
Hello, This Is London Rising: 3D Printing Maps from LIDAR Data - andrewgodwin
http://www.aeracode.org/2016/5/16/hello-london-rising/
======
dharma1
That's really cool. Wish it was printed in colour :)

If LIDAR data isn't available, you can do pretty detailed 3D mapping with a
regular camera and UAV, using photogrammetry/structure from motion. A Phantom
or almost anything that flies with a reasonable camera will do. Of course the
better camera you use, the better the results. Flight restrictions over
populated areas apply, check your local legislation :)

commercial solutions: [https://pix4d.com/](https://pix4d.com/),
[http://www.agisoft.com/](http://www.agisoft.com/),
[http://www.dronedeploy.com](http://www.dronedeploy.com)

open source:
[https://github.com/OpenDroneMap/OpenDroneMap](https://github.com/OpenDroneMap/OpenDroneMap)

~~~
jofer
Color 3D printing is pretty pricey still. For something of that scale you'd be
looking at several thousand dollars, even breaking it down into small
individual pieces.

~~~
stereo
Using clever hollow boxes can bring the prices down significantly:
[http://www.shapeways.com/product/PCVV6V9G2/y-garn-
relief](http://www.shapeways.com/product/PCVV6V9G2/y-garn-relief)

~~~
jofer
It's still pricey. Making it hollow only helps if it's tall. For color 3D
printing, the material is gypsum powder (well, there is CMYK filament now, but
I haven't looked into it much). You need considerably thicker walls, etc.
Furthermore, the cost is as heavily influenced by machine space as by the
amount of material used.

For example, this was ~$100.
[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joferkington/scipy2015-3d_...](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joferkington/scipy2015-3d_printing/master/images/alaska_model_textured.jpg)
I tried uploading and pricing a "hollow box" version, but it saved less than
$5.

However, for this one, using a "hollow box" saved ~30%, (it's a comparable
size, but much taller):
[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joferkington/scipy2015-3d_...](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joferkington/scipy2015-3d_printing/master/images/base.jpg)

~~~
stereo
I just found and watched your SciPy talk. The 3d-printed geology puzzle is
really cool!

Yeah, the British print is basically the bottomless box you show at 15:16, but
with much thinner walls - I don't have it anymore but I'd say theirs are about
.3 millimeter thick. I suppose that's also why you paid three times more.

Since they don't have a bottom lid, they apply their bottom texture underneath
the top.

How difficult do you think it would be to clip the print along a border, e.g.
the border of Alaska?

~~~
jofer
Thanks!

I erred on the side of too thick walls instead of too thin, as I was a bit
worried about durability. They're thicker than they need to be, though. It
would definitely drop costs to make them thinner.

As far as clipping along an arbitrary border, it shouldn't be difficult. I
haven't actually made a model with a non-square border yet, but I've been
meaning to for awhile. I probably won't have time to in the next few months,
though. If you give it a try, let me know how it goes!

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analognoise
It's good to see LIDAR in the news! I work at Advanced Scientific Concepts
(FPGA engineer), our flash LIDAR is 128x128, works out to several kilometers,
and will be on the OSIRIS-Rex project to scoop some stuff up from an asteroid
and return it to Earth - it's pretty wild.

We are developing a system for topology mapping like this specifically.

Check the mission out:
[http://www.asteroidmission.org/](http://www.asteroidmission.org/) and the
company!
[http://www.advancedscientificconcepts.com/](http://www.advancedscientificconcepts.com/)

If anybody is interested, send me a message.

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force_reboot
Really cool. From the description it sounds like you just made one for
yourself. I would suggest you try selling these for $500 - $2000 each. You put
a lot of work into it and I think that as art these would be command some
money in the market.

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ChuckMcM
Printing it in a stereo lithography machine (think FormLABS) would get you the
details you wanted. That said, from the photo it looks very nice on the wall.

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lolryan
NYC performed a LIDAR scan of NYC in conjunction with CUNY a few years ago so
that they could build a 'solar map' to help estimate how much solar capacity
could be installed on a building. Anyone know where to grab the LIDAR scan
data from?

