Virtual Cities

of the Future and Past

Paul Cote
Geographic Information Systems Specialist
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
 Harvard
University
Graduate
School of
Design

Harvard University
Graduate School of Design
500 Design Students

250 Architecture 50 Urban Planning

Harvard University 100 Urban Design 100 Landscape
Graduate School of Design
A Knowledge Engine
GSD Studio Culture:
75% of Student effort focused
on one studio problem
100 Studios per year at the
GSD
Focus on representing,
understanding, modifying and
evaluating places: Appearance
& performance
Many Many Models are
Made!!!
An intense replica of the
greater world of design

Harvard University
Graduate School of Design
 Studio Information Lifecycle

Start Semester Finish

Collect Information: Synthesis / Study: Presentation Materials:

Site Photos Maps Maps
GIS Data Digital 3D Models 3D Models
CAD Data Physical 3D Models Animations
Documents Simulation Models Document ation
Process Understanding Sources / Bibliography
End of Term

Small Fraction
Suited for Re-Use Bulk of Knowledge is Many Mysterious
Lost Presentation
Harvard University
Graduate School of Design
Documents
 Information Lifecycle in Site Studies
Compile Data / Author / Modify Visualize / Study Evaluate:
Create Schema: Programmatic Alternatives:
Regulation
Discover, Obtain, Capacity Performance
Transform, Organize Groundplan & Impacts
Streetscape, Shadows
Ideas & Information Views Communicate:
Landform Narrative,
Circulation Coherence with Graphics,
Information Context Video
Infrastructure Buildings Collaborate /
Information & Ideas Vegetation Finance, Phasing
Share:
About Places & Resources,
Processes Understanding,
Procedures
(In--House or Internet)
(In
Paul Cote, 2008

Exchange: between specialized tools

Exchange: Individuals & Enterprises to Shared
Infrastructure
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Graduate School of Design
 It Takes a Village of Specialized
Tools
Compile Data / Evaluate /
Author / Modify Synthesize / Study
Create Schema: Share

AutoCAD Maya, 3D Studio, Revit Ecotect

ArcGIS V-Ray
Rhino
Adobe
Agency/Firm RevIt
Public Knowledge
GIS Tree Pro Master CAM Agency/Firm
Base
Knowledge Base

Many Specialized Tools

Harvard University One-Way, Lossy Exchanges

Paul Cote Graduate School of Design
November 13 , 2008 7
 GSD Handbook
for Site Modeling in Context

http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/gis/manual/workflow2/index.htm

Harvard University
Graduate School of Design Paul Cote NOMA Boston October 7
Virtual Cities as a Mirror with Memory

Harvard University
Graduate School of Design Paul Cote NOMA Boston October 7
Collaboration of Administrative Domains

Public Works Tax Planning &

Photogrammetry Assessor Design Review

State / Federal Permitting and Emergency

Inspection Planning and
Response

The most authoritative information about an urban

situation are collected and maintained by a host of
administrative departments that employ a variety of
Harvard University
data models
Graduate Schooland
of tools
Design 10 Paul Cote,
Collaboration of Administrative Domains

Understanding

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Graduate School of Design
Collaboration of Territorial Domains

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Graduate School of Design 1/29/2011 12
Collaboration of Territorial Domains

Understanding

Town /
Town A Campus B

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Graduate School of Design 13
 Memory and Intelligence

• Past Situation

• Current Situation

• Possible Scenarios

• Planned Scenario

• If these alternate views of the city are expressed in

common terms, much might be learned about urban
mechanics and the probable consequences of
decisions.

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Graduate School of Design 14 Paul Cote,
 Necessity for
Shared Semantic Models

Harvard University
Graduate School of Design Paul Cote NOMA Boston October 7
 One-Way, Lossy Exchanges

Inputs Outputs

Domain
/ Tool A Domain
!&$@#
/ Tool B
Outputs Inputs (e.g. CAD
(e.g. GIS, RDBMS) / BIM)

Semantic
Trash Bin
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Graduate School of Design 16
 Coherent Spatial / Semantic Models
Real World Conceptual
Concepts: Information Model
Critical Entities

