‘Virtual Brisbane': 3D City Model

AAM has contributed to Brisbane City Council's new visualisation and planning tool, Virtual Brisbane. This fully interactive computer-generated 3D model of Brisbane aims to enhance some of the business processes with Council. The 3D city model was built by AAM utilising aerial laser data and Pictometry multi-angle oblique imagery. The most noticeable facet of the AAM 3D building models are their photo-realistic finish.

K2Vi is AAM's visualisation package which is at the core of Virtual Brisbane and features every building and structure in a 5km radius in the CBD. The model spans an area of more than 100sqkm, contains models for more than 100,000 structures and is the largest 3D city model in the southern hemisphere.

Virtual Brisbane is a centrally-located master record of all urban development activity. This tool will help Council Planners show residents the impacts of Neighbourhood Planning and also help residents understand the future of their neighbourhood and city. Virtual Brisbane will shortly become fully available to the public through web hosting so they can log on and navigate through the model and look at suburbs undergoing neighbourhood planning by the end of 2011.

The model reinforces Council's role as Australia's largest Local Government and a World Class city. Virtual Brisbane plays a leading role in strategic planning advancement, and in investigating, trialing and implementing leading-edge technology to improve the level of service to internal and external stakeholders.
AAM has produced a number of 3D models of capital cities in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, including Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart, Wellington and Cape Town. These models are proving to be valuable tools to Councils for a variety of planning and development requirements.