Plan It Autodesk

Image Data Sources for Planning - Vol. 2

As discussed in the previous post the availability of high quality geo-image data, off-the-shelf, and often at no charge is remarkable as compared to even 5 years ago - thanks GYM.

Getting more specific, there are basically 3 levels of geo-image data service providers. The first is the oldest with roots back into the mid-90's. Many of the companies in this group got their start with what was called the DRG program. This was a program funded by the USGS to convert the topo map library into digital raster graphics, or DRGs. Once this extremely well known data source was made available in digital form, it helped to start a digital mapping revolution.

Today the leading players have added aerial photos and in some cases satellite imagery to their library, in addition to digital topo maps. This includes among many others: www.igage.com ; www.topozone.com ; and www.mapmart.com . These companies are resellers of image data that can be quickly and inexpensively accessed to serve as the starting point for a land planning project.

Next time - Image Data Sources for Planning - Vol. 3

Image Data Sources for Planning - Vol. 1

Of course the geo-image sources that have caused the explosion of interest in this area are those being offered by GYM - Google Earth, Yahoo Maps and Microsoft's Windows Live Local. But for those of us who started in this business long before the Internet, aerial photographs used to be the only source of geo-image data, and those were not digital they were paper. They were also not generally available to the public off-the-shelf - they had to be ordered from an aerial photography firm for a specific project.

While we are talking history, although satellites were producing geo-images, these were not available to the public in any form, but that all started to change in the 90's with the consumer driven advances in digital photography, scanners and of course the Internet.

From the land/project planning professional's point of view the availability of high resolution image data today is truly amazing, and in many cases it is free. Satellite imagery, although very high tech, is still quite limited in availability for the average project, but that is also changing.

I recently visited an 800 person planning and engineering firm that has built an intranet app that given the project location reports to the user what all the available image sources are for that location. In some regions they have a contract with a supplier for access to their image database. In many cases this is very high quality data, that is not found on GYM.

Next Time - Image Data Sources for Planning Vol. 2

Transportation Planning

Transportation planning is a highly specialized subset of physical planning that involves less creative, free form, intuitive conceptual design and more detailed analysis of location-specific decision-making. The latter transportation-related work flows are much more easily supported with today's CAD and GIS software products, but I think there is still room for improvement.

Usually transportation planning involves a corridor study, unless it is focused on the siting of a structure such as a new bridge crossing or tunnel location. Corridor studies today can be much more efficiently performed given the availability of high quality, off-the-shelf image and map data, but once again the issue comes back to CAD - GIS integration.

Often CAD systems do not provide the geospatial analysis functionality required to asses the impact of a proposed corridor's location on the environment, and the GIS products do not provide an efficient way to hand off the proposed design to the engineers for a more detailed analysis.

A transportation planning solution based on Autodesk's Map 3D geospatial platform would offer a potential solution.

Your thoughts?

Next time - Image Data Sources for Planning

Land Planning

For many planners, especially those who are likely to be reading this, land planning is what they do. The projects can vary in size from a single lot to thousands of acres and perhaps even larger. To date, the automation needs of the land planner have been largely ignored.

What is the reason for this? Mainly, I think, it is the challenge of trying to automate what is a very creative, intuitive design process, that does not fit easily into the rigid geometrical worlds of CAD and/or GIS.

This is beginning to change, however, as products like Sketchup and others have come onto the scene. The ultimate challenge is to develop a solution that not only supports the freedom that planners enjoy with their pencils and trace paper, but to develop a conceptual design environment where the intelligence of a sketch can be automatically captured and transformed into a CAD drawing.

Please let me know what other challenges you might see.

Next time - Transportation Planning