDAR Pioneer Speaks to Technology Advancement and Application
• Paul Debevec Pushes the Capture of Light to Make Models More Realistic
• Alice Labs Focuses on High Resolution Virtual Reality
• HKS Aptly Names a Data Wrangler Position in Scan to BIM Projects
• ClearEdge3D Proves the Worth of Their EdgeWise Technology
• Earth Eye Provides Soup to Nuts from Data Collection to Internet Mapping

Jack Dangermond, the founder and president of ESRI, made the event happen, but he repeatedly stated that the concept is meant to be inclusive and not driven by his company alone. He related that, "GIS is changing rapidly, infecting and affecting everything that people do. Where it will go to bring our science, our understanding, and our modeling together gives me the chills.”

The opening keynote from Tom Fisher, dean of the College of Design at the University of Minnesota spoke to the urgency of action that is needed to address the many "fracture critical" systems that humans have created. Examples of systems that we have a tenuous hold on include the financial system, housing, food, transportation and ecological systems. He said that we've created an elaborate ponzi scheme with our planet that suck resource and exploit labor to sustain ourselves, but that can't be sustained. He also quoted Bill McKibben in stating that we need to remember what we used to know and used to do, living in an age of great amounts of information, but great forgetfulness.

The Special Role of GIS

Carl Steinitz, research professor at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard led off the plenary on day two of the GeoDesign Summit with a presentation that discussed the different approaches to design. He asserted that the process is by no means linear, and that understanding the decision process is far more important than understanding the technology.

He related different rules that inform the design approach, and that scale matters greatly in the approach as things that work at a small scale don’t often work at a large scale. At the large scale there is a focus on strategy. At the small scale there is a focus on detail.

Before the design process begins there are a number of questions that must be asked and a number of models that must be constructed in order to understand how the landscape operates to understand if it’s working well. This involves evaluation models, change models, impact models, and decision models.

At the next stage after the various data is gathered and a clear picture of problems is understood, then the design process begins. Steinitz outlined five different design approaches and gave examples of each.

Anticipatory – with a holistic view of the future, we use deductive logic to see how we get there.

Sequential – A series of steps that get us to the result with a directed approach that uses abductive logic.

Combinatorial – Most valuable when we’re not sure what to do. Uses inductive logic. We see the choices that you have to make and work to choose the best plan. Some things are more important than other things, and understanding the combinations helps assure the right approach.

Constraining – Getting people to understand what they want by narrowing their choices. This is an experimental approach that uses sensitivity analysis to narrow the response to defined constraints.

Optimizing – This is a directed and objective-driven approach. With this approach the designs are as much about what not to do, as they are about what’s best.

The framing of design outside of technology’s influence provided a good reminder that there are many different approaches that work. Steinitz left us with the thought that designing something is an art that requires judgment. That science is important, tools are important, but there are tradeoffs and ultimately the designers make a choice.

The GeoDesign Summit took place at ESRI Headquarters in the recently completed Building Q, which houses a state-of-the-art theater.

A Language and Storytelling Medium

Michael Gallis, an expert on developing multisystem approaches to strategic planning, gave a lightening talk that related the work that his firm has done with the National Surface Transportation Revenue and Study Commission in the prior administration. Geospatial visualization that conveyed increasing levels of dimensionality and increasing connectivity drove consensus among a contentious group.

Gallis spoke of GeoDesign as a visual language that transforms pictures into a language of information. As a language, it’s important for GeoDesign to have structure and syntax, and must convey meanings. He spoke of the importance of images for executive-level decisions for their power to immediately convey relationships.

Bran Ferrin, co-founder of Applied Minds, provided an entertaining and engaging final keynote at the GeoDesign Summit. Ferren spoke a good deal about innovation and different inventions that changed the world. Beginning with language, the written word, the telephone, and radio. The recurring theme of all these world-changing innovations is that all inventors didn’t understand the purpose of what they invented, and that all the inventions weren’t appreciated for their value at the time they were conceived. Storytelling is also an important element in each of these investments.

GeoDesign has the ability to be the next storytelling medium. Colliding the computer revolution and putting it into a form that has the effect of changing the evolution of our planet. We’ve been designing how we house society for thousands of years the same way, and GeoDesign has the ability to change how we design.

Nine Idea Labs

There were nine groups that met in the afternoons of the event to hash through issues and advancements that are needed in specific areas. Following is an idea of some of the main topics that each of the nine groups addressed along with their action plans.

