Abstract:

Technical plans and design concepts are often difficult to grasp for people outside the planning and engineering profession. Yet, it is crucial for decision makers, citizens and other stakeholders to understand what is being planned and to allow them to bring in their input, concerns and suggestions in a meaningful way. This presentation tells the story of how GPI is engaging communities by using a complementary set of visualization tools to play a decisive role in securing community support and justification for downtown revitalization projects. Included in the presentation will be a demonstration of how high definition imagery taken by GPI drone cameras, on-the ground digital cameras, and google street view snapshots of a project area are used as the visual base and combined with supporting software and tools to create innovative visualizations. These innovative technologies make it possible to provide high-quality visualizations with much less effort (time, money) than previously required – opening the door to also applying them in cost-effective ways in smaller scale projects.