Geo Week News

March 6, 2015

Agency9 brings WebGL streaming of 3D cities to iOS and Android

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Agency9, the leading provider of online 3D visualisation, today extends its 3DMaps WebGL support to iOS and Android devices. Large highly detailed 3D city models can now be streamed to web browsers on both tablets and smartphones with both high performance and visual quality. Mobile support substantially improves reach in GIS and planning applications. Using WebGL and HTML5 improves usability with plugin free viewing of 3D directly in the web browser, eliminating the need for the download and installation of dedicated apps. 

Most WebGL 3D solutions on the market are pure ‘model viewers’, limited to show a CAD model and its closest surroundings or simple untextured LOD 1,2 models. Agency9 3DMaps is capable of smoothly visualising large scale terrain and detailed textured building models on a national or global basis. As one example, huge photorealistic 3D models created with tools such as Smart3DCapture by Acute3D, recently acquired by Bentley Systems, can now be published online using WebGL without limitation in size or resolution. 

Agency9 3DMaps supports common 3D scenery in common GIS formats (e.g. ArcGIS, CityGML) and is also validated with output from tools as Smart3DCapture, PhotoScan from AgiSoft, StreetFactory from Airbus Defence and Space as well as LiDAR/imagery tools from TerraSolid. 

Agency9 3DMaps developer platform enables the customisation of portals as well as integration into existing applications to leverage ubiquitous support for streaming large 3D data to users across all formats including tablet, mobile, Windows and MacOS. 

Rendering substantial 3D data sets in the browser using 3DMaps with advanced gaming effects such as ambient occlusion, real time sun and shadows, and god rays ensures the finest realism and user experience. 3DMaps also supports integration of spatial data and databases for intelligent models and visualisation of statistics. 3DMaps is the most sophisticated WebGL solutions available in the global market today over available open source solutions and other commercial solutions. Visit the 3DMaps developer portal at http://developer.agency9.com.

“Our 3DMaps technology is a solid platform based on over 40 man years of experience in online 3D streaming. It surely is a superior alternative to Cesium and other open source initiatives for professional applications and is probably the only solid option for developers seeking to replace Google Earth as platform. We invite developers to benchmark our 3DMaps platform for implementation in existing applications and customer projects.” – Håkan Engman, Agency9 AB CEO. 

Mobile support will also be available in Agency9 CityPlanner, the cloud service for creating and sharing 3D project information and citizen dialogues in urban development. Smart Cities can more easily reach citizens and stakeholders on the web with interactive visualisation of projects in 3D. See an example of a large project model created in ESRI CityEngine and visualised in a huge photorealistic 3D scene here. http://agency9.com/portfolio-item/showcases/ 

About Agency9 
Agency9 is a leading provider of software for online 3D visualization of geographic information and maps for collaboration and communication, to the infrastructure, construction, and public sector. Agency9’s product portfolio for web and mobile includes 3DMaps developer platform and the cloud service CityPlanner. The company was established in 2003 and is an established leader in the online 3D market. 

Contact: Håkan Engman, CEO | +46 70 305 7707 | [email protected] 
http://www.agency9.com 

Background information 
Agency9 CityPlanner Agency9 CityPlanner is a web based service for 3D visualization of projects within urban development, infrastructure and energy. CityPlanner is unique in providing online planning tools for widespread access and collaboration of planning information in 3D. It is created for urban planners, communicators, consultants, and GIS technicians to easily create, share, and publish project and spatial information online to be viewed in a normal web browser, without the requirement for plugins or additional downloads. CityPlanner is currently used by many cities internationally to publish projects online and to interactive visualisation screens in exhibitions. cityplanneronline.com 

CityPlanner is based on the Agency9 3DMaps framework for visualisation of large scale terrain and 3D city models with unparalleled performance and rendering quality 

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