Esri UC Plenary showcases Honolulu’s Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in a 3D Hologram

The City of Honolulu is embarking on a new way for citizens and visitors to travel using an elevated transit rail system. As with any new transportation system, the rail project will significantly change the way communities develop along the new transit line. In urban planning, the use of carefully planned transit facilities and accesses to promote optimum mixed-use communities is known as Transportation Oriented Development (TOD).

The City of Honolulu TOD was showcased at the Annual Esri User Conference Plenary Session. Zebra Imaging® collaborated with Esri® and the City of Honolulu to demonstrate to over 14,000 conference attendees how TOD can positively impact the communities surrounding the transit line. Esri and Zebra Imaging presented the planning approach in an innovative way, using 3D GIS analysis and visualization technologies. The use of 3D allows city planners to best communicate with public and private community stakeholders to gain buy-in for major urban infrastructure projects.

Esri has been focusing on GeoDesign process and are evolving their 2D/3D design tools within ArcGIS. Esri® used CityEngine, 3D Analyst and Spatial Analyst within the GeoDesign framework to develop urban growth and 3D density models representing different scenarios of Honolulu’s TOD development. From these models, Zebra Imaging produces a series of full color, 3D holographic images to be used in public outreach forums. Holograms provide accurate, visually compelling 3D views of the GIS analysis results and achieve fuller understanding and better evaluation by the public of the development alternatives of the TOD. Using the Esri models, Zebra Imaging’s 12 foot long hologram conveyed a true and easily understood 3D picture of how the rail will visually impact Honolulu’s downtown and surrounding communities.

Zebra Imaging also created additional channel-type images depicting Esri urban growth and density scenarios before and after the TOD. Zebra’s channeled holograms fuse two or more images into one hologram such that the picture changes as the viewer moves around the hologram. The City of Honolulu will share the 3D visualizations created from this GeoDesign collaboration project in a series of meetings and community workshops to share information with the public.