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A 3d City Model of Kuwait: Data Processing and Possible Applications Computer Aided Architectural Designs (CAAD): From around 1950 to the year 2005 Kuwait has developed from a small mud brick town of 75,000 to a contemporary metropolis with a population of about 2 million (Al-Jassim, 1996 and 1997). Many cities in the Gulf area have similar growth rates, posing serious challenges to architects and urban planners. When new buildungs and settlements are planned, buildings already existing around the construction site should be taken into account. Existing buildings are included in DTBMs, which can be altered to also include the dimensions and elevation of the newly planned buildings. Terrestrial photographs of building facades can be rendered onto the ‘walls’ of edifices in the DTBM, and Digital Orthophotos (DOPs) can be used to visualise the street level around the buildings. The result is a photo-realistic, virtual visualisation of the real-world situation of the construction site and its surroundings, which can be presented to decision makers and construction principals to give them a visual impression of the proposed architectural design. Architectural computer models using DTBMs help architects and planners to compare visual effects of different planning alternatives, and to save time and costs of planning by reducing the number of field visits to the construction site required during the planning phase. Computer animations software is used to generate walk-through or fly-through animations, which enable visibility of the planning area from all sides, including bird’s eye perspectives which in the real-world can only be achieved with expensive helicopter rides – an option hardly applied in architecture and urban planning. Figure 8 (a and b) shows screenshots of 3D-flythroughs from the Kuwait test area. Building facades and vegetation are rendered into the DTBM. In Fig.8a (left image) the orthophoto mosaic of the test area is used to visualise street level. In the right image (Fig.8b), the landuse map is used.  Fig.8: Screenshots from 3D-flythrough animations of the Kuwait test area. Only five different terrestrial photographs of Kuwait building facades are repeated over the DTBM building walls in Fig.8. Although these ‘synthetic facades’ already provide a photo-realistic impression of the real-world situation, this impression can be much enhanced when terrestrial photos of the real facades are used. An example is shown in the following Fig.9 (a and b), which uses a DTBM and terrestrial photographs of real building facades of the City of Bremerhaven in Germany. While in most cases of DTBMs covering large geographical areas it will be too expensive to use terrestrial photos of real facades for animations, this may be an option for limited geographical areas which are frequently looked at in Computer Aided Architectural Design for individual buildings or smaller settlements.  Fig.9a: DTBM for Computer Aided Architectural Design (by PHOENICS GmbH).  Fig.9b: DTBM and photo-realistic facades for Computer Aided Architectural Design (by PHOENICS GmbH). Conclusions A wealth of up-to-date, accurate, and consistent geo-data exists in Kuwait, predominantly as a result of the KUDAMS project and succeeding, regular data updates at KMSD. The data is well prepared, and the topographic base map is diclosed in CAD file formats for private industry uses. Relatively small alterations of the data, such as data transfer into a GIS environment, and a review of elevation information, open access to a large number and variety of possible data applications. Street centre lines may be used in traffic routing (car navigation). Elevation information is appropriate to generate Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) and 3D city models (Digital Terrain and Building Models, DTBMs). DTMs and DTBMs are useful base data for applications in telecommunications, air pollutant and noise modelling, and Computer Aided Architectural Designs. The example of the Kuwait test area 3D city model shows that both the topographic base data (as part of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure of Kuwait) and the software technology exist for use in private industry applications. The examples presented of such applications show how topographic base data can help to direct the rapid development of Kuwait City according to the guidelines of the Kuwait Master Plan. Present difficulties at KMSD to complete the Kuwait utilities map, which is believed to become another very valuable map for private sector activities, are mainly caused by organisational challenges. There is hope that these challenges can be overcome in the context of the E-government initiative, which was recently announced by the Kuwait government executive branch during the Kuwait Info-Connect 2005 exhibition (5 to 11 February 2005). Kuwaiti organisations participating in the initiative include the Ministries of Interior, Education, Justice, and Health as well as the Kuwait Civil Service Commission, the Kuwait Public Authority for Civil Information, Kuwait Municipality, and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). References
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