The planning of cities is both a science and an art.  To fuse the two into a sensible whole requires clear and innovative communication among experts with widely differing backgrounds.  For municipal authorities to make informed and consistent decisions, any model, drawing, or plan must be correctly positioned on the surface of the Earth using some standard and replicable form of reference and coordinate system.  New buildings, bridges, and infrastructure can work well together only when the mathematics and the science of mapping and engineering form the foundation of the models.  The resulting, 'real', built environment is aesthetically pleasing only when scientific models are clearly communicated and visualized.

Multimedia scientific communication offers exciting opportunities to decision-makers throughout the world.  Project Archimedes focuses on the use of Google Earth to communicate scientific information.  It does so because that software permits

• the correct georeferencing of 3D models built in Google SketchUp from Geographic Information Systems files (employed by many municipal authorities) on the surface of the Earth
  
• clear visualization of these models on the surface of the Earth as virtual, real-time, models that "look" right.
  

In Tables 1 and 2 below, there are hundreds of links to 3D models that make use of these innovative technologies.  Many are more than mere hypothetical models; a number have been successfully employed already in the municipal arena.  To see the full effect, make a current version of Google Earth active on your desktop.  Then, open a link and choose to open the associated .kml (keyhole markup language) or .kmz (keyhole markup language zipped) file in Google Earth.  It will pop up on the Earth in correct position.  All files in Tables 1 and 2 below have been published in the Google 3D Warehouse:  45 of them have been awarded the prestigious "blue ribbon" of the 3D Warehouse and by that award (to see the awards, view the 3D Atlas of Ann Arbor, 3rd Edition) therefore appear in the native loadset of Google Earth when the 3D Buildings | Best of 3D Warehouse checkboxes are checked.  All of these models have also been published in online Atlases of the Institute of Mathematical Geography (http://www.imagenet.org/).  Many have been referenced in other collections that appear in the Google 3D Warehouse (Table 3).   The links in Table 4 offer selected references on which "Project Archimedes" is based and also selected related published references as well as 'blog' items. The material below presents some of the detail.  To see it all, please follow various links; it takes a considerable amount of time to navigate the entire set of contributions of 'Archimedes'!

ANN ARBOR, MI: COLLECTIONS--10 collections,  673 models

Archive Archimedes:  Blue Ribbons-- 45 models

Ann Arbor, MI: Untextured buildings outside the DDA and UM-- 2 models

Ann Arbor, MI: DDA Untextured Buildings-- 52 models

University of Michigan: Textured and Partially Textured Building Groups-- 14 models

University of Michigan: Textured-- 34 models

Ann Arbor, MI: DDA, Textured-- 13 models

Allen Creek Floodplain-- 17 models

University of Michigan-- 41 models

Archimedes' Selected Collection-- 52 models

Ann Arbor-- 403 models

TABLE 1:  ANN ARBOR MODELS OF ARCHIMEDES.  Material in the table is formed from screen captures of content from the Google 3D Warehouse.  Many of these models, and their predecessors, have been employed in Ann Arbor, since 1999, by the Planning Department (under the direction of Karen Hart) and Planning Commission, by the Environmental Coordinator (Matthew Naud), and by the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), Susan Pollay, Executive Director.  They continue to be employed by various municipal authorities to the present.  Additionally, one set has served as a foundation for a course taught at The University of Michigan in the spring of 2007 in the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

POPULATION-ENVIRONMENT DYNAMICS--4 collections, 93 models

Google Earth: Benchmarking a Map of Walter Christaller-- 18 models

1901 United Kingdom-- 47 models

1901-2001 Greater London Population Change-- 11 models

Allen Creek Floodplain-- 17 models

TABLE 2:  POPULATION-ENVIRONMENT MODELS OF ARCHIMEDES.  Material in the table is formed from screen captures of content from the Google 3D Warehouse.  The links that show visualization of the geometric components of Christaller's historical urban hierarchy use the power of the method to visualize historical materials.  So, too, do the links to historic demographic data.  When buildings and bar charts are envisioned as topologically equivalent then it becomes a simple matter to envision population data in place on the surface of the Earth.  Conversely, virtual 3D life can be inserted into two-dimensional graphs that offer only limited views of reality.  The final display in this set shows potential flooding hazard, in relation to buildings, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  These virtual 3D models have been employed by both planners and staff in City Hall as one aid in decision-making.  They continue to be used in that manner.

3D Building Collections

Featured Google Earth Modelers

Colleges & Universities

Help Model Ann Arbor, MI

Model Your Campus in 3D Competition (United States)--83 collections

Cities in Development--6 collections

North America--71 collections

TABLE 3:  LINKS TO GOOGLE 'ROOT' COLLECTIONS CONTAINING WORK OF ARCHIMEDES.  THE "FEATURED MODELER" DESIGNATION IS A SPECIAL HONOR; TO DATE 36 SUCH DESIGNATIONS HAVE BEEN AWARDED BY GOOGLE 3D WAREHOUSE.

