Month: April 2026

Chapter 7: 

This chapter really continues to dive deeper into some of the topics we’d previously covered in previous chapters about 3D web mapping and the very beneficial aspects of it. Some of the 3D modeling examples or pictures they use to show the capabilities remind me a lot of some different building systems I have used to create designs in the past. With this being the case, the chapter continues to talk a lot about the variety and availability of layers, such as Building scene layers that have quite a few features that allow you to visualize very complex models and also separate a majority of the features to be able to look at individual things as well, like plumbing systems or literally just looking at specifically windows. There is also a number of other scene layers, including integrated mesh, point cloud, voxel, and 3D object scene layers. Another big part of the chapter is explaining VR, XR, and the metaverse. Which the concept of virtual reality is pretty easy to understand, considering I have used VR headsets before. XR is much more interesting, and I have never heard of it before reading this chapter, but it is essentially a combination of different reality technologies. I think the uses for this (i.e., design or entertainment) are also really cool; it can be used for such a large variety of things and to create new imagery. From what I understood, the metaverse is essentially the possible social interaction within these examples of reality technologies, that being interacting with others through these systems. 

Tutorials: 

It was really interesting implementing the individual features like the bushes, trees, etc., to see how to implement 3D objects. I especially liked adding in the cherry trees just because it made the map really pretty and kind of reminded me of how parts of campus look right now.  

Application: 

I was thinking of an application I could use the 3D mapping to create, basically a 3D model of a national park, since sometimes they aren’t the most accessible thing, but it would allow people to see one of the parks. Now that I think about it, I also wouldn’t be surprised if this has already been done, especially because I feel like virtual tours and such are really common now.

Chapter 7: 3D Web Scenes

A web scene is just another name for a 3D map. They can be used in fields from construction, to engineering, to urban planning, in which I am particularly interested. (ArcGIS Urban is the service that combines GIS with urban planning. It can cover any development from short, year-long projects, to decades-long plans.) Some of the features of web scenes are pretty remarkable, such as x-ray vision and shadow analysis. Shadow analysis could be useful for reducing heating or cooling costs in a building by planning the best spots for windows to let sunlight in in the winter, but potentially find more shade in the summer.

Because of the added dimension, scenes are more elaborate than 2D maps. They are composed of four elements: surfaces (topographic basemaps that can include plants and buildings, or just the bare ground), features (just like a 2D map), textures (using imagery or symbols), and atmospheric effects like light or weather. Also, 3D object scene layers are simpler ways to visualize an object in 3D, kind of like a generated sketch. The photo in the chapter definitely reminds me of a comic book! Speaking of comic books and art in general, I think the use of GIS in filmmaking and CGI, like for generating city buildings, is fascinating. It seems to add a very realistic touch. On another note, the scope of indoor views is also really impressive. Using GIS to map pipes in a building would not be my first thought for an application, but it seems like it would certainly be useful.

Figure 5.1: Population density in the United States. This is a really cool perspective for how dense Washington, DC is (because it is a city) compared to any other state. Also, some portions of Alaska have higher elevations than average population density, which is why the whole state is not covered.

Figure 5.2: a Ford Fiesta fiesta!

Potential Application:

I thought the map of US population density from this chapter was one of the most interesting yet simple applications from this course. To combine my interests in urban planning and public health with GIS, I could measure a different feature and its density by state or by county within a state. For example, I could create a map in the Appalachian region (including states like Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia) displaying grocery store density. Areas with low grocery store density might be considered “food deserts,” giving insight into which areas might require the most help and attention from the government or other aid organizations.

Chapter 7 goes into the basics of how to use 3D GIS and the different applications for this technology. It is mostly used in order to display data in a way that is more easy for people to understand due to it being closer to how things look in the real world. Something that surprised me is that 3D GIS doesn’t appear to be much more difficult to use and make maps with than 2D GIS technology. A common way that 3D GIS is used is to display cities and manmade structures. This is because urban areas can be densely packed with points of interest of differing sizer and shape, and using a 3D map can make it easier to discern these points.

 

In the tutorials for this chapter, I mostly had a smooth experience with little in the way of setbacks or difficulties. I found it fun to build the park and to see how a space in GIS can really come together with the addition of details provided by the software. I only had one small issue in these tutorials – I ran into a really strange (and kind of funny) bug that added a bunch of different vehicles of different sizes and orientations to the park, including a massive helicopter the size of a small town, a picture of which I have included. I experienced this bug in tutorials 4-6, and I’m not sure if someone edited the websites linked in the book, or if it is some kind of display error. Other than that, I had not trouble in these tutorials and was able to learn a lot about what can be done in creating a 3D scene.

I will have to admit, I did not expect chapter 7 to be that long. I probably should have.

Chapter 7 was actually my favorite. I found many of the 3D maps on the software GIS to be purely data focused and as a result, kind of boring. I do think that the web GIS maps offer significantly more as far as a geographic experience goes and I realized through reading this that I had experience with this in high school where my German teacher built a 3D map of Berlin foe us to explore in VR with data points and historical markers pretty much everywhere. (Though I don’t plan on using VR for the final project in this course however.)

