March 28, 2016, El Segundo, CA - In general terms, sustainability is defined as the endurance of systems and processes. Sustainable maps should be designed to include four interconnected domains: ecology, economics, politics, and culture.
3D maps tell an effective sustainable "story" because they allow buildings to be incorporated in the context.
The web or "internet of things" has rapidly allowed cities promoting sustainability to publish and inform its citizens, businesses and other stakeholders more effectively. Software is changing the way we process information and make smart decisions.
About five months ago, CyberCity 3D had the pleasure of commencing Rapid Energy Modeling (REM) support to Autodesk and its REM processes -
REM from Autodesk is a streamlined method for energy analysis that provides useful results using building data to quickly identify high-potential retrofit strategies prior to costly site visits. REM makes preliminary energy assessments simple and cost-effective by providing insights based on a building’s construction, geometry, and local climate conditions.
- Screen building portfolios to identify retrofit candidates
- Predict lifecycle energy use and cost
- Identify energy conservation measures
- Create energy reports in less than an hour
Converting our 3D Library buildings to be suitable for the REM simulation was not easy, but our development team was up to the task. We delivered a series of 3D building files that were uniquely helpful for simulation, visualization and information aggregation. The end result was a set of data points associated with each building that literally saves thousands of dollars for every building on a monthly basis. That amounts to a dynamic step forward in sustainable economic gain. So while the actual savings numbers are still being measured from baselines and established benchmarks, the bottom line is a major return on investment.
Going the "Last Mile"
While Autodesk is a global leader in Building Energy Management (BEM) and related value adds, they are not a mapping company. In order to maximize the consumption of this valuable information, a web-map needs to be available and accessible on all devices, both desktop and mobile. This is where CyberCity 3D Streaming Maps and Cesium came into the picture. Other vendors reviewed fell short of the essential criteria:
1. Open Architecture
2. 100% Web Architecture
3. Java Script configured
4. Cloud servers to stream 3D Buildings along with other GIS data like imagery and polygons/vectors
5. No software licensing
6. No extensive training
7. Immediately deployable without project economic burdens
8. No vendor lock-in like you might get with Esri or Google
CyberCity 3D chose Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI) Globe Cesium because it achieved all of the above objectives.
The Deployment
Step 1 : Deliver 3D Content to Autodesk for Rapid Energy Modeling
Visualization of CC3D buildings in Autodesk Infraworks 360
The Autodesk team runs the simulations......
Step 2 : Complete Data Sets and Thematic Design in Infraworks 360
Sco tt Pomeroy, Sustainability Manager of Downtown DC presenting 3D themes for energy usage in the DC EcoDistrict at Autodesk University in December, 2015.
Step 3: Export CSV files from REM analysis to 3D Streaming Map 3D Tiling via cloud services
http://cybercity3d.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/?city=WashingtonDC-DowntownDC
You now have your 3D Rapid Energy Modeling Map completed for an unlimited number of users with easy content management for updated benchmarks and actionable sustainable building economics. Cities just got smarter!
Credits
Author - Kevin DeVito, CEO, CyberCity 3D, Inc.
Mathews Mathai, Senior product Manager at Autodesk
Moiz Kapadia, Autodesk Sustainability Solutions
Austin Logie, CyberCity 3D Base Camp Project Manager
Tom Fili, AGI/Cesium Product Manager - 3D Streaming Tiles
Scott Pomeroy - Sustainability Manager, Downtown DC
Peter Ding, CyberCity 3D CTO