ONLINE PUBLICATIONS  Maps, Timelines, and the Internet:  the Quest for Peace in the Middle East.  Institute of Mathematical Geography; multiple authors, see link.  See especially the link associated with the "Current" button and the use of Google Earth to capture the entire record of Neighborhood Watch in Ann Arbor in a way that integrates spatial and temporal considerations.  This latter file contains also YouTube visualization of two selected images from Google Earth.  It also contains an audio file of "oral history" about the 40 year history of Neighborhood Watch in Ann Arbor.  December, 2007. 3D Atlas of Ann Arbor, 3rd Edition , Sandra Lach Arlinghaus with input from others noted throughout.  June 2007. 3D Atlas of Ann Arbor, 2nd Edition.  Sandra Lach Arlinghaus, November, 2006. 3D Atlas of Ann Arbor, 1st Edition.  Editor and principal author:  Sandra Lach Arlinghaus with co-authors noted throughout the files.  June, 2006. Solstice:  An Electronic Journal of Geography and Mathematics.  Institute of Mathematical Geography, Ann Arbor, MI. Vol. 18, 2007.  Sandra Lach Arlinghaus  The Animated Pascal Announcement:  Sandra Lach Arlinghaus, 3D Atlas of Ann Arbor, 3rd Edition Vol. 17, 2006 Introduction to the Special Issue Sandra L. Arlinghaus and Michael Batty.  Visualizing Rank and Size of Cities and Towns  Part I:  England, Scotland, and Wales, 1901-2001  Part II:  Greater London, 1901-2001  Sandra Lach Arlinghaus.  Visualizing a Map of Walter Christaller, Poland 1941 Part I:  Benchmarking the Map. Part II:  Interpolation of the Benchmarked Map. Notes:  Sandra Lach Arlinghaus: Announcement:  3D Atlas of Ann Arbor, 2nd Edition;   Banda Aceh:  A View on the Globe Sandra Lach Arlinghaus.  3D Atlas of Ann Arbor:  The Google Earth Approach Part I;  Part II Research Announcement:  Sandra L. Arlinghaus and Michael Batty.  Zipf's Hyperboloid? Vol. 16, 2005. NEWS:  UPDATE ON THE 3D ATLAS OF ANN ARBOR Sandra Lach Arlinghaus  Archimedes in Ann Arbor? Alyssa J. Domzal, Ui Sang Hwang, and Kris J. Walters, Jr.  Virtual Flood in the Allen Creek Floodplain and Floodway Sandra Lach Arlinghaus et al.  Kioskland:  A Strategy for Linking Hierarchical Levels of Virtual Reality Maps Vol. 15, 2004. Klaus-Peter Beier  One Optimization of an Earlier Model of Virtual Downtown Ann Arbor Sandra L. Arlinghaus, Fred J. Beal, and Douglas S. Kelbaugh  The View from the Top:  Visualizing Downtown Ann Arbor in Three Dimensions Sandra Lach Arlinghaus  Spatial Synthesis:  3D Atlas of Ann Arbor Vol. 14, 2003. Sandra Lach Arlinghaus,  1.  Ann Arbor, Michigan:  Virtual Downtown Experiments Sandra Lach Arlinghaus  Ann Arbor, Michigan:  Virtual Downtown Experiments, Part II Taejung Kwon, Adrien A. Lazzaro, Paul J. Oppenheim, Aaron Rosenblum Ann Arbor, Michigan:  Virtual Downtown Experiments, Part III Vol. 12, 2001. Sandra Lach Arlinghaus  Maps and Decisions:  Allen's Creek Floodplain, Opportunity or Disaster? Vol. 9, 1998. Sandra L. Arlinghaus, Ruben De la Sierra.  Revitalizing Maps or Images? BLOGS Andrew Hudson-Smith, "Google Earth:  From the 3D city to data visualization" Sunday, October 7, 2007. http://digitalurban.blogspot.com/2007/10/google-earth-from-3d-city-to-data.html Population Density, England, 1891-1991, http://www.barnabu.co.uk/population-density-england-1891-1991/ GOOGLE A search of Google Images, using "Arlinghaus 3D Ann Arbor" returns 13 pages of images:  http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&svnum=10&hl=en&q=arlinghaus+3d+ann+arbor&btnG=Search+Images A search of Google Maps, using "Arlinghaus 3D Ann Arbor" returns 2 pages of material:  http://maps.google.com/maps?gbv=2&svnum=10&hl=en&q=arlinghaus+3d+ann+arbor&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=il GOOGLE 3D WAREHOUSE COLLECTIONS

Architecture

The best 3D Collections

House and Buildings

TABLE 4:  OTHER SITES AND COLLECTIONS CONTAINING WORK OF ARCHIMEDES--TRADITIONAL AND NON-TRADITIONAL WAYS TO CONSIDER "CITATION" AND SIMILAR FORMS OF COMMUNICATION ABOUT SCIENCE.

Software used:

Google Earth
Google SketchUp
Adobe PhotoShop
ESRI ArcGIS, 9.2
ESRI ArcMap
ESRI 3D Analyst Extension
ESRI Spatial Analyst Extentsion
ESRI ArcView 3.2

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