Our Customers and Case Studies

The Visual City

Urbanisation in the 21st Century The challenges faced by cities are immense. Increased urbanisation is placing increasing demands on water, energy and transport infrastructures. It is estimated that by 2030 US$40 trillion will need to be invested worldwide in urban infrastructure, and at the same time citizens continue to expect high service levels from their city administrators and service providers.

To meet these challenges, city planners and operations staff must make decisions based on evidential data. Cities, however, are inundated with an exponentially increasing volume of data that is often trapped in organisational, business unit or service silos. An increasing proportion of data is now being captured directly in 3D and remotely through aerial imaging and sensors. Making sense of this data is difficult, particularly when datasets are viewed in isolation from one another.

Mirroring the real worldA better approach is to build a digital framework that ‘mirrors’ the real world, combining individual datasets into a coherent whole, forming an accurate authoritative city model. This model becomes the ‘single source of truth’ for all above and below ground spatial management. Well managed, multi-dimensional data enables us to better connect policy, processes, places and people.

Better decision making The Visual City is driven by the concept that more informed people make more informed decisions.

3D visualisation enables more collaborative communication between politicians, bureaucrats and citizens, dramatically lifting the informed quality of debate. It drives an engaging forward-thinking city by making community consultation a compelling, dynamic conversation.

“Inhabiting the virtual city is a process of adapting it and adding to it, of building the connections between places and people that make the on-line world a vibrant and vital environment.” Judith Donath, Founder of Harvard Sociable Media Group

The Visual City

117 Pakenham Street WestWynyard QuarterAuckland 1010New Zealand

PO BOX 90519

Victoria Street WestAuckland 1142New Zealand

T +64 9 889 0111E info@nextspace.co.nz

www.nextspace.co.nz

Solutions for CollectionNextspace Visual City Extractors support extraction and transformation of spatial, geometric and transactional data sources including:

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

• CAD and Building Information Models (BIM)

• Above and Below Ground Asset Information

• LiDAR, Point Clouds and Ground Penetrating Radar

• Aerial Photography, Photogrammetry and Pictometry

• Sub-Surface Terrain and Geotechnical

Solutions for CurationThe curation layer of the Visual City solution enables lifecycle management for your city model assets. The Nextspace Evidential Clearing House (ECH) amalgamates the heterogeneous collection of city data using open or industry standards for data storage and communication.

Source information is processed and reconstituted in line with appropriate standards (including Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), CityGML and relevant ISO standards such as IFC (ISO16739) for building information modelling.

Enabling technologies include SAP Visual Enterprise Generator and the Nextspace Spatial Cache.

Solutions for Interaction3D city models are produced which contain all available business information or metadata. The way users access, visually interact with, and share city data depends on specific application requirements.

Nextspace offers a variety of off the shelf and bespoke solutions for interaction based on fit for purpose technologies such as WebGL, SAP Visual Enterprise, and dedicated rendering and gaming environments.

Our solutions for large-scale city models utilise our unique lightweight 3D model architecture, Spatial Cache and web viewer technology to optimise the web experience. Interactive applications include:

• Nextspace / ARL 3D Enabled Cities Viewer for web and desktop

• SAP Visual Enterprise Viewer

• Nextspace iField (Mobile)

• Nextspace iLusion (Desktop)

• Nextspace Vanadium (Web)

The Visual City is a continually evolving 3D interactive representation of a city and its systems, data and policies, delivered via innovative technology and software. Data is ingested from a range of disparate sources including GIS, CAD and BIM systems, which is processed and displayed through a powerful 3D interactive interface. This solution is the result of New Zealand innovation enabled by market-leading software components from global leader SAP.

3D visualisation technology transforms the integrated data and information from flat, static imagery into dynamic, quality, content-rich applications for city services, systems and community engagement.

Doing more with what is already here nowThe Visual City platform complements existing investment in operational tools such as GIS, Works Management, document management and CAD. It synchronises with this data to provide unified 3D models which deliver innovative visual solutions.

By unlocking silos of information, city planners, operators and utilities managers can make consistent, accurate and timely decisions.

Data sources for the Extractors

Evidential Clearing House

Nextspace/ARL Web 3D City Viewer