Relationships
Kolbe & Groeger CityGML

“The building
meets the terrain
along this line.”
Kolbe & Groeger CityGML
e.g. Observations, e.g. UML (Unified
Prescriptions, Rules Modeling Language)
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Graduate School of Design 17 Paul Cote,
 Coherent Conceptual & Data Models
Conceptual Technical
Information Model Implementation

Business Processes
Outputs

Binary
Data
Storage
Inputs

Programs &
Business
Logic
Kolbe & Groeger CityGML
e.g. Software tools:
Proprietary or Open
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Graduate School of Design 18 Paul Cote,
 Shared Conceptual Models &
Exchanges
Round Trip with Coherent Semantics

Outputs
Inputs

Domain Outputs
Domain
Tool A Inputs Tool B

Kolebe and Groeger: CityGML

See: Stadler & Kolbe: Spatio-Semantic Coherence in the Integration of 3D City Models
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Graduate School of Design 19
 Community Based Standards Development

Communities Industry Consortium International Standards

Organization
• Engineers • Understanding • Foundation Standards
• Information Structure
• Tool Makers • Consensus • Service Protocols

• Content Creators • Application Standards • Application Standards

• Service Providers

• Users
Participation

Assured Stable Environment

Lots of Interoperable Content!

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Graduate School of Design 20
 Community Based Standards Development
Standards Organizations Encodings Service Protocols

SQL
structured query
language

HTTP
hypertext transfer
protocol

WMS
web map service

GML WFS
web feature service

WCS
web coverage service

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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote, 2008 21
 Some KML, KMZ Collada Examples

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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote NOMA Boston October 7
The Virtual City Collective: A Forum on the Web

http://groups.google.com/group/virtual-city-collective
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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote NOMA Boston October 7
The Google Earth Train Set

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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote NOMA Boston October 7
The Greenline Station Workshop

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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote NOMA Boston October 7
Executive Office of Transportation:
College Avenue Station Plan

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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote NOMA Boston October 7
Executive Office of Transportation College Avenue Station Plan

Harvard University
Graduate School of Design Paul Cote NOMA Boston October 7
Executive Office of Transportation
College Avenue Station Elevation

Harvard University
Graduate School of Design Paul Cote NOMA Boston October 7
GSD6447: Virtual Cities as Public Infrastructure

http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/pbcote/courses/archive/2010/gsd6447/index.htm
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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote, 2008 29
Seaport Sandbox: A Cybernetic View of Studio

https://sites.google.com/site/sbseaport/
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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote, 2008 30
 Toward Deeper Semantic Coherence

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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote, 2008 31
 CityGML: Shared, Open, Coherent
Real World Conceptual Exchange
Concepts: Information Model Encoding

Images from CityGML Spec

UML (Unified Modeling GML3

Kolbe & Groeger CityGML Language)
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Graduate School of Design 32 Paul Cote,
CityGML: Objects May Honor Specific Levels of Detail

Image from OGC CityGML Discussion paper, Kolbe, Groeger, Czerwinski

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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote,
33
 First Component Sub-Models of City GML

Image from OGC CityGML Discussion paper, Kolbe, Groeger, Czerwinski

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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote, NCFMT 2007 34
The GSD Metropolitan Model Repository:
A Simple Relational Schema
For Temporally Deep City Models

http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/gis/manual/metromodel/index.htm

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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote, 2008 35
 Scalable Infrastructure for 3d Cities

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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote, 2008 36
 Granularity and Identifiers
Goals:
 Provide a way of uniquely identifying parts of
buildings at multiple levels of detail across diverse
territorial domains
 Provide for retrieval of past, present and future
views of the city through simple SQL queries on a
simple relational database schema
 Support check-out and off-line modification of parts
of the model without possibility of ID conflicts on
check-in.

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Graduate School of Design 1/29/2011 37
 Existing GIS Layers: Parcels
Each town in the metro area has a parcels layer that forms a decent
source of information about buildings. We alter the parcel ID by
appending a 3 character territory code and an _P so that the parcel
IDs are assured to be unique within a multi_town schema.

