University of the Philippines Diliman

GIM175: Geographic Information Systems Theory and Applications

Laboratory Exercise: Building 3D Models
Using ArcScene

Submitted by:
Aldrin S. Cabriga
2014-65822

Submitted to:
Dr. Ariel C. Blanco
 In the laboratory exercise, the students were tasked to recreate and improve a certain area
in the UP Diliman campus using ArcScene as they have envisioned. The data that were used in the
exercise were as follows:

• UProadscenter
• UPcontours
• UPboundary
• UPbldgdwellings
• UPspotheight
• DEMs
The datasets were first loaded into ArcScene. In order to base the heights of each shapefile
to one DEM, the Base Heights tab in the properties windows was accessed and the following
setting were used:

• Elevation from surfaces: Floating on custom surface – updem5m

• Use elevation values in the layer’s features
The polygons of the UPbldgdwellings file were then extruded by clicking the Extrusion tab
in the layer properties window and setting the extrusion value as the estimated heights of each
building (EstHeight in the shapefile’s attributes table). The Symbology tab was then used in order
to change the texture/color of the buildings.
The UProadscenter and UPboundary shapefiles were also edited using the symbology
option in order to make the generated model more pleasing.

Figure 1. Screenshot of the extruded building dwellings as well as the roads and boundary symbology
 In order to make the elevation of the terrain as well as the buildings more noticeable,
vertical exaggeration was used. A value of 3 was chosen for all the scenes so as to not overly
exaggerate the elevations of the buildings especially since some are already pretty high. The extent
was also set to be the same as the PansharpUPsubset.tif image in order to limit the area to the
boundaries of UP.
3D symbols were also used for some of the buildings, specifically those along/near the
sunken garden. The polygons of the UPbldgdwellings were first converted to points using the
conversion tool in the Data Management Tools. Next, the specific points to be represented were
extracted individually. The symbology for each points were then changed accordingly with the 3D
buildings/symbols available in the Symbology tab.
Trees, lampposts, and lakes were also added in the envisioned model. To do this, point (for
the trees) and polygon (for the lakes) feature classes were added. the symbology for these feature
classes were edited. The following are screenshots of the envisioned recreation of some parts of
the UP campus.
 Figure 2. The resulting 3D model of the UP Diliman Campus

An obstacle experienced while doing the exercise was that for each of the building
footprints/points to be represented uniquely using the 3D symbols, each point would have to be
extracted individually. Since there are more than 8000 building records, it would take a lot of
time to represent each. Thus, the envisioned model is only limited to several buildings along the
Academic Oval and the Sunken Garden. Also, only readily available 3D symbols in ArcScene were
used and no other models from outside sources like Google Sketchup were utilized in the
envisioned model.