How do you view DWF files?
All, You would be doing co-worker Scott Sheppard and I a big favor by taking a quick second to answer a question about How You View DWF files. Just pick HERE to view the link. Many thanks!
APA 2007 Conference
I just returned from the APA annual meeting in Philly. Attendance was close to 6,000. There was a tremendous interest in eco-friendly, green, sustainable planning and design. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave the keynote to a packed hall and received a long standing ovation for his passionate and highly factual portrayal of what has been happening for the last 6 years with environmental regulation in DC.
In speaking with one of my colleagues his first comment was "... oh it's just those "tree-hugging APA'ers getting all wound up about the environment.", but I can assure you this is not a fad. For those not familiar with it LEED ND - which is the pilot version of the LEED Neighborhood Design standards, they are going to become the de facto standard for land planning. See http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=148
I participated in a very worthwhile, day long workshop on urban design. The very encouraging news from this was the similarities to the overall land planning conceptual design process. Whether we want to accept it or not the most sustainable design patterns are urban. In fact Manhattan is one of the most eco-friendly places to live in the world.
I am going to look at the sketching capability in Alias next week and will report back.
Posted on April 20, 2007 at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Input Devices
Land planners need to effectively communicate their design intent in a digital environment without losing the creativity afforded them by their colored pencils and trace paper. After nearly 30 years of PC-based drawing automation this issue remains as one of the clear dividing lines between artist and engineer.
Some of the latest pen tablet devices are a step in the right direction, but for land planners their relatively small size vs. cost create major major stumbling blocks to widespread adoption.
A potential revolutionary breakthrough is in the early stages of development involving what is called multi touch sensing. Jeff Han is one of the inventors of this, and his company Perceptive Pixel is developing wall-sized versions of this exciting technology. For those of you who have not seen this video you must check it out:
http://fastcompany.com/video/general/perceptivepixel.html
I am hoping to get a demonstration of this technology in the near future and will report back. If you are aware of other innovative input device technology please drop me an email.
Posted on March 16, 2007 at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Top Academic Planning Programs
Before discussing the report identifying the leading programs around the US in planning I would like to make everyone aware of an incredible technology innovation that has tremendous application for the creative design aspect of land planning. Jeff Han at NYU (he is also involved with the iPhone) is developing a multi touch sensitive platform that can only be described as incredible. Be sure to check this out: http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=j_han
Now onto academia. In a recent report entitled DesignIntelligence, published by Greenway Communications LLC for the Design Futures Council they rank Americas top architecture and design programs, including landscape architecture. To obtain a copy visit: http://www.di.net/
Rather than focus on the actual ranking of the top programs, which you can obtain by purchasing a copy of the report, I was very interested to learn that a realignment is underway to bring academia and professional practice closer together. As part of this process the report identifies advanced technology as playing an increasingly important role in the programs of the leading institutions.
As we have discussed before the younger generation is not going to have to be convinced to use technology they are going to expect it.
Next Time - Land Planning Scenarios
Posted on January 24, 2007 at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Digital Sketching Contd.
Happy New Year!!! I wonder what the big news in the world of land planning is going to be this year. Certainly sustainability is going to continue to gain momentum as it all begins with a green plan. Explosive growth, particularly in places like China and Brazil also seems assured. The APA is offering a China Study Tour in June that sounds incredible. See http://planning.org/apainchina/studytour/
Back to the issue of digital sketching. The main question concerning the issue of digital sketching has to be whether land planners will give up the freedom found in the hand drawn sketch, in favor of a digital environment that may not offer the same level of creativity, but in the end streamlines their work flow. I am sure that the answer is, "it depends", but I would like to get your input on exactly what you think the critical issues are.
For instance, is it a hardware or a software issue, meaning is it the fact that a digital sketching environment will not have the same feel, or touch that will be objectionable, or is that he/she will be forced to conform to certain rules, no matter how well designed the solution? Or is it a scale issue? I know there are some very large digital working surfaces being produced. Could these be modified to meet the sketching needs of the land planner?
A leader in the digital pen tablet arena is WACOM. For product info see: http://www.wacom.com/productinfo/intuos.cfm?gclid=CMezu87MwokCFTzqJAodHk1XTw
Next Time - Top University Planning Programs
Posted on January 2, 2007 at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
A Digital Sketching Environment
If you were in attendance at the opening AU 2006 main stage when a member of the Alias team demonstrated the ability to use a digital sketching tool to design the next Mercedes I think you must have been impressed. Drawing in a symmetry mode where as you sketched the right half of the car the left half was automatically created the intuitive nature of designing seemed to be preserved if not enhanced through a powerful, intelligent user interface.
