{"id":806,"date":"2013-02-01T11:10:55","date_gmt":"2013-02-01T11:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/?p=806"},"modified":"2013-02-01T11:17:45","modified_gmt":"2013-02-01T11:17:45","slug":"the-instant-city-geodesign-summit-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/?p=806","title":{"rendered":"The Instant City – GeoDesign Summit 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2013<\/a>
\nRather than try and do a massive re-edit of my script for the presentation I gave at the GeoDesign Summit<\/a> this year I thought I’d just cut and paste it straight in. \u00a0 Yes I didn’t say it all exactly like this and somethings were added as I spoke, but you’ll have to wait for the video from ESRI for that. \u00a0 Until then here is the raw un-edited script from my presentation.The slides look odd because in the presentation they were animated, here they are exported as jpegs at the end state… I had thought about exporting as video and reading over the top. \u00a0We’ll see if I have time…WARNING!<\/strong> This took me 20-25 minutes to read so go make yourself a tea or coffee before reading…<\/div>\n
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1 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Slide 1\"Slide1\"<\/a><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

Thank you for inviting me here.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s exciting to see the presentations as well as to meet some of you. This summit already has my head buzzing with new ideas and ways to improve how I work.\u00a0\u00a0 So far it looks like I\u2019ve got a lot of work to do when I get home.<\/p>\n

2\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Slide 2\"Slide2\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

My name is Elliot<\/b> and I\u2019m a Director of Garsdale Design Limited<\/b>.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019re a small family run professional planning and architectural consultancy that specialises in Middle East city master planning.\u00a0\u00a0 As you can see we\u2019re not exactly a large multi-national.\u00a0\u00a0 Our office seen here is a converted traditional Yorkshire dales barn.<\/p>\n

3\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Start\"Slide3\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

If we start with an outline of my presentation today.<\/b><\/p>\n

So in this presentation I am going to stick to talking about the workflows<\/i> and practices<\/i> I know best, rather than talk to you about the academic theory behind them.<\/p>\n

As I work in a small consultancy, we\u2019re concerned with a lot of practical things.\u00a0 For instance managing our workloads and juggling our multiple roles, as inevitably characterises a small office.<\/p>\n

On a professional level workflows are what really concern me. I\u2019m interested in how we can extract value from our digital work and get from A to B<\/i>.<\/p>\n

This is really a presentation about my journey<\/i> and how relatively recently my whole perspective on how I work has been turned on its head.<\/b><\/p>\n

So please follow me through the journey I\u2019ve taken.<\/b><\/p>\n


<\/b><\/p>\n

4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Workflows\"Slide4\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

There are two types of workflow<\/b> that take place in our office.\u00a0\u00a0 Firstly a main project workflow<\/b> which is linear with defined start and end points, often designated by the client and the project\u2019s terms of reference.<\/p>\n

Secondly there are those process workflows<\/b> that are often the small iterative evaluations<\/i><\/b> associated with particular tasks.\u00a0\u00a0 These might be population modelling in spreadsheets, or at the detailed design stages, they include sketching and CAD work.<\/p>\n

We generally finish one phase of a project and use the outputs from that to inform<\/b> the next phase.<\/p>\n

Ultimately the smooth flow of data through our systems<\/b> are critical.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s often when different types of work or data need to come together that it gets difficult.<\/p>\n

5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Our master planning in Iraq\"Slide5\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

So let me start with<\/b> the main work we do now and the workflows that we have been using.<\/p>\n

In my office we undertake a variety of work from the very small single residential development up to region wide structure plans.<\/p>\n

But the projects that define and consume us at the moment, are city master planning projects.\u00a0\u00a0 Currently these are in Iraq.<\/p>\n

As you can see from this slide we have a fairly linear approach to the process.\u00a0\u00a0 This is not only defined by the client and the contract, but is also how we would traditionally do many planning projects.\u00a0\u00a0 Each stage in this example has a proper report with associated spreadsheet tables, writing and of course mapping<\/b>.<\/p>\n

What many would see as the creative work<\/b> is in the later phases where we start designing urban areas, either at a strategic or detailed level. Sorry to all you spreadsheet power users out there, I know you can get creative too!<\/p>\n

Our traditional workflows do work<\/b>, but increasingly they are buckling under the weight of information we now have at our finger tips, thanks to the power of technology and of course, GIS.<\/p>\n

6\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Managing the data\"Slide6\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Sometimes the amount of incoming data for a project feels a bit like<\/b> this… At the beginning of a project there maybe drought, but that quickly gives way to a torrent<\/b>.<\/p>\n

ArcGIS<\/b> is used to manage all of our geographic data that comes from a variety<\/b> of sources.\u00a0 Householder surveys, old AutoCAD drawings and often quite a lot of shapefiles that have been digitised off old paper maps.<\/p>\n

Difficulties such as data quality are inevitable with our diverse projects.\u00a0\u00a0 Our Iraqi partners do amazing work translating Arabic data into English, but we still have some guess work on our hands to extract the value of their work.<\/p>\n

Managing the changing nature<\/b> of some of our data is one of key challenges we face.<\/p>\n

7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dynamic Cities and Managing Change\"Slide7\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Needless to say cities<\/b> don\u2019t stand still, politely waiting for our project to finish.<\/p>\n