~~~
CognitiveLens
[https://data.cityofnewyork.us/City-Government/1-foot-
Digital...](https://data.cityofnewyork.us/City-Government/1-foot-Digital-
Elevation-Model-DEM-/dpc8-z3jc)

~~~
CognitiveLens
also [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Environment/Landcover-
Raster-D...](https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Environment/Landcover-Raster-
Data-2010-/9auy-76zt)

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marcosscriven
Really great write up, with lots of clear details of every aspect.

I always lament that STL was the format 3D printing software ended up with
(essentially a bag of triangles, usually in text format). Far better if
slicers could take a true mesh, and not have to guess if coincident points on
separate triangles actually amount to the same vertex, except of course for
places where it doesn't!

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sytelus
You can collect LIDAR data for your own favorite part of city by using this
$250 device and a cheap drone like 3DR Solo:

[http://www.lightware.co.za/shop/en/drone-
altimeters/51-sf11c...](http://www.lightware.co.za/shop/en/drone-
altimeters/51-sf11c-120-m.html)

The main issue you will face is permission to fly drone at 100m or so. In US
there are way too many laws to do this.

It looks like aircraft was flying at 200m for above data. London's tallest
structure are at 300m+ so this is not doable in all areas.

Also note that software like pix4d and AutoDesk 360 can construct 3D models
purely from drone images or videos. I'm not sure how much better LIDAR models
are compared to models from structure from motion.

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bjelkeman-again
That is a really nice project. Having lived in London, and having a 3D printer
I am very tempted.

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Animats
Nice.

An interesting map is an exaggerated-relief map of Europe as far east as
Moscow, with marks for all known battles. Over the centuries, they were mostly
in the same places. It gives you a sense of how geography affects politics.

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michalskop
How about printing a landscape from a map/contour lines? Do you think it is
possible for example from OSM data? (That London looks totally cool.)

~~~
maxerickson
OSM is just vectors, there aren't a lot of limits on what the data can be used
for.

This was recently posted to /r/openstreetmap:

[https://touch-mapper.org/](https://touch-mapper.org/)

I really don't have a sense of how useful such a map would be, but it's
exactly a 3d extrusion of OSM data.

~~~
saganus
This is very interesting!

I don't really have anyone close that is visually impaired but this would be
super cool to have at 3D printing events and such. Very neat idea.

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sytelus
Any idea how high airplane was flying and what LIDAR device it was using?

I followed few links and ended up here but not sure if this is the one they
used to collect data: [http://geosurveysolutions.com/rapid-
surveyor](http://geosurveysolutions.com/rapid-surveyor)

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6stringmerc
Very interesting project and glad to see the documentation and results! Had me
thinking this might be a fun long-term art project, where a city like this
could be given color details by hand using various inks and/or paints. Just a
thought inspired by the clever undertaking seen here.

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zodPod
Really awesome project @andrewgodwin! I'd love to do something like this for
Pittsburgh as well!

~~~
Isamu
What are the available data sets for Pgh?

~~~
zodPod
That's a good question. Not sure!

~~~
Isamu
Best I could find right now: Lidar point cloud data

[http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/pamap/lidar/index.htm#cl...](http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/pamap/lidar/index.htm#clouds)

Looks like Allegheny county was done in 2006.

What is nice about the point cloud data is that they classified each point as
ground, road, water, etc

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mayoff
That is very cool! Have you thought about tiling along road /river edges to
hide the seams?

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marcosscriven
One thing the author doesn't mention on 3D printing issues, is extruder
retraction settings (essentially pulling back the filament from the hot end
slightly before the head moves to a new path, thus limiting strings of fine
filament between them)

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jamessb
Cool.

There was some discussion of the LIDAR data-set when it was released:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10379279](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10379279)

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fsaneq2
Awesome, is there any data like this for SF / bay area?

~~~
bdon
Yes, from the SF city open data portal:

[https://data.sfgov.org/Geographic-Locations-and-
Boundaries/B...](https://data.sfgov.org/Geographic-Locations-and-
Boundaries/Building-Footprints-Zipped-Shapefile-Format-/jezr-5bxm)?

We're working on importing this data into OpenStreetMap:

[https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Building_H...](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Building_Height_Import)

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Roritharr
Does anyone know where to get Lidar or other 3D Data from Germany? (Especially
Frankfurt?)

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2sk21
One of the best uses I've seen for a 3d printer so far!

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mstade
Hey, I can see my (old) house from here!

