Creative Workarounds for Visualizing Wind Flow in ArcGIS Enterprise 11.1 Scenes

[tasubasu]

Potential ways to visualise wind flow in ArcGIS Enterprise 11.1 Scenes?
Background
We are mostly using Experience Builder and adding some customisation / custom functionality, mostly to the UI / visual aspects.To date we have only provided a solution of synced 2D and 3D maps in Experience Builder.

The initial request from the client was to add the Windy (ArcGIS Flow renderer) windy symbology to a 3D scene.
I have told the client that this is not available but I am curious if there are any clever workarounds or ways to make it appear like there is wind flow in a 3D scene.

 - For example, can a 2D map with the flow renderer symbology be overlayed ontop of a 3d scene with everything except the specific layer transparent?
 - Or can there be arrow animated symbolgs that follow along a wind direction line.
 - Or could this be turned into a time series layer where the wind points are converted to lines or multiple points that can be looped to give the appearance of movement? If so, how could I tackle this?

[tasubasu]

I've conducted several tests to try incorporating animated symbols in a 3D scene, and here's what I've found:

1. Animated Symbols: Apart from some Esri-designed 3D animated symbols, formats such as .gif, .glb, and .glbf don't work as symbol styles within 3D scenes.

2. Time Series Layers: I tested time series layers using wind points, wind points converted to lines, and segmented lines with different timestamps. These work smoothly in 2D maps, but in 3D scenes:

   • Symbology options aren't consistently available.
   • Rendering is too slow to be practical.
   • The time slider behaves inconsistently or fails to function properly.

3. Streamlines: While streamlines look visually appealing, they render extremely slowly in 3D scenes. Without a time-lapse (too slow using timeseries) option, they fail to give a convincing sense of movement.

Current Approach: For now, I’ve settled on creating a grid, interpolating wind speed and direction, and extending the grid points into lines in the direction of the wind based on the interpolated raster. By applying a vertical offset of 500m above the ground and using the scene criteria option, this method provides a basic semblance of wind movement within the scene.

I’m sure there are more effective or elegant solutions I haven't yet discovered, so I’m open to any ideas you might have. If you have insights or recommendations on implementing these ideas or any other potential approaches, I’d greatly appreciate your input.