Especially in Iraq where there has been a desperate need for infrastructure projects.\u00a0 It\u2019s a brave person who stands up and says \u201cdon\u2019t build that sewage treatment plant or road<\/b> until the master plan is ready, oh and that will take a couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

So our work goes in tandem with the normal<\/b> growth of a city, as well as major construction and infrastructure projects.\u00a0 This guarantees that our master plan is out of date before it is adopted.\u00a0\u00a0 But don\u2019t worry, part of these projects is about training<\/b> the Iraqi planning departments to manage our master plans knowing how to update them.\u00a0\u00a0 In a real sense we teach them to think in terms of \u2018process\u2019 rather than \u2018product\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 A master plan<\/b> is not like a \u2018blueprint\u2019!<\/p>\n

8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dynamic People\"Slide8\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Our clients in Iraq are mostly planners and politicians.\u00a0\u00a0 Like in any country they are educated, active and eager to improve their cities, albeit in difficult sometimes hostile environments.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Local planning committee meetings can be caught fraught affairs!<\/p>\n

Client requests are part of the process<\/b>.\u00a0\u00a0 As the project progresses and plans become more evolved, the planning teams in the cities involved send in requests for advice on certain sites to ensure compliance with the emerging master plan.<\/p>\n

The photos that are shown here are a recent visit of our clients and Iraqi partners<\/b> who came to the UK for training, (you can see our team is a family affair as you can see our youngest colleagues there, I mean my two daughters!)<\/p>\n

9\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The need for Speed\"Slide9\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

All our projects of course, have deadlines<\/b>.\u00a0 But the nature of development means that our approach has evolved to be flexible.\u00a0 We always expect changes and inevitably many occur just prior to a submission.<\/p>\n

Throughout our projects we have always looked at ways to speed up our visual presentations.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In terms of workload, they can take up quite a bit of time but are relatively low in importance when it comes to the actual analytical side of our work.<\/p>\n

3D imagery has always been part of the visual mix and clients get excited by it and have now come to expect such visualisations.\u00a0\u00a0 Try handing in just a 2D<\/b> map to a client and they are guaranteed to ask how this would actually look.<\/p>\n

We recently completed the Nasiriyah City Master Plan in Dhi Qar Province in the south of Iraq and are currently in the middle of preparing master plans for three other cities in Iraq.\u00a0\u00a0 In fact I was working on them prior to coming here.<\/p>\n

This means that we need to have a wide variety of visualisations produced<\/b>.\u00a0\u00a0 Towards the end of these projects we produce a range of presentational materials to be included in the final report including wall display maps and 3D visualisations.<\/p>\n

Our final city master plans also include a set of detailed studies in the final phase.\u00a0\u00a0 These can be new neighbourhood plans, linear development plans along major transport routes or, for example, detailed urban renewal schemes for waterfronts.<\/p>\n

10\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Past \u2013 what we used to do and what we\u2019ve done\"Slide10\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Most of our visualisation work has a relatively simple, but time consuming workflow.\u00a0\u00a0 Increasingly clients want sophisticated<\/b> 3D visualisations in a variety of media, from the printed report, to websites, video, and fully interactive walkthroughs.<\/p>\n

They do not just want to be told in words how<\/i> to implement it – they want to see<\/i> how it will look when implemented and this is perfectly understandable.\u00a0 After all most plans are subject to consultation by the general public too.<\/p>\n

So how have we done such visualisations?<\/p>\n

Well we\u2026.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. <\/b>Sketch, <\/b><\/li>\n
  2. <\/b>Scan and georeference, <\/b><\/li>\n
  3. <\/b>Digitize<\/b><\/li>\n
  4. <\/b>import into sketchup,<\/b><\/li>\n
  5. <\/b>import into rendering software.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The different methods and workflows of producing these visualisations add to the time scales just at the point when we need them to be completed really quickly.<\/p>\n

    We have always used a combination of professional software packages to produce our 3D visualisations.\u00a0 We have always used traditional hand-drawn images, but then increasingly SketchUp and for the presentational material, but these can take considerable time to complete in-house.<\/p>\n

    What we have never done before is produce a complete 3D model of a whole neighbourhood, let alone a city, because such a task seemed to be just too time consuming<\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0 Conventional professional 3D modelling packages are good and can do this, but they require too much of our time and effort for anything more than visualising small sections or details of our master plans.<\/p>\n

    11\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Our use of CityEngine\"Slide11\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

    After some research a couple of years back to tackle such issues I discovered a useful urban modelling software tool called CityEngine<\/i><\/b>. It showed promise purely because it worked with a variety of formats, so I thought it could fit our AutoCAD\/ArcGIS workflow nicely.<\/p>\n

    In the beginning<\/b> we used real data from a project and essentially experimented<\/b> with it.\u00a0\u00a0 But from the moment I started using it, it became apparent that this \u2018Procedural Modeller\u2019 would not only save us huge amounts<\/b> of time producing 3D visualisations<\/b>.\u00a0\u00a0 It had the potential to totally change the way we think about our workflows.<\/p>\n

    12\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Present \u2013 What we\u2019re doing now\"Slide12\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

    Well, this is exciting as I am finally using CityEngine in the way I want.\u00a0 We\u2019re combining 3D work in SketchUp with some of the models in CityEngine.\u00a0\u00a0 As you can see the time taken to model urban areas has dramatically increased.<\/p>\n