3DProjektplaner - urban development with perspective

Currently, planners often only have access to printed plans and renderings to check construction projects in the early planning phases, and when developing new urban development ideas, offices usually still resort to printed aerial photographs and drawing paper. The problem: paper-based design and coordination processes cost time. Above all, there is often a lack of opportunity to compare the project with the context of the built city in a well-founded and data-based manner in the early planning phases.

With the 3DProjektplaner, a construction project can be digitally placed in a 3D city model in order to analyze it in the built environment, intersect it with other geodata such as digital development plans or carry out shadow impact simulations. In addition, existing buildings can be hidden with easy-to-use drawing tools, simple urban sketches can be produced in just a few minutes and these can be saved as a PDF or printed out for further use. In this way, the 3DProjektplaner uses geodata and innovative 3D technologies to create new perspectives for urban development, particularly in the early planning phases.

Who is the 3DProjektplaner for?

The 3DProjektplaner was primarily developed as a tool for planning departments of the administration and supports them in the various issues and coordination processes both within the administration and with private parties. Because it is a web application that can be accessed in a browser, no special hardware is required for use in the office (see section “Subsequent use and outlook”). As it is an open source application, the software can also be used by non-state actors.

Exemplary areas of application

Visualize and analyze competition designs

Specialist planners in the administration can use the 3DProjektplaner to import designs from planning offices as digital 3D models for urban planning competitions, for example, and visualize them georeferenced in the context of the built-up city. The digital import of construction projects creates new analysis options that support the coordination and decision-making processes. For example, the 3DProjektplaner can be used to view different perspectives and compare façade designs or roof finishes with the adjacent buildings. If required, additional geodata, such as digital development plans, noise maps or monument mapping, can be displayed in order to better assess the interactions of the building project with the urban environment.

Outline plans, dimension studies and urban sketches

The 3DProjektplaner can also support planners in developing their own urban development ideas, e.g. in the context of creating framework plans, in higher-level/informal planning or when working in internal administrative project groups. Easy-to-use drawing tools are available in the application for this purpose, with which 3D cubatures can be drawn in the context of the built city. This makes it possible to create initial sketches for the development structure of new districts or for the visualization of redensification potential in gaps between buildings. By integrating building law geodata (e.g. in X-plan format), it is also possible to take the applicable planning law into account when creating urban development sketches.

Carrying out simulations

Simulations can be carried out with imported and drawn objects in the 3DProjektplaner. Shadow casts and pedestrian perspectives can currently be simulated in the 3DProjektplaner. Further simulation functions are in preparation.

Further functions

Existing objects (e.g. buildings) in the 3D city model can be hidden in order to visualize planned construction projects or urban sketches on built-up areas. All visualizations can be exported from the 3DProjektplaner as PDF or JPG files and used for coordination processes, consultation appointments or public events.

Technical background & requirements for subsequent use

The 3DProjektplaner is a web application based on the master portal. As part of the Connected Urban Twins (CUT) project, the master portal was further developed by the Hamburg Authority for Urban Development and Housing in cooperation with Dataport in the area of 3D and the following functions were added:

• 3D Importer
• 3D Draw
• View perspectives
• Hiding objects in the 3D city model

The functions are bundled in the Masterportal toolbox “3D Modeller” and are part of the Masterportal core. With the release of Masterportal version 2.37.0 in September 2023, the functions of the 3DProjektplaner will be available to the general public as open source software and can be used by anyone. The repository and documentation for the Masterportal can be found here: Documentation – Masterportal[HW1]

For productive use of the 3DProjektplaner, a web server is required via which a built and appropriately configured master portal instance can be provided as a 3DProjektplaner. For this, it is particularly important to activate the “3D Modeller” tool when configuring the master portal.

In addition, web-enabled geodata is required that can be used for visualization and analysis purposes in the 3DProjektplaner. For this purpose, the master portal relies on OGC-compliant geodata services, e.g. in the form of Web Map Services (WMS) and Web Feature Services (WFS) as well as, for example, the CityGML standard & 3DTiles services for the 3D city model.

To create export and print files, a MapFishPrint service must also be provided and configured in the 3DProjektplaner.
The import tool of the 3DProjektplaner currently supports 3D models in the .gltf, .dae and .obj formats up to a maximum file size of 130 MB.