11/18/2015

3DMappingHasArrived
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Fall2014

3D Mapping Has Arrived

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InhisKeynoteAddressattheEsri3DMappingForum,NathanShephardannouncedthat3DGIShasofficially
emergedandpervadesacrosstheEsriplatform.Shephard,wholeadsEsri's3Dvisualizationteam,kickedoff
theconference,whichwasheldJuly1213,2014,inSanDiego,California.Inthisinterview,Shephard
explainsthedistinctionbetween3DmappingandcartographyandwhyEsridedicatedanentireforumtothis
technology.
Why did Esri dedicate a forum to 3D mapping?
3DisimportantforGISusersbecauseourworldisn'tflat,
andsomeproblemscanonlybesolvedwhenyouinclude
thezcoordinate.Youcanalsogenerateexcitementand
improvecommunicationbypresentingyourmessagewith
3Dscenes.Manyofourusershavebeenaskingformore
guidanceandinsightonworkingwith3D,soitmadesense
tostartacommunitythatcandiscussandlearnaboutthis
technologytogether.
What does 3D's pervasiveness across the Esri platform
mean for 3D content creators and GIS users?

Somekindsofinformation,suchasthetrajectory,wind
speed,andbarometricpressureofatyphoon,canbemore
effectivelycommunicatedin3Dratherthan2D.

Basicallyitmeansthat3Dcapabilitiesaremoreaccessible
acrosstheplatformthaneverbefore.Whenyouneedtodo
3Dwork,youcan,regardlessofwhereyouhappentobeintheplatform.Andforthosewhoareunsureabout
3Dorhavebeenworriedaboutgettingintoit,havingitavailableinplaceswhereyou'realreadycomfortable
willmakeitlessimposing.Thegoalisthat3Dwillbemoreattractivetopeople,regardlessoftheirGIS
expertiseorwheretheyhappentofitintotheplatform.
In the Plenary Session, you also talked about Esri's 3D City Information Model (3DCIM) and
standardization. What are some of the benefits of working with that model?
Theattractionofstandarddatamodels,likethe3DCityInformationModel,istherewardusersgetbyfollowing
it.Theygetpreauthoredmaps,preauthoredscenes,welldefinedanalyticalanddatamanagementtools,and
alljustbymodelingtheirdatawiththe3DCIM.Andbecauseit'sbuiltoninformationandknowledgegathered
frompreviousprojects,ithassignificantlyreducedriskwhendivingintonewprojects.
Where do you see 3D mapping headed now that it has emerged and what does the market look like?
There'snostoppingit.Itusedtobethatsomepeoplewouldadd3Dasadifferentiatororkindofgimmick.But
nowit'smoreacaseofitbeingexpected.Thismeansthat,ingeneral,peoplearerollingmoreandmore3D
intotheirgeneralworkflows,eveniftheywereonly2Djustafewyearsago.Therearebillionsofdollarsin
projectedgrowthcomingfromthistechnology.Ithinkthatkindofspeaksforitself.Thepiecesareinplaceto
startdoingthisworkwithouttheobstaclesandimpositionsthatexistedbefore.
There was a lot of talk about web scenes at the forum and what's next. Can you tell me how they've
evolved?
Theprimarynewadditiontothewebscenesistheabilitytoconsumeservices,whichmeanswecanhaveweb
scenesofanysize.Webscenesarealsobecomingalargerpartofourstoryacrosstheplatform.Youcan
authortheminArcGISPro,oryoucanauthorthemontheweb.ThenyoucanconsumetheminArcGISfor
Desktop,ArcGISRuntime,ortheweb.Basicallythedeliverymechanismfor3Dcontentcentersontheweb

http://www.esri.com/esrinews/arcuser/fall2014/3dmappinghasarrived

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11/18/2015

3DMappingHasArrived

scene.Youauthor,host,andmanagewebscenesandthe
servicesthatthey'redisplaying,andthenyouusethat
acrosstheplatformasneeded.Whetherit'sfordata
managementoranalysisorjustcommunication,webscenes
arebecomingafocusedintegrationpointforsharing3D.
In your plenary talk, you distinguish between the 3D
photorealistic scene, such as the kind you'd see in the web
scene of a city, and the cartographic, thematic view. Will
we see more of these 3D cartographic views to
communicate information in the near future?
Ireallyhopeso.InmytalkIusedtheadage,"Anaerial
TheprojectbySmarterBetterCitiesandEikoKumakurafrom
imageisnotamap."Certainly,anaerialimagehasa
TokyoInstituteofTechnologytorebuildpartsofJapan
purposeitcanshowyouwherethingsarerightnow,and
followingthe2011Tohokuearthquakeandtsunamicombined
thereareusecasesforthis.Thesameappliestoa
ArcGISOnline2Dmaps,CityEngine,and
photorealistic3Dscene.Itcanshowyouwhatthecitylooks SmarterBetterCities'sCloudCitiesinteractive3Dviewer.
likerightnow.Youcanswapoutabuildingandseewhatit'll
looklikeafteranewbuildingcomesin.That'savalidandusefulreasontocreateaphotorealisticscene.
Buttherearemanyothercaseswhereathematicviewcanengageandprovidealotmoreinformationtoan
audience.Crimestatistics,typhoondynamics,subsurfacegeologyallofthesethingsneeddifferentwaysof
beingpresentedbecauseoftheirinherentcomplexity.Rightnow,Ithinkusingthematicandcartographic
representationsof3Dtohelpunderstandthingssuchasnaturalphenomenaandsocialproblemsistheleast
exploitedaspectof3Dmapping.Ihopemoreandmoreuserstakeadvantageofthisinthefuture.

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