What was even more impressive was how the sketch was somehow automatically turned into a 3D solid model. Mind boggling. To learn more go to: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=6871498
I am sure many of the planners out there are skeptical when they see the term digital sketching. It's the old right brain vs. left brain, scientist vs. artist, engineer vs. architect argument rearing it's ugly head, but from everything that I am reading and seeing the basis for these differences is beginning to be overcome if not obliterated, particularly for the younger generation that has grown up on video games.
A digital sketching environment like that found in AliasStudio is what young designers expect. They will not work with anything else. If your firm does not believe in this technology you will not be able to attract and retain the best young talent. If firms truly are all about their people then this issue is critical to your future.
Next time - Digital Sketching Cont'd.
Posted on December 20, 2006 at 09:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Land Planning SIG
AU 2006 set the record for attendance. Say what you will about Vegas in general, but the Venetian in conjunction with the Autodesk team did one incredible job. If you have never attended you may want to consider AU 2007. In case you like to plan ahead, don't all planners, then mark your calendar for November 27 - 30, 2007 http://www.autodeskevents.com/au2006_new/index.cfm?CFID=523646&CFTOKEN=81607870
The Land Planning SIG luncheon had about 25 people in attendance, of which 3 people identified themselves as planners. After a short presentation on the challenges of automating the land planning profession a very spirited discussion followed with a number of requirements being identified. As most of the people in the audience were either engineers or CAD managers the key issue was how to improve the quality of conceptual planning so that the process becomes much more streamlined, and less frustrating for all involved.
If you have a planning background and would like to be involved with the possible development of a focused land planning solution please contact me so that you can become part of our Land Planning SIG.
Next Time - A Digital Sketching Environment
Posted on December 13, 2006 at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
AU 2006
The Land Planning SIG luncheon is scheduled for Tuesday November 28 at Autodesk University. I will be reporting the results as well as the other planning related discussions which I hope to have next week in Las Vegas. Please look me up if you are going to be there.
I had a very interesting land planning conversation with an architect last week. She has been doing a lot of thinking about the need for a much more comprehensive approach to land planning. One that not only includes the integration of planning and civil/site, but also buildings, or perhaps more accurately BIM - building information modeling.
BIM is hot right now, and Autodesk's ADT and Revit are leading the way. Integrating large digital terrain models into Revit is not something that Revit was designed to handle, but the need is there, and Autodesk intends to address it. A comprehensive solution that would include the land planning function is also on the radar.
Hope to see you at AU.
Posted on November 20, 2006 at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
More on 3D and Planning
3D laser scanning, one of the more exciting surveying technologies to come on the scene in the past 20 years is starting to move out of the early adopter phase. Using the same LIDAR technology that I discussed in the 9/29 post, the use of terrestrial LIDAR is generally referred to as 3D laser scanning. The impact of this technology, from a pure surveying and mapping point of view, in the long run may be more important than GPS.
3D laser scanning produces what are called point clouds. These extremely dense sets of 3D points can produce detail to as fine as a few millimeters. Scans can produce millions to even billions of points. For land planning this may be overkill, but landscape architects will certainly benefit from the increased accuracy as well as the ability to "see" the site in 3D. This is perhaps more valuable than the millimeter accuracy.
But there's a catch - today's CAD engines were never designed to handle massive point clouds. Supporting these 3D datasets is going to be critical to the industry. In many cases today the 3D point clouds are being "dumbed" down to 2D because the CAD applications cannot support the 3D data.
If you are interested in laser scanning and have some ideas about how it will impact the planning profession please drop me a note.
Posted on November 14, 2006 at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
DWF Files
October 24, 2006
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Posted on October 25, 2006 at 07:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Impact of 3D on Plannning
As most of us know Google bought SketchUp this past summer to increase the appeal of Google Earth. At the recent ASLA annual meeting the SketchUp booth was one of the more popular. Microsoft, another fairly large player, is working with Pictometry to provide imagery that has a more real world feel than Google Earth's aerial photography. See www.microsoft.com/virtualearth.
They are also funding a major project to build a street level video tour of major cities. See http://local.live.com/
Is this just about generating traffic to sell more ads on the Internet, or is there really a benefit to giving the average, non-technical person a way to visualize the impact that a proposed project would have on the environment?
Gary Smith a veteran GISer has been publishing an informal 3D GIS newsletter on the subject and has also recently written some thought provoking articles where he states that 3D is the future of planning. See http://www.directionsmag.com/author.php?author_id=364
CommunityViz ( http://www.communityviz.com/) is a program that emphasizes the use of 3D visualization in community planning.
This week PlaceMatters 06 lands in Denver to explore how to better plan communities with the help of 3D visualization. http://www.placematters.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=37
Next time - More on 3D and Planning
Posted on October 24, 2006 at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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