idea CityEngine for Underground Infrastructure in ArcGIS CityEngine Ideas

CityEngine for Underground Infrastructure

MatthewBoyle — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:29:11 GMT

Working for a civil engineering firm I think it would be great if CityEngine could be used as a way of modeling underground infrastructure, such as: sewer networks and water distribution.

CityEngine looks to be an awesome visualization tool with great detail. Having the ability to pull in attribute data from GIS utilities and have it displayed in such a rich environment I think would provide a great way for municipalities and private companies alike to 'see' their infrastructure and how it is related in 3D space.

Some of the key fields I can think of to start with in building a working model would be:

StructureID - unique ID of structure
Rim Elevation - elevation at top of structure
Structure Depth - depth of structure
Invert Elevation - elevation at bottom of structure
Structure Diameter - diameter of structure
Structure Material - material of structure (ex: concrete, brick, block, wood, etc...)
Pipe Diameter - diameter of pipe
Pipe Material - material of pipe
Upstream Pipe Elevation - elevation at upstream end of pipe
Downstream Pipe Elevation - elevation at downstream end of pipe
PipeID - unique ID of pipe
Surface - import from TIN, DEM, contours, etc...

These are just some of my quick thoughts on the subject, but I think having the ability to visualize an underground network in such a detailed and rich environment like CityEngine would be something that is unlike anything out there right now.

Re: CityEngine for Underground Infrastructure

ElliotHartley — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 09:14:03 GMT

I've been modelling some utility networks (pipes and electricty) in CityEngine, some of what you ask for can be done already. My blog post has one example "Modelling Utility Networks", I'll be posting soon about modelling a basic pipe network. It really is just using a rule file to model a pipe instead of street though so has so issues...

Re: CityEngine for Underground Infrastructure

larryzhang1 — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 14:46:19 GMT

CE should have some easy/flexible ‘component-based or model-based’ capabilities for more complex engineering designs, including facility and utility, in particular, like piping. Those components/models should be pre-defined and stored in the library catalogs, at least, which should be like some extensions for Trimble Sketchup (saying, 3Skeng at http://www.3skeng.com/en/3slibrary.htm).

With ‘pure’ rulesets or ‘current’ design tools, it is very challenging for us to get those complex engineering designing/planning works done 'effectively' in CE …