00:01Morning. I'm here representing an organization called Place Matters.

00:05We're a nonprofit based in Denver.

00:07And what we do is we apply novel and emerging technologies and techniques to traditional planning problems.

00:16Today I'm going to talk about high-fidelity participatory design.

00:19In particular, thinking about both, not...not just high fidelity in terms of imagery but high fidelity in terms of experience as well for...

00:27...for the public participants.

00:30What we believe at Place Matters is that if we apply the right tools and techniques to a process and make it informed, make it equitable...

00:39...we can have sustainable outcomes.

00:42But, as we all know in this room, that public process can often be very, very messy to go from abstraction to reality like pictured here.

00:51And the planning profession has done pretty well at developing tools and techniques on top of GIS. Here's CommunityViz.

01:01There's INDEX and What if? and another...a number of scenario planning tools that help people chart the future through indicators...

01:09...See map-based projections, but there's a gap, and that gap is in the visualization or the imagery around concepts like design and...

01:23...especially density.

01:24That...that becomes a really hard one for...for the public to...to munch on.

01:29We do have a lot of tools in...in the 3D realm that give us really great output like 3D Studio Max or Maya...

01:37...but they're incredibly labor intensive and require a...a lot of expertise.

01:41And then on the lower end we have tools like SketchUp which have really pushed us into...into this realm of...of rapid urban modeling...

01:48...but are better on a neighborhood or...or building scale and don't produce as high fidelity images as...as could be.

01:59So, Place Matters is looking at ways to evaluate tools that can fill this gap.

02:06And there are three basic criteria, they're a work in progress, but one...

02:11...we're looking for tools that increase the visual communication of concepts and potential futures.

02:17Two, we want tools that bring the public more fully and richly into an iterative design process including low-cost digital feedback loops.

02:27And three, we're looking for tools that...excuse me...streamline workflows to save time and money.

02:35One such tool, and this is just an example, given time constraints, is a tool called CityScape.

02:42It's basically, in a nutshell, it's Sim City for planners.

02:47It allows you to produce high-fidelity, 3D simulations in real time, and it...it's a rapid urban modeling framework...

02:58...where you can manually edit roads, create dif...distinct blocks that operate as blocks, which is really important for planners...

03:08...pull in buildings from other modeling programs or develop buildings right in the program...

03:13...and pop them up just like you would in SketchUp.

03:16More importantly, you can dynamically manipulate this environment in real time...

03:21...literally moving mountains, reconfiguring blocks, and reconnecting road networks, all with the click and drag of a mouse.

03:30They produce imagery like this, and this is in real time.

03:33This isn't something that you send off to a server farm to get rendered and animated.

03:37This is...this is operating in a gaming...a gamelike environment.

03:40Where you'll notice is there are cars there.

03:42Those do move.

03:43They are simulated.

03:45You can actually import traffic models from traffic modeling programs.

03:51So it's very interoperable which...which is something that we like about this product in particular.

03:58This is another example of...of something that produces and, if you want, you can even simulate flying through your city...

04:04...in your very own personal plane.

04:07But back down on the ground, they're...more important to the people in this room, it interacts with GIS data.

04:15One thing you can do is you can import elevation data, road networks like you see here, building footprints...

04:24...and then you can pop those buildings up pretty rapidly, texture...add texture to them...

04:29...and then you have a real urban environment that now you can add to and...and manipulate in real time.

04:36Now, this is just an example of a tool. I...

04:41The main takeaway f...of this presentation isn't that CityScape is the latest and greatest and you should all go out and buy one right now.

04:48But that there...there are other tools.

04:50There...there are tools that are emerging such as Scenario 3D from Placeways and makers of CommunityViz...

04:58...CityEngine by a company called Procedural and...and various augmented reality apps that are mostly in the lab right now in...

05:07...in universities across the world, looking at ways to...to do real-time planning with 3D...3D images on top of...on real maps.

05:17So there's...there's no silver bullet solution.

05:21What we're looking at is...is that the tools are finally catching up with the need to clearly communicate concepts...

05:30...such as d...design and density to...to the public and also to engage them in iterative design process.

05:37The role of Place Matters and the academics and professionals in this room should be to...to push for the...

05:47...the...the use of appropriate and emerging technologies and processes so that we can bridge the gap that...

05:58...that I talked about earlier in...in...in visualization and help turn abstraction into reality.