Handbook

It has been said that a picture (or a map) is worth a thousand words. Visual statements can play a critical role in shaping opinions, supporting planning, and helping policy and decision-making in cities. Contemporary cities have grown extraordinarily complex and can be described and analysed through an increasing variety of social, economic and environmental data in different dimensions. New 3D tools have been created to cope with the large availability of urban data and models, make sense of it and report it to varied audiences in a meaningful and appealing way. 3D innovative interactive and digital maps are changing city design and planning by providing more elaborated analysis and simulations, and convincing impressions. Therefore, building capacity on what kind of data structures, system architectures and software tools are needed is an asset for anybody working in the field of urban planning and management. Visualisation is a critical component of modelling, analysing and understanding the built environment and this course will arm the students with the theory and techniques to harness the power of 3D visualisation.