Parcel Attributes
Shape Polygon

Territory Brookline

Parcel_ID Brk_P189-24-29

Owner Mobil Oil Co

* Year Built

Address
1971

333 Boylston St

Stories 1

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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote, 2007 38
 Existing Layers: Building Footprints
Each town has a building footprints layer established
from a photogrammetric survey

Footprint Attributes
Shape Polygon

Unique ID 9498754

*
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Graduate School of Design Paul Cote, 2007 39
 New Table: Abstract Buildings
The Parcels table can form a table of information about
buildings. Unique Building IDs are created from Parcel IDs.
This table has no geometry associated with it. Any building
associated with a parcel are designated Building 0. This
lumping is inaccurate, but sufficient for an initial buildings
table.

Abstract Buildings
Territory Cambridge

Building Cam_P364234_B0
Cam_P364234
Owner Harvard

Built Date 1870

B0
Demo Null
Date
Address 49 Quincy St

Stories 5

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 New Layer: Building Massing Parts
Where individual building parts vary in terms of their attributes, they may be
distinguished with unique IDs and individual build and demo dates, etc. The
Building Massing Part IDs are formed by appending a Massing Part ID to the
Building ID.

Building Massing Parts

Part_ID Cam_P364234_B0_M1

Owner Null

Cam_P364234 Built 1998

Date
B0_M1
Demo Null
Date
B0_M0
Address Null

Stories 2

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 3d Building Massing Parts Table
The Massing Parts Layer forms a complete model of every building in the
metro area at a low level of detail (CityGML LOD2). Building parts may have
more specific attributes from their parent Abstract Buildings.

Building Massing Parts

B0_M0 Part_ID Cam_P364234_B0_M1

Owner Null

Built 1998
B0_M1 Date
Demo Null
Date
Address Null

Built Yes

Stories 2
*CityGML LOD 1 Buildings
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 3d Building Skin Models
Using a 3D authoring tool, models of building exterior skins can be
encapsulated as sketchup or collada models and placed into relational tables
as georeferenced objects. Like Massing Parts, Skin Parts have unique IDs
linking them to abstract buildings and may have more specific attributes.

Building Skin Parts

Shape Multipatch / COLADa

Model Sketchup or Collada

Blob
Part_ID Cam_P364234_B0_S0

Owner Null

B0_S0 Build 1870

Date
Cam_P364234 Demo Null
Date
Built Yes
*CityGML Generic City Object or External
Link 43
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Graduate School of Design 1/29/2011 43
 3d Building Skin Parts
Skin parts and massing parts for a given building may have independent dates.
The Model field holds a Binary Large Object that can be downloaded to a 3d
authoring tool for editing.

B0_S1 Building Skin Parts

Shape Multipatch / COLLADA

Model Sketchup or Collada

Blob
Part_ID Cam_P364234_B0_S1

Owner Null

Buid 2001
Cam_P364234 Date
Demo Null
Date
Built Yes

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 Relational Queries Create Views Based on Dates or
Scenarios

Abstract Buildings
Territory Cambridge
1 1
Building Cam_P364234_B0

Owner Harvard

Year Built 1870

Year Null
Building Skin Parts Demo Building Massing Parts
Shape Multipatch Address 49 Quincy St
Part_ID Cam_P364234_B0_M1
Model Sketchup or Collada
Stories 5 Owner Null
n
0 Blob
Part_ID Cam_P364234_B0_S1 Built 1998
Owner Null
Demo Null
Built 2001
Demo Null Address Null

Built Yes Stories 2

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 Current Built View

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 1998 Historic View

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 Handling Fictitious Future
Urban Design Schemes

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 Built and Unbuilt Schemes
The Built attribute is set to Yes for buildings that were actually built. Unbuilt
buildings can be represented in the schema to allow experimentation with
proposed scenarios.

Building Skin Parts

Shape Multipatch

Model Sketchup or Collada

Blob
Cam_P364223_B0_S0
Part_ID Cam_P364223_B0_S0

Owner Null

Built 2001
Date
Demo Null
Date
Built Yes

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 Built and Unbuilt Schemes
The Built attribute is set to Yes for buildings that were actually built. Unbuilt
buildings can be represented in the schema to allow experimentation with
proposed scenarios.

