Between the Poles: Official 3D Model of Berlin Available on Google Earth

Geoff Zeiss

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Open Source Geospatial Foundation OSGEO
OSGeo was created to support the collaborative development of open source geospatial software and promote its widespread use
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Sharing information about the location of underground utilities
The U.S. devotes an estimated $10 billion annually to locating underground infrastructure. Every construction project requiring excavation involves significant efforts in locating underground utilities prior to and during construction to reduce the risk of injuries and unexpected project delays. But this information is rarely shared and the location of underground infrastructure is recaptured over and over again. There are successful examples around the world where municipal and regional governments have helped enable a shared underground utility network database.
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Building information modeling (BIM) has been applied to design-build construction projects for many years. A growing number of countries are mandating BIM for public projects. While the UK government has said that "...we know that the largest prize for BIM lies in the operational stages of the project life-cycle", until recently there has not been hard data to support this conjecture. Similarly there has been only anecdotal support for an integrated BIM and geospatial approach for design, build, operate and maintain projects. Now we are beginning to see data from real world projects that offer evidence for the benefits of an integrated BIM+geospatial full lifecycle approach for construction projects.
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The BIM and geospatial interoperability challenge is the latest symptom of the broader problem of integrating AEC and geospatial workflows, that has contributed to low productivity in the construction sector. After the announcement about a year ago by Jack Dangermond and Andrew Anagnost of a new relationship to build a bridge between Autodesk and ESRI technologies, I thought it a good time to review progress toward interoperability between the AEC and geospatial worlds.
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I thought it would be worth while to include here a talk I gave at GEOGRAPHY 2050 Powering Our Future Planet at Columbia University in New York about the importance of accurate location information about underground infrastructure for the future development of the energy grid. With some notable exceptions accurately recording the location of subsurface infrastructure including oil, gas, electric power and other energy infrastructure is ignored - perhaps this is a case of out-of-sight is indeed out-of-mind. The reality is that knowing the location of underground energy infrastructure is critical for national security, for disaster planning and management, for public safety and for economic efficiency. Everyone is aware of at least one disaster resulting from or exacerbated by not knowing where our energy infrastructure is - the explosions in San Bruno in California (2010) and Belgium (2004) immediately come to mind.
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BIM + geospatial interoperability would avoid another CAD + GIS quagmire
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Transmission line inspections for vegetation management and other purposes are essential in ensuring grid reliability and resilience. We saw the devastating effect of vegetation encroachment in the recent California fires, which in part have been blamed on failure to maintain properly cleared transmission lines. With drones that can cover great distances in a single flight and provide detailed and accurate aerial imagery of transmission lines and other infrastructure, it is now possible to almost completely automate this expensive process. Automating transmission line inspections for vegetation management using BVLOS drones not only saves money, but also could improve the resiliency and reliability of the transmission grid.

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March 03, 2009

Official 3D Model of Berlin Available on Google Earth

Monday, Harald Wolf, Senator for Economics, Technology and Women's Issues and Mayor of Berlin presented a virtual 3D model of the entire city available on Google Earth , including some 890 km² and 500,000 buildings. It was developed over the past two years by a team of developers from 3D-Geo, now part of Autodesk, and includes 80 highlights that have been modelled in detail including inside, such as the Reichstag, Museum Island, Olympic Stadium, Sony Center, and the Central Station. The model is intended to make Berlin more attractive for conventions and trade fairs, contribute to commerce, and help with urban planning. It even has the route of the infamous Berlin Wall which was removed in 1989.

Two years ago Berlin was the first city in Germany to make available a photorealistic 3D model on Google Earth. Over the past two years aerial overflight data together with laser scan data have been linked with business data. For example, the locations of the music industry has been integrated into the model as well as the location of available commercial property.

Interestingly, this model is neither a commercial model nor based on commercially available 3D models, but rather its development was supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development, the Senate Department for Economics, Technology and Women and the Berlin Partner GmbH.

Posted at 11:41 AM in Digital Cities | Permalink

Comments

Geoff,

Was this built using CityGML standards?

Gene

Posted by: Gene Roe | March 05, 2009 at 03:35 PM

You can view the 3D-City Model at your Homepage www.virtualcitysystems.de

Enjoy and Best Regards

Posted by: Dominik | March 06, 2009 at 10:37 AM

Free download all 3d models, 3d Video Tutorials, 3D Materials, 3D Textures, Vray Materials, 3D Girls,New 3d Video and latest 3d jobs
http://www.all3dmodel.com

Posted by: 3d models | April 13, 2010 at 10:08 AM

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Between the Poles

Geoff Zeiss

October 2024

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March 03, 2009

Official 3D Model of Berlin Available on Google Earth

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