Transportation Visualization

Over the last ten years, computer based visualization technology has developed into a powerful aid for studying a variety of natural phenomena and has become an indispensable desktop technology in professional areas such as medicine, architecture and engineering.Continuous advances in computer technology have made these sophisticated visualization techniques available and affordable to the transportation industry.

1. Description

2. Why

3. How

4. Future Trends

5. Related Links

Description

In transportation, visualization is a science that combines a variety of different applications and technologies such as composite image, video overlay, animation and Geographic Information System (GIS) to realistically generate and portray existing and proposed project conditions.Visualization can be effectively employed to communicate the reasons that make the project necessary. Effective visualization significantly improves our ability to assess complex planning scenarios and proposed alternatives.It can be used to identify and solve potential problems early in the project development process, produce and evaluate alternatives faster and facilitate early public involvement and feedback.

Why

Traditionally, the testing of a design was accomplished through CAD drawing, which is based on numerical models . However, this traditional procedure illustrates little about the project performance, which is determined by experiencing the design and simulating its operation. The difficulty in communicating the complex nature of transportation projects, visual aids are necessary for public presentation. The intent of visualization in public presentation is to help the public understand the context, to add insight to problem solving and to communicate with the public.It is used to communicate the effects of future changes and modifications to our transportation system. It needs to be incorporated into the public presentation process to give the visual nature of the project and the effect it will have on the environment.Visualization can also be implemented to evaluate the cost and functional effectiveness of alternative solutions, the advantage of the project to the public as well as the anticipated impact.The complexity of the geometrical data needs to be analyzed and tested for the design idea is growing in importance for transportation engineers. Through various visualization technologies, design ideas can be visualized by providing a real time visual representation.The need to communicate design alternatives, issues of accessibility, visibility, environmental and historical considerations. The designers need powerful visual tools to develop and refine the design concepts and must also communicate these concepts with others in their organization.Finally, they must communicate design possibilities to an increasingly interested and concerned public.

How

The human visual perception system is very complex and must be taken into account in the design and use of visualization systems. The way we interpret a display is dependent on our conception of the data and the display, our background and previous experience and our cultural grounding.Geometrical data in transportation is often characterized by a high level of complexity that makes it difficult for even designers to understand the full spectrum of issues. For example, the complexity of horizontal and vertical alignments, sight distance and traffic operations in some large-scale projects (such as interchange construction) cannot be fully understood without visual support.By presenting information more graphically, we make it possible for the human brain to use more of its perceptual system in initially processing information, rather than immediately relying entirely on the cognitive system.

Visualization products provide information in a stimulating, visual way. They convey complex information in easily digested segments.Visualization enables people to deal with information by taking advantage of our innate visual perception capabilities.

Illustrative Image

Illustrative images are those that are used frequently in public presentation to illustrate existing conditions and project context.
These digital images are analogous to slide projector images, and have been modified the least.
An illustrative image can be generated by scanning photographs, reproductions, and other materials, and then using it to illustrate a concept.
The main advantages of these digital images over slides are consistent quality through digital enhancement and greater ease of in-presentation retrieval.

Prepared Images

Prepared images are those that the presenter has altered before presentation.
The two types of images that are used extensively are modified illustrations and digital-created schematics.
Modified illustrations are scanned illustrations that have been digitally manipulated in some way other than simple enhancement of the original scanned image.
Such modifications can highlight features to stimulate communication between image and audience.

A selective code that is understood to be a code enables the maker of the image to filter out certain kinds of information and to encode only those features that are of interest to the recipient. Such a rendering may be described as a transition from a representation to diagrammatic mapping. The ease with which we can separate annotation code from content has vastly improved with the use of digital tools.Both modified illustrations and digitally created schematics are examples of the logical pictures that are essential to presentation. Some specific and detailed assessments of the design are especially important to those who live, work or own property adjacent to the proposed project.These details include such issues as the integration and aesthetics of the project, the open spaces and other infrastructures that surround the proposed project.Other context sensitive issues, such as construction material, material texture, and scale of individual design element (such as lane width, sidewalk length) can also best be addressed using visualization techniques.

Future Trends

Animation, while foreseen by the majority of the DOTs as being increasingly important in the future, is not yet widely used. It is clear that questions remain as to the effectiveness of animation. The perceived effectiveness of animation is likely to be weakened by the current difficulty of its production [4].Producing animation with a highly detailed 3D model, texture maps, shadows and vehicular motion is time consuming and can require significant resources. However, because animation is the most powerful of communication media for transportation visualization, there is no doubt that this 3D technique will be applied more in the near future as the production cost decreases.

Keywords

Scenario Planning Tools, Geographic Information System (GIS) Mapping, Public Involvement Techniques

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