Flat voxel-based modelling, assessment and visualization of urban underground space resource quality

Abstract

The voxel-based data processing, spatial modeling and 3D visualization of urban geo-environment has played a crucial role in urban underground space resources (UUSR) management and quality assessment, which is a fundamental work of urban geo-informatics to support future city construction and integral urban planning. In this paper, the voxel-based geo-environmental data processing which consists of geographic coordinate conversion, flat voxel generation, spatial interpolation of attribute values, and the assessment and visualization of UUSR quality are presented supported with 3D-Mine and ArcGIS. Furthermore, the basic methodologies of UUSR quality assessment including the grey relational analysis method, the entropy weight method, and the interval continuous mathematical model are introduced and programed within MATLAB. Taking a particular area in Jiangbei New District of Nanjing, China as a case study, we demonstrate the data processing, spatial modelling, mathematic computation and synergic visualization of UUSR quality with flat voxels of size 30 × 30 × 1 m3. The assessment results exhibit an overall polarized distribution of obvious zoning characteristics of USSR quality in the study area, whose values are mainly fall into [0.22, 0.48] and [0.55, 0.80]. This research demonstrates a new application of flexible voxel in urban informatics.

Keywords

• Urban underground space resource
• Flat voxel
• Voxel-based visualization
• Quality assessment
• Urban informatics