Building Skin Parts

Shape Multipatch

Model Sketchup or Collada

Blob
Cam_P364223_B0_S1
Part_ID Cam_P364223_B0_S1

Owner Null

Built 2001
Date
Demo Null
Date
Built No

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 Design Scenario Tables
In order to create custom scenarios you must be able to turn on unbuilt buildings
and to turn off other buildings that would otherwise render. This is accomplished
by creating Schemes and entering part-specific rendering instructions in the
Scheme_Parts table. Because the Part IDs are distinct for Massing and Skin part
models, the Scheme Parts table can refer to either type of part.

Scheme Parts Schemes

Part_ID Render Scheme- Sheme- Name
ID ID
n 0
Cam_P364223_B0_S1 Yes 1 1 Flipped Gund Hall
1
Cam_P364223_B0_S0 No 1 2 Tank

Building Skin Parts Building Massing Parts

Part_ID Name Built Part_ID Name
Cam_P364223_B0_S1 Flipped Unbuilt Cam_P364223_B0_M0 Gund Hall
n
Cam_P364223_B0_S0 Gund Hall built n Brk_P189-24-29_B0_M1 …
… … … …

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Graduate School of Design 1/29/2011 51 51
 Building Model Management
Schema
Abstract Buildings Schemes Scheme Parts
1 1 1 n
Building ID Scheme ID Scheme_ID 1
Attributes… Name Part ID
1 Render

Skin Parts
Building ID
n n
Part ID
Attributes…

Massing Parts
n
Building ID
n
Part ID
Attributes…

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Graduate School of Design 1/29/2011 52 52
Unbuilt Scheme: Turn Gund Hall Around

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View From Proposed Design Scheme

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 References

 City Geography Markup Language

Kolbe and Groger, 2008
 SPATIO-SEMANTIC COHERENCE IN THE INTEGRATION OF 3D
CITY MODELS
Stadler and Kolbe
 Collada: 3D Asset Exchange Schema
Khronos Group
 Town of Brookline Model Management System
Cote, 2007
 Public Infrastructure for Virtual Cities
Cote, 2006
 Integration of CAD, GIS, and Building Information Models in
Open Web Services
Cote, 2007
 Building Interior Spaces Data Model for GIS
Penobscott Bay Media, BISDM.org

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Graduate School of Design 1/29/2011 55
 Lets Get it Together!
• Understand Open Exchange Specifications
• Target our conceptual and data models for open
exchange
• Participate in standards development
• Demand open exchange capabilities in our tools

56

Understanding

Harvard University
Graduate School of Design 1/29/2011
 Credits and References
Find these links at
www.gsd.harvard.edu/pbcote/talks/2010/geodesign_pbcote.pdf
 City Geography Markup Language
Kolbe and Groger, 2008
 SPATIO-SEMANTIC COHERENCE IN THE INTEGRATION OF 3D CITY
MODELS
Stadler and Kolbe
 Collada: 3D Asset Exchange Schema
Khronos Group
 Town of Brookline Model Management System
Cote, 2007
 Public Infrastructure for Virtual Cities
Cote, 2006
 Integration of CAD, GIS, and Building Information Models in Open Web
Services
Cote, 2007
 Building Interior Spaces Data Model for GIS
Penobscott Bay Media, BISDM.org
Harvard University
Graduate School of Design 1/29/2011 57
Efforts to Develop Web Standards for Encoding and Exchanging City Mo

Building Information Modeling Community:

• International Alliance for Interoperability -- BuildingSmart (Consortium of
Owners, Engineers & Architects)
• IFC (Semantic and Exchange Standard for Building Information Models)
• National BIM Standard (social and institutional construction of BIM)
• Open Floor Plan Toward a simple standard for exchanging georeferenced
floorplans
• OASIS
Geospatial Information Infrastructure Community:
• Open Geospatial Consortium (Architecture for Interoperable Web Services
spanning diverse semantic schema)
• CityGML: Semantic and Exchange Standard for City & Landscape Models
• Web Services Architecture for CAD, GIS and BIM (edited by Yours Truly)
Game Development Community
• Khronos Group (Gaming Community Consortium)
• COLLADA (exchange standard for high-quality digital objects, includes
materiality, lighting, physical behavior)

Harvard University
Graduate School of Design Paul Cote NOMA Boston October 7