UW's 3D model of downtown Edmonds helps city planners

The three-dimensional representation of downtown Edmonds created by UW architecture students for use by city planners.

Imagine romping through a city planning meeting with the enthusiasm of a teenager at a computer game. Well, it’s on the horizon.

Three-dimensional SimCity-type planning is coming to a city near you—Edmonds, Wash., in fact. (SimCity is a popular computer game of strategy in which players design an imaginary city and which has spawned a number of off shoots, including SimFarm and SimTower.)

In mid-June, after two quarters of planning, field work and modeling, UW’s Jim Davidson and several of his graduate and undergraduate students presented the city of Edmonds with a unique three-dimensional computer model that depicts the 15-square block downtown. Several city planners have already had the opportunity to use the high-powered model, which puts planners at street level in a virtual Edmonds. They can add buildings and examine new light and shade patterns or add a story or two to an existing building and see how the new height affects the views of Puget Sound for those in surrounding buildings.

Paul Mar, director of the Edmonds Community Service Department and driving force behind the project, said they plan on using the model within the department as a planning tool, and gradually expand its use in presentations at public hearings. Edmonds taxpayers can even link up to the model from their home computers via the Web.

“Height restrictions and protection of views are very important—and sometimes controversial—elements in Edmonds planning,” Mar said. “Now we can view proposals within a three-dimensional space and can get a much more realistic idea of how a project might impact the community.”

Mar had improved city planning and public participation in mind when he contacted friends at his former employer, NBBJ, a Seattle architectural firm. They referred him to Davidson and the UW.

Meanwhile, Davidson, an instructor in the UW College of Architecture and Urban Planning and research scientist at the Human Interface Technology Lab, and his students had been creating three-dimensional design software for clients in a class funded solely by grants from those clients. Davidson has taught the class four times in the last two years; it gives architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture and computer science students hands-on experience in using Virtual Reality Modeling Language, (VRML), and working with clients to take architectural design and urban planning into the future.

One of the earlier projects was a three-dimensional reconstruction of the Arsenale, Venice’s historic shipbuilding center, sponsored by Telecom Italia, the Italian telephone company, who wanted to use it in a demonstration. The class was even able to reconstruct destroyed sections of the Arsenale. Another project was for a national motel chain modeling room interiors using various decorating, painting and lighting concepts.

Davidson was delighted when the Edmonds project came along because it was the most direct use of real-time simulation in a practical urban planning setting. Five students teamed up with him to construct the three-dimensional model. After listening to what city planners wanted, they went to work. Starting with a flat city map of the area and dozens of aerial and street-level photographs, the students began building the model with dimension, colors and textures that was increasingly realistic. The level of refinement was balanced against the speed with which the model could be simulated.

The class took city officials on a helicopter-like ride through virtual downtown Edmonds. They zoomed around corners and down streets, and looked at buildings from all angles. They stopped along the sidewalk for a pedestrian-eye view.

“This type of visualization is a powerful tool that complements the use of physical architectural models and can do some things a physical model cannot do,” said Davidson. “It gives planners as well as the average citizen a much more realistic view of the impact of a proposed project. They will be able to test for shade patterns and add overlays of zoning maps, for example. They will be able to see what it will be like to be in a proposed space.”

If the technology keeps developing and the costs declining, taxpayers may eventually be able to “play” a three-dimensional simulation game using their city and the real projects it’s considering. The decisions they make from their home computers may someday change the look of their hometowns. Fears could be alleviated or eyesores avoided.

“Maybe someday taxpayers will walk down the street before the street is even built and decide to widen it,” Davidson said.

You can view the Edmonds page at http://www.hitl.washington.edu/projects/architecture/cedes/arch498e/Edmonds. Davidson’s homepage is http://www.hitl.washington.edu/people/jnd/jndcv.html. ¶

Nedra Floyd Pautler