The most interesting part of this entire chapter in my opinion was the ability to add feature layers with benches, mailboxes and other street junk. I tried to boot up one of the 3D maps to play around with this but I found it to be very lagging. I don’t know if it was just my computer or if it was just too much information for a web browser to handle but I hope to give it another shot soon as the 3D maps look very interesting.

App 1: Delaware’s Native Gardens

URL: https://experience.arcgis.com/builder/?id=d0205f5e5afe47c19cc651576aefcddf&views=page

Description:

This project focuses on the information from weeks 1-4 of class. The project contains real-time information and is available to all mobile users with the URL. The focus of this project is to promote local biodiversity and sustainable planting. The app works by including a map for users to view, with red dots that represent logged plants. On the left side is a survey, which utilizes the WebGIS feature, to fill out if you planted a local garden and want to show others what types of plants and the location. This also includes a few questions: where the plant was located, if it was native, where it was planted, and the species. This information is available to all users after clicking one of the specific red dots.

App 2: Park Locations Within Delaware

URL: https://experience.arcgis.com/builder/?id=2fbe28e0b5ec4820a783af842787599b&views=insert

This project focuses on the information learned in weeks 5-7 in class. This project includes the data collection from Chapter 5, WebGIS sharing from Chapter 6, and the integration we learned about this week in Chapter 7. The focus of this project is to allow both runners and walkers to view where trails are in Delaware. This project includes two types of trail: pavement and gravel, based off whichever surface the user prefers. Users can select a trail (marked in purple) and see the attribute data of what the name is and the specific trail type. This information is public and available to anyone interested.

 

Chapter 7:

This chapter is about 3D web maps, the advantages of using this type of mapping and its features in GIS. It adds extra dimension, is easier to interpret than 2D, allows designers to build flexible scenarios quickly and effectively, offers powerful analytical functions, etc. A web scene can also contain multiple layers which is helpful in features, map image, raster, vector tile, and scene layers. There is a group called photorealistic scene that aims to re-create reality using photos to texture features. In a cartographic scene, it takes 2D thematic mapping techniques and moves them into 3D. The four main elements to a scene include surfaces. features, textures, and atmospheric effects: all of which add depth and context to the map. There’s also 3D object scene layers, which I was most excited to learn about, which are features used to represent and visualize 3D objects. They can be created manually or automatically using procedural rules. It also goes over some new technology that is only available in 3D: VR, XR, and the metaverse. The advantage of this is great for immersing users in GIS, for example, ArcGIS 360 VR is a web app that allows you to view 360 VR experiences (3VRs) on desktop PCs, mobile devices, and VR headsets.

Tutorial 7 :

I ran into a little trouble at the start with ArcGIS online with the scene option. For these tutorials, it requires you to be in the “scene” tab for ArcGIS online, but my browser (Microsoft Edge) had the hardware acceleration disabled, and I had to go into my settings and turn on the “hardware acceleration” toggle button so it could show 3D images.

I had a ton of fun figuring out how to do all of these 3D scenes and changing their shapes/colors! 7.1 and 7.2 were easy enough, it was cool to see how high the population density of DC was in 2020 (it was spiked really high lol). I liked 7.4 and 7.5 the most! Seeing the park come together was so cool, and I loved messing around with all the 3D objects and choosing different colors for the trees or picking different cars out. Also, for 7.5 it was super fun to be able to go underground and see a bunch of point of views!

 

Assign: Select one of your four ideas (Chapters 5-7) and create it. 

I could use this section on 3D scenes to represent and visualize green canopy and how it effects urban heat island effects. Using 3D tree models to show how the temperatures in urban areas. I can map an area and use the 3D vegetation symbology (oaks, maples, palms) and put them in my web scene. Using the daylight widget, i can show the trees cast shadows on buildings and sidewalks at different times of day, showing their cooling effect visually. This could be done in any location, including Delaware around the city. This could be expanded into showing where different building’s postions in the city also effect shadows and the warming of the areas around it.

This week only had one assigned chapter, number 7, which was focused on 3D web scenes. The objectives include being able to understand web scenes, knowing how and what scene laters are, learning the Scene Viewer tool, understanding 3D in different scenarios, and creating feature layers with z-values enabled. The purpose of 3D in WebGIS is to bring extra dimension to the map. This is especially useful for urban planning, architectural design, storytelling, filmmaking, and more industries. What interested me about this was how broad the uses of this software are, it feels like every chapter I learn a new way this could be used. The two types of 3D images are cartographic and photorealistic which can be used depending on your purpose for the map. Feature layers can be added over top of web scenes and can be configured to show a 3D image. This was super interesting and the book gave the examples of using 3D symbols to show a park bench, rock, or a streetlight. This chapter also discusses VR, XR, and the metaverse. These features bring location to users and allows them to interact and discover. These features are relatively newer technology developments and continue to be used by more people every single day. All these features are integrated into the WebGIS systems which is super cool! It also explains how 3D mapping is being used in urban planning and BIM. The tutorials of this chapter show how to create web scenes and 3D web apps. This includes creating a 3D map of the country and adding 3D object signals into a park. This chapter really opened my eyes to how creative you can be with WebGIS.

