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Singapore mulls creating 3D digital models of city areas with help of drones

Xinhua, May 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Singapore on Thursday said that it is currently exploring to create 3D digital models of the city-state's built heritage and city areas using aerial images captured by drones.

If successful, planners can potentially use the models to facilitate faster and more accurate 3D analysis for various urban planning and design scenarios.

"This is done using a technique called photogrammetry, which is the science of making measurements from photographs," URA explained in a press release.

URA and local drone start-up Avetics have already worked on a trial to create a 3D digital model of the National University of Singapore's Baba House at Neil Road. URA said it will work on another trial to create 3D digital models of the Pearl's Hill district and Chinatown area.

"Creating fine-grained 3D digital models of our built heritage potentially offers a new dimension to document our conserved buildings in more intricate and accurate detail," URA said. " Planners can use these digital models to plan and carry out research, guide restoration, as well as monitor and manage the state of our built heritage in a more effective way. At the same time, it enables our conservation planners to easily 'see' rooftops and other aspects of conserved buildings, such as architectural motifs, without having to physically scale the buildings."

This plan was disclosed during the opening of URA's latest exhibition "Drones: Changing the way we see the world" at the Urban Lab on Thursday.

This exhibition showcases the advancement of Unmanned Vehicle ( UV) technology, its applications as well as potential uses and future possibilities.

In the coming weeks, Urban Lab will be organizing events where the public can learn more about drones, and even try their hand at flying one.

Ng Lang, chief executive officer of the URA, said, "The current rapid advancement in disruptive technology offers exciting opportunities to explore new ways to plan, develop, and manage the city. Drone technology is one example. It allows us to conveniently capture and generate high-quality, precise 3D digital models of buildings that we used to take weeks to do, and at a lower cost. It is among the range of tools we are experimenting with now that will transform the way we plan for Singapore." Endi