Developing Theories, Practices and Approaches: This group aimed to address the integration of GeoDesign with GIScience. They aim to build a common ontology that aligns languages, tool sets and workflows to meaningful work in a globalized world where everything is connected. Among the challenge items they identified was the need to integrate design methods with the models that use scientific knowledge to inform us about our world and about human behavior. The action item that this group discussed was to put together a library of cases.

Education and Training: The educators looked at geodesign as an approach that could be taught rather than a body of knowledge. The group spoke of the age of Twitter and instant information as a means to enhance collaboration with a whole new approach. The action items they identified were to compare the body of knowledge between GIS and landscape architects and other disciplines in order to better understand what a collaborative cross-disciplinary approach entails.

Sketching, Inference and Feedback: The tools and design flow group spoke about harnessing new technologies such as multi-touch and tablet machines to approximate and enhance the intuitiveness of sketching. The idea is to capture design stages, iterations and versions over time in a way that becomes the preferred medium for communicating design.

Architecture (BIM): This group looked at the key processes of preliminary design, detailed design, construction, operations/maintenance and redesign. They cautioned that a good deal of work needs to be put into developing standards through the OGC and the Building SMART Alliance in order to focus on user needs as the established vendors and users have a stake in the status quo.

Participatory: The contextual issues that this group addressed were to make sure the geodesign process enhances and enables creativity, is inviting, is replicable, is modular and interoperable and is distributed. Their goal is to improve public participation and the workflows that can make geodesign a more collaborative process.

Urban Areas: This group stated that the idea of geodesign will be make or break in the urban context because our cities are our most complex human design, and it is geodesign that will provide the ability to understand the complexities.

Landscape and Regional Scales: At the regional scale were ways to use ecological concepts to inform the management of land use, resources, infrastrucutre and energy distribution. This group spoke a great deal about the means to manage dependencies across large projects and the need to integrate many different models as well as disciplines and individuals. The action items for the group were to foster education, research and the development of case studies that test and evolve the existing tools.

The Role of 3D: This group spoke to the ability of 3D to enhance visualization and to immerse the viewer into the story that the designer is trying to tell. To date performance is a huge issue as the speed needs to improve greatly in order to make sure 3D doesn't get in the way.

Simulation, Analysis and Assessment: Time and 3D were seen as the core elements for this group and they suggested that dashboard approaches may be the way to integrate users experience and present data in a way that enhances and integrates the user experiences. The dashboard hides complexity and allows the designer to focus on design.

At the end of the event the different discussion groups involved a great deal of action items that were fostering follow up work and committee commitments. A great number in the audience pledged additional work to further define and advance the ideas that this inaugural event fostered.

Discussions for further outreach included the idea of engaging various association communities such as the American Planning Association, the American Society of Landscape Architecture, the American Institute of Architects, the Association of American Geographers, and others. The American Planning Association was present at the event and a commitment was made to hold sessions and panels at their annual conference and to publish features within their magazine and journal to outline the event. Similar outreach is expected within other associations and communities.

The idea of a book or books was discussed, and there was a good degree of debate about whether a book was the right medium and whether it should be a coordinated effort. Various ideas for wikis and other collaborative sites were discussed as an alternative or addition to a hard bound and finite collection of ideas.

Funding for research was discussed, with the idea of a new approach to the National Science Foundation. The Department of Energy was also suggested as a source for funding for projects along the lines of combating climate change. There was also discussion of environment-oriented associations and the possibility for funding on a more local or regional scale for research projects and agendas.

The participants in the event were heavily North American, and the idea of broader global participation was also suggested. The idea of funding from the international communities such as the United Nations and World Bank was of interest to broaden the scope. It was suggested that there are more designers and planners internationally than there are geospatial users, and there are opportunities to spread the word worldwide, particularly with the expressed intent to change the world.

One of the takeaways from the GeoDesign Summit is the idea of a GeoDesign Challenge to encourage the adoption of geodesign principles, and to spur showcase projects that address issues of global change for the stewardship of the planet. The idea is a significant award ($50,000) that goes to the best application of the concept of GeoDesign to leverage the idea on real landscapes or the development of research projects that have impact on advancing the idea of GeoDesign.

There was wide consensus among the participants that this event should be held again to further the work and to bring more participants together.

• GeoDesign as a Return to the Potential of GIS
• Goodchild on the Yin and Yang of GIS
• GeoDesign Provides the Basis for a New Language
• Steinitz Discusses Different Design Approaches
• Ferren Asserts that GeoDesign is the Next Storytelling Medium
• The Inclusive Push for GeoDesign
• GeoDesign Challenge to Spur Meaningful Work
• The Fresh Start that GeoDesign Offers