Reconstructing Real Cities in Google Earth

An anonymous reader writes "NewScientistTech has an article up on the way 3D models of real cities are being uploaded into Google Earth to help town planners and architects envisage their designs. Researchers at the University of Arkansas have developed a method for rapidly mapping building, which they are using to reconstruct the rapidly-expanding town of Fayetteville. The researchers say tools like Google Earth and Sketchup could eventually help ordinary citizens get more involved in urban development."

Maybe I am a Cynic...

[corroncho]

Even with these great tools (and believe me I myself love this),I think the underlying problems willnot change.

1. Just because we can doesn't mean we will.

We have had out feet and a telephone for quite a while now but ordinary citizens rarely make it to town council meetings let a lone make a call to voice their opinion.

and, 2. Even if they did, since when to the politicians ever really listening to their constituants.

Hope this post wasn't too much of a downer. Have a great day.
___________________________
Free iPods? Its legit [wired.com]. 5 of my friends got theirs. Get yours here! [freepay.com]

Contradictory statements....

[posterlogo]

"...to help town planners and architects envisage their designs"

"...help ordinary citizens get more involved in urban development."

So which is it? Seems like they're just playing around and making grandoise statements. I can see how this might be one tool for planners and architects (as if the don't already do this sort of thing), but give me a break -- helping ordinary citizens get involved in urban development? I sure hope not. I'd rather have intelligent people propose good designs. Move along, nothing to see here.

Re:Urban Planning By Ordinary Citizens?

[jbourj]

Just think, someday, Google Earth may be comparable to WoW reconstructions. Imagine the possibilities: people could spend countless hours a day bettering their imaginary lives in an imaginary planet called 'earth' instead of interacting with this one. That'll be the day.

Urban Planner View

[Chasqui]

Disclaimer: I am an urban planner. One of the things these free tools do is raise the expectations bar. Most planning departments have had access for many years to GIS tools which are far more capable than what the online tools can do. That said, the general public has not. I do not think that "ordinary citizens will get more involved" - I have been to enough public meetings to know what citizen apathy looks like - but I do think that the public's perception of what is possible in terms of visualization and presentation will change. Think CSI - doesn't every crime lab work that way? In terms of participation, there will still be the controvertial cases where city hall is packed with angry citizens reacting to the "greedy developer" coming to the city to "destroy the quality of life" or "make traffic a nightmare" but for the most part people have lives and do not care about local government unless it is a basic utility like water service, fire or police protection. When they do get involved, however, they will expect to see zooming and fly-throughs using aerial photos. I love the digital orthophotography but this stuff is expensive and not everyplace is covered.

Re:Contributing to planning schemes...

[digitect]

Disclaimer: I am an architect.

If we argue only on grounds of capitalism, your point of view is exactly where we end up. However, it has been shown since the Minoan period that cities (really any community) are very complex organisms that depend on us all living together and respecting each other, outside the bounds of simple property ownership.

Who owns the clean air we breath? Sunlight? Are you entitled to cast shadows on my property? How about make noise in the middle of the night that carries past your property lines? Can you conduct business on your property that encourages more traffic in my neighborhood?

These are all issues beyond fee simple, but ones that have generated laws in developed places where citizens demanded a quality of life against the rights of the individual property owner as you say. This gross over-simplification produces very poor urban conditions, but you should know that being a city planner. The rotted out cores of many old cities have only sprung new growth through cooperative efforts that restrict the freedoms you espouse and that re-emphasize community rights and the public good.

Frankly, I'm pretty disappointed that someone with your perspective is a city planner. There is already enough force on the private-developer side to push through all sorts of ugliness. It is the public representative's responsibility to balance this force, not encourage it or evaulate it with the same simple monetary formula it's proponents use.