Nathan Hunstad & Kyle Martin Csci 5980 Study Group 7

Motivation:3D GIS Analysis Capabilities 2D GIS Analysis has limitations in the real world Some problems need the benefit of a 3 rd dimension Intelligent Building Evacuation System, Dr. Jiyeong Lee

3D GIS Analysis Methods Line of Sight Viewshed Shadows/Shading Watersheds Volume Analysis Cumulative Solar Exposure 3D Path Routing Slope/Aspect Skyline

3D GIS Analysis Tools Problem Problem Statement: What existing software applications are capable of performing some 3D GIS analyses? How do these applications compare to each other? Cost? Features? Usability? Performance? Challenge: Gathering objective data from separate sources to compare software

3D GIS Analysis Applications Related work: no feature comparisons/surveys of this software was found in the literature

3D GIS Analysis Data Twin Cities DEM data from the USGS (GeoTIFF) Same data for all software allows for direct comparison

Application: SAGA GIS

SAGA GIS Aspect Layer

Application: Global Mapper

Global Mapper Aspect Layer

Application: GRASS GIS

GRASS GIS Aspect Layer

Applications: ILWIS & ArcGIS 3D ILWIS: Did not run on test machine ArcGIS 3D Analyst: Could not evaluate due to cost

3D GIS Analysis Conclusions

3D GIS Analysis Conclusions and Solutions Free, open-source options exist for simple 3D GIS analysis SAGA GIS has many features, less intuitive interface GRASS GIS has fewer features, better interface Commercial software is probably best for serious analysis ArcGIS 3D Analyst appears to be very powerful Global Mapper has several capabilities at lower cost Future work: monitor advances in these software products