An example of a project that could be done utilizing the 3D web scenes would be to create a VR experience of the dorm rooms at Ohio Wesleyan. This would be using a photorealistic map with specific 3D symbols to showcase the desk, chairs, beds, and dressers that come with the different rooms. This could be helpful for incoming freshman attending the campus to view what their dorms would look like instead of relying on the set up dorms at orientation. New features could additionally be added that let you take specific measurements to know if your personal furniture would fit, however I am unsure how I would make that possible with my limited knowledge.

Chapter 7: A 3D scene can be more intuitive to interpret than a 2D map and allow for wider applicability with urban planning and defense simulation. Some 3D apps offer fly-around and X-ray vision. There are two types of scenes: photorealistic scenes and cartographic scenes. Photorealistic scenes aim to recreate reality using photos for textures and are commonly used for cities. A cartographic scene takes 2D mapping techniques and moves them into 3D to display abstract features such as population density and flight paths. A scene has four elements: surfaces, features, textures, and atmospheric effects. Surfaces are often referred to as a digital elevation model (DEM), digital terrain model (DTM), or digital surface model (DSM), and are continuous measurements. Features can be 2D layers or 3D scenes and are the operational layers of the 3D app. Texture provides exterior or interior covers of 3D features and is often aerial imagery or cartographic symbols. Atmospheric effects include lighting and fog. Scene layers have 3D object scene layers, building scene layers, integrated mesh scene layers, point cloud scene layers, point scene layers, and voxel scene layers. 3D object scene layers are used to visualize 3D objects and are created manually or automatically using procedural rules. Building scene layers allow you to visualize and interact with all aspects of buildings and have an overview, discipline (i.e., architectural and plumbing), category layer (i.e., windows and walls), and filters. Integrated mesh scene layers are constructed from sets of overlapping imagery, such as from drones. Point cloud scene layers display large volumes of symbolized point cloud data, typically from lidar or drone images. Voxel scene layers represent multidimensional spatiotemporal data in a 3D visualization. Atmospheric data and space-time cubes are voxel layers. I had a lot more trouble finding the things it was asking for in the tutorial, as some of the settings have been changed since this textbook was released.

Application: I can use this chapter to create a scene of a construction site and compare different plans to compare the impacts of underground pipes, what trees and other natural resources will need to be removed, and how they will fit in with the surrounding areas in terms of height.

Chapter 5 was interesting to work on. It focused on the ArcGIS enterprise which was a little confusing at first. I learned about what caching was and why it is important especially for highly accessed sites. This chapter also contained a lot of graphs and charts explaining how files work and operate. The steps on ArcGIS were pretty easy to follow and didn’t cause many issues. It was interesting to see the difference between raster and vector tile layers and things like how they are stored or updated.

Chapter 6 focused more on the visualization of the data developed and talked about it chapter 5. I thought this was interesting to visualize and actually see what was going on. This chapter also gave a bunch of pictures and charts to show how things are related or work together rather than just explaining it. When working on the tutorials in ArcGIS online it took a little bit of time to follow the steps and complete it. Taking a computer science and programming course it was also cool to see how coding comes into play in this chapter as well. Overall, I thought the chapter was interesting and important for learning how to use GIS.

An application involving these chapters could be a fisherman tracking where they caught fish on a lake. You could make the map use caching so the map is quick and easier to load. Once the person catches a fish you could use a gauge to chart how many fish they caught and the total weight or length of the fish.

Chapter 3:

I may have made some mistakes with the instructions for tutorial 3, since its not a very visually appealing app, but I couldn’t figure out where I went wrong with it when looking back through the directions. I had trouble figuring out the configuring for the 2D and 3D maps because one of the buttons I needed that was referenced in the book was within another section that wasn’t mentioned in the guide. I had to search for the answers, but it ended up being very simple; it was just in a group I couldn’t see. I like the look of the 2D map and 3D map next to each other. I also like the page sidebar because it makes it really easy to organize everything and its similar to working with ArcGISPro.

Chapter 4:

I had a lot of trouble with figuring out how to set a rule so that I could open the recyclables section with only a specific answer. The set rules button doesn’t show up when selecting the question, like is shown in the textbook; it is shown next to Behavior. The mobile apps portion of this chapter didn’t work well with my phone, since my location accuracy is pretty low. Luckily, I was still able to complete most of the mobile portions.

Application based on 3&4:

The work with mobile apps in chapter 4 seems like a fun way to add interactivity to a project. In thinking about art history again, I could create an app where people could note what their favorite pieces in a museum are, where they are, and add details about the pieces or their opinions through QuickCapture and AuGeo. Another idea is an app where people could report accessibility issues on campus, since there are quite a few, but different needs means that people notice different issues. Having a catalog from many different perspectives could provide helpful information for future work on campus.