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implementations are lacking 2D representations in particular, which is relevant as
they do not have the perspective distortion of 3D scenes.
Lopes and Lindstrom ( 2012 ) report on an application of OpenSimulator to city
planning in Uppsala, Sweden, in the context of a possible Personal Rapid Transit
(PRT) system for the city. They characterise the existing network of stakeholders
involved with urban planning and the associated use of technology as fragmented
(small disparate groups involved on specific and localised projects). Accordingly,
they see and apply online VR as a tool that acts holistically, with communication
capability to link stakeholders and comprehensiveness of digital modelling
approach to model whole cities or substantial parts thereof.
As an example of usability studies linked to representation of 3D models, Pouliot
et al. ( 2013 ) reported on effectiveness (how many lots can be counted) and satisfac-
tion tests (which of the two models shown was preferred) on a set of 3D cadastral
models that varied in appearance subject to changing colour (hue and saturation),
value, texture, position and transparency (and is therefore more specific than the usa-
bility test reported on in this chapter). Through this testing, the authors concluded
that colour (hue) was the most important visual variable in model representation.
Although VR and urban planning have been linked to each other for a long time
now in the literature and through diverse projects, this is the first time the implications
of the new generation of free, online VR has been explored in the context of a
comprehensive usability study.
2 Methods
The study area (Grand Vista) is located in a suburb of Dunedin. Grand Vista was
originally designated as a rural area but Dunedin City Council had rezoned it due
to substantial residential demand. Fig. 2 indicates the zone of development and the
subzone that will be the focus of virtual environment, CAD and GIS implementa-
tions. With the exception of a gully in the western part of the site that runs to the
northern corner, all land in the zone is suitable for residential development.
Figure 3 a details the development and assessment process, covered in the next
three subsections.
2.1 Preparation of Geographic Data for GIS, CAD and VE
Figure 3 b outlines the steps taken to prepare the data for the GIS environment and
Fig. 3 c details the preprocessing stages for the VE (the CAD process is relatively
simple and is embedded in Fig. 3 a).
The input data comprised the site terrain (raster DEM), site extent polygon
and existing features (existing parcel boundaries and road edges next to the site),
originally in CAD (12D) format. For CAD 3D modeling, this original DEM was
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