Untitled

3D Visualisation makes the headlines

Specialist software such as LSS rarely gets a mention whenever a new scheme is publicised or when a company has just saved £’000,000’s on a project in part due to good design and accurate volumes, but 2003 was a year in which the software and data markets came together to provide a truly unique product. The event at which this was realised was ‘Photoscape 2003’.

Organised by GetMapping, this event was held on the 9th September 2003 and attracted over 200 delegates to share in the launch of the NextMap Britain DTM and DSM dataset - a seamless terrain model containing over 8 billion points and covering England, Wales and the Borders region of Scotland. We were there and it turned out to be the most interesting, busy and successful event we have ever attended.

We had the opportunity to show people working in the GIS and 3D visualisation fields what we are capable of and contributed some 3D fly-throughs which were shown on the BBC1 6 o’clock news that evening. The 3D fly-throughs we had on our stand attracted unprecedented attention, even from experts in 3D visualisation! We think the cost was the biggest surprise. £500 a year for LSS Vista is a mere fraction of the cost of traditional 3D solutions.

Prime Time

Using some sample imagery from GetMapping and DTM and DSM data from the Nextmap Britain dataset we generated a stunning model which contained a wide range of LSS-generated objects. These included a windfarm, which, incidentally, Duane, our support manager, set-out back in 1995, a quarry, a hilltop recreation area, some transmission lines with pylons and some telecomms towers. So impressed were the BBC that it starred on prime time BBC1 and since then has attracted even more interest from people who had previously disregarded LSS without even seeing it. The 3D Visualisation market is dominated by big corporate organisations and multi million dollar deals. To some it comes as a pleasant surprise to learn that LSS can do so much for so little!

Misty Hills

Mike Hallett of Misty Hill Terravisual is the first LSS user to launch a commercial product using LSS3DVantage. His aim is to produce CDs containing fly-throughs of popular mountain walking regions to sell beside maps in bookshops nationwide. An ambitious project, but there is obviously a market for this kind of product as we discovered at Photoscape 2003. Mike is using LSS Vista to generate the views, with imagery from GetMapping’s Millennium Map and DTM data from NextMap Britain. We believe that this is the first time a fully interactive 3D virtual tour specifically targeted at the leisure market has been attempted. Visit www.mistyhill.co.uk for details.

NextMap Britain

The Nextmap Britain concept was conceived back in 2000, shortly after GetMapping released its Millennium map, a single aerial photomosaic of England and Wales. Until then Getmapping had been using Ordnance Survey DTM data, most of which was many years old. Intermap Technologies Inc. of Colorado USA had the equipment and expertise to fly an entire country in a matter of days and were keen to offer up to date terrain coverage for the UK to sell alongside the aerial imagery. In 2002 Intermap sent over their Lear Jet equipped with the latest radar mapping equipment and set about mapping England and Wales on a 5m spaced grid to an accuracy of ±1m in elevation and ±2m in position. A single digital surface model (DSM) was collected which showed trees, buildings, in fact the first object to be hit by the radar onboard the aircraft. From this DSM was derived a Digital Terrain Model (DTM), otherwise known as a ‘Bald Earth Model’. The data acquisition was sponsored by Norwich Union Insurance and what they wanted with the data was to pinpoint more precisely those properties that are more likely to be flooded. The current Postcode method groups up to 17 houses in the same risk band, when in reality some of them may be at greater risk from flooding than others.

3D Visualisation
703Kb PDF Document 3D Visualisation makes the headlines Specialist software such as LSS rarely gets a mention whenever a new scheme is publicised or when a company has just saved £’000,000’s on a project in part due to good design and accurate volumes, but 2003 was a year in which the software and data markets came together to provide a truly unique product. The event at which this was realised was ‘Photoscape 2003’. Organised by GetMapping, this event was held on the 9th September 2003 and attracted over 200 delegates to share in the launch of the NextMap Britain DTM and DSM dataset - a seamless terrain model containing over 8 billion points and covering England, Wales and the Borders region of Scotland. We were there and it turned out to be the most interesting, busy and successful event we have ever attended. We had the opportunity to show people working in the GIS and 3D visualisation fields what we are capable of and contributed some 3D fly-throughs which were shown on the BBC1 6 o’clock news that evening. The 3D fly-throughs we had on our stand attracted unprecedented attention, even from experts in 3D visualisation! We think the cost was the biggest surprise. £500 a year for LSS Vista is a mere fraction of the cost of traditional 3D solutions. Prime Time Using some sample imagery from GetMapping and DTM and DSM data from the Nextmap Britain dataset we generated a stunning model which contained a wide range of LSS-generated objects. These included a windfarm, which, incidentally, Duane, our support manager, set-out back in 1995, a quarry, a hilltop recreation area, some transmission lines with pylons and some telecomms towers. So impressed were the BBC that it starred on prime time BBC1 and since then has attracted even more interest from people who had previously disregarded LSS without even seeing it. The 3D Visualisation market is dominated by big corporate organisations and multi million dollar deals. To some it comes as a pleasant surprise to learn that LSS can do so much for so little! Misty Hills Mike Hallett of Misty Hill Terravisual is the first LSS user to launch a commercial product using LSS3DVantage. His aim is to produce CDs containing fly-throughs of popular mountain walking regions to sell beside maps in bookshops nationwide. An ambitious project, but there is obviously a market for this kind of product as we discovered at Photoscape 2003. Mike is using LSS Vista to generate the views, with imagery from GetMapping’s Millennium Map and DTM data from NextMap Britain. We believe that this is the first time a fully interactive 3D virtual tour specifically targeted at the leisure market has been attempted. Visit www.mistyhill.co.uk for details. NextMap Britain The Nextmap Britain concept was conceived back in 2000, shortly after GetMapping released its Millennium map, a single aerial photomosaic of England and Wales. Until then Getmapping had been using Ordnance Survey DTM data, most of which was many years old. Intermap Technologies Inc. of Colorado USA had the equipment and expertise to fly an entire country in a matter of days and were keen to offer up to date terrain coverage for the UK to sell alongside the aerial imagery. In 2002 Intermap sent over their Lear Jet equipped with the latest radar mapping equipment and set about mapping England and Wales on a 5m spaced grid to an accuracy of ±1m in elevation and ±2m in position. A single digital surface model (DSM) was collected which showed trees, buildings, in fact the first object to be hit by the radar onboard the aircraft. From this DSM was derived a Digital Terrain Model (DTM), otherwise known as a ‘Bald Earth Model’. The data acquisition was sponsored by Norwich Union Insurance and what they wanted with the data was to pinpoint more precisely those properties that are more likely to be flooded. The current Postcode method groups up to 17 houses in the same risk band, when in reality some of them may be at greater risk from flooding than others.