Essential GIS Workflows: 3D Maps and Printing Map Layouts

Name: Essential GIS Workflows: 3D Maps and Printing Map Layouts
Author: Wade Wilson

Learn how to create and use 3D maps and models in GIS

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Course: On-Demand

In this lesson, I'll be discussing 3D data. To look at the coordinate system of our scene, in this case, scene two, I'm going to click on the coordinate systems. And you can see we have the XY, which is our 2D coordinate system. And you also have a current Z. Z is our elevation, or the 3D component. And there is a coordinate system for Z as well. And so I've set that to WGS as well. So we hit OK, and it's going to change our scene to WGS, or both 2D and 3D. Next, we'll take a look at our building footprint projection in 3D. So we come here, we look at properties. We go to general, source, spatial reference. You see it's a geographic WGS, so it's consistent as well. So we hit OK. Now, what I've done already is I've extruded the buildings. So this is a shape. And you can see this is one I've actually added a building height to it. Our data here that we're using right now does not have a building elevation for the building footprints. This is when I added, and we'll add a couple more just so you can see how that's done. But to see it in 3D, we click on the layer. And then we go to our appearance tab. Up here at the top, you decide what type we want. And I'm going absolute height. And I'm using the building height field. And this is coming from the building footprint layer. And then I'm displaying at US feet. To be consistent with WGS, we should probably use meters. You can see it'll regenerate. And you can see it's about three times as tall now. And that's a good example of the importance of coordinate systems. A meter is about three times a foot. So that's why it is three times taller now. So let's set the building height for another building. So I'm going to go over here to map. I'm going to select this building that's adjacent right here. I've got my attribute tab down here so that I can edit the attributes. And you can see our building height right now is set to zero. So let's change this one. Let's make it a little bit shorter. The other one is 250 meters. Let's say this one's about 225. If I hit enter and let's zoom out, you can now see the other building. And so that's basically extruding the building. We're not creating a 3D shape in this case. It's extruding it. It's manipulating that in the software. We can bring in 3D shapes. We can edit 3D shapes. Good example is bringing in AutoCAD data for a building that would be 3D. You can bring it in and you can edit that as well. Looking at our map, I've added two foot contours. Right now they're displaying on the ground. What would be helpful if we could elevate those? We don't want to extrude two foot contours because that isn't going to provide the display. It's not like a wall at those contours. Those contours delineate where there's a two foot change in the elevation of the land there. So the best way to represent that is to elevate those contour lines to be consistent with their elevation. How do we do that? Well, we're going to come over here and right now there are two D features. We're going to select them in our table of contents, go to Appearance. And we are going to say we want them at the absolute height. And these are actually in feet. But for display purposes, we're going to go ahead and use meters and they are regenerating right now. Well, that's an extrusion. Actually, we don't want to extrude. So let's say none, but you can see what happens when you extrude the features. What we want to do in this case is we want to take our two foot contours, identify the elevation relative to the ground. And we're going to use the elevation field to elevate those contour lines to the point in place where they would actually be delineating that change in elevation in the rural world. We'll pan around. This is a good example right here. If we come in and I need to click on this to have some of my navigation tools, you can actually see these contour lines. And we can control the symbology on these as well. To modify the symbology of contour lines, it's just like any other data set. I'm going to double click on those. We'll go to Properties. Let us change the, let's see what we have in Gallery. Let's actually go to Properties, Appearance, Layer. Let's make these about a dark green. Make them thicker. It apply. And you can now see them a little bit easier. So that's taking a data set with a elevation component in the table and actually displaying those features at the elevation they would be. Thanks for watching. In the next lesson, we'll be looking at how to navigate a 3D map.

Beginner Provider : Wade Wilson 3 Lessons · 11m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

The use of 3D GIS Data has been increasing in recent years and has been facilitated by the advancement of computer hardware and its ability to process large 3D data sets. These 3D data sets include the X and Y coordinates, along with a Z coordinate to account for elevation. 3D data has unique methods for queries and analysis, which is why we will explore and demonstrate how to use 3D data sets. Spatial analysis of 3D data is similar to the spatial analysis of 2D data, but the ability to explore the intersection of vertical data sets provides unique opportunities for analyzing 3D data that is not possible with 2D data.

In this course on Essential GIS Workflows: Creating and Analyzing 3D Maps, you will learn how to create 3D maps and models in GIS, as well as learn how to query and analyze 3D data. We will explore how to create 3D data and navigate a 3D map, as well as discuss how you can use spatial analysis on 3D data. By the end of this course, you will be able to effectively create, manipulate, and analyze 3D GIS data.

What You'll Learn

Display and create 3D data sets in GIS using X, Y, and Z (elevation) coordinates
Build 3D maps and models within a GIS environment
Navigate a 3D map and explore its navigation options
Query and analyze 3D data sets
Apply spatial analysis techniques to 3D data, including the intersection of vertical data sets
Create, manipulate, and analyze 3D GIS data effectively

Key Takeaways

The use of 3D GIS data has increased in recent years, facilitated by advances in computer hardware able to process large 3D data sets.
3D data sets include X and Y coordinates along with a Z coordinate to account for elevation.
3D data has unique methods for queries and analysis compared to 2D data.
Spatial analysis of 3D data is similar to that of 2D data, but exploring the intersection of vertical data sets offers opportunities not possible with 2D data.
By the end of the course, learners can create, manipulate, and analyze 3D GIS data.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn how to create 3D maps and models in GIS, how to navigate a 3D map, and how to query and analyze 3D data using spatial analysis.

What topics does the course cover?

The course covers three lessons: 3D Data, Navigating a 3D map, and Spatial Analysis.

What is 3D GIS data?

3D data sets include the X and Y coordinates along with a Z coordinate to account for elevation, and they have unique methods for queries and analysis.

How is analyzing 3D data different from 2D data?

Spatial analysis of 3D data is similar to spatial analysis of 2D data, but the ability to explore the intersection of vertical data sets provides unique analytical opportunities that are not possible with 2D data.

What skills does this course help develop?

It supports skills in Geographic Information Systems, Geospatial Analysis, Geospatial Mapping, GIS Applications, GIS Mapping, and GIS Certification.