VIRTUAL SIMULATION TECHNOLOGY

Meera Danika N M*
Virtual Simulation Technology (VST) is a medium where a synthetic, computer generated
world can be freely explored in real time. Virtual Simulation is not animation, it is participative.
Many people think of complex headsets or computer games when they think of Virtual Reality
(VR). Although the technology is similar to 3D computer games, the use of VR in a commercial
environment is rapidly growing. This paper deals with use of VS as a tool to predict and assess
the functionality of a structure at any stage of its operational life.
Keywords: Virtual Simulation Technology (VST), Virtual Reality (VR), Virtual Environment
(VE), Head Mounted Display (HMD), visualization, tracking, rendering.
1.0 WHAT IS VIRTUAL SIMULATION TECHNOLOGY?
It is a synonym of Virtual Reality (VR). The term VR is used in a variety of ways. Virtual
Reality is a high-end user interface that involves real time 3D simulations and interactions
through position and motion tracking, stereo audio and video, touch and force feedback
techniques. The user's personal viewpoint is completely immersed in the virtual world.
VST is more than a traditional medium since it introduces a new way of interacting with
multimedia information. VR is a hyper medium where a hyper medium can be defined as an
interactive (multi) medium in which information is stored and presented in a variety of ways. It
allows the user to view the world from infinite number of view points.
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Some of the multimedia packages, allow VR systems to be models of real world places or
objects, but can also be abstract worlds. So long as the model can be explored and experienced at
will in real-time, then it can be called a VR world.
1.1. Features of VST
The most common descriptions of "virtuality" relate to the technological devices used (such
as the data glove, head-mounted display, mouse, etc.), whilst explanations about human
experiences in the virtual worlds employ semiotical concepts (e.g. visual simulation, reference,
iconicity). Together with constructivist philosophy, the enactive theory can offer valid
conceptual tools for analyzing a VR technology apparently distant
* B.Tech Undergraduate student, Department of Civil Engineering , N.S.S. College of
Engineering, Palakkad.
from traditional mass media and other new personal media (e.g. Internet). These tools are
complementary and alternative to semiotic concepts. In other words, it is possible to explain
human knowledge of computer-generated synthetic worlds rendered accessible by VR
immersive systems in a complete and coherent fashion, on the basis of a biological theory of
cognition that puts man as a living being at the centre of the phenomenon of knowledge.

A Virtual Environment (VE) is a computer generated, interactive 3D environment in which

a person is immersed and actually present. VE are mediated environments since they are
mediated by technology.
Immersion, presence and inclusion are peculiar features of VST (fig. 1) that draw it far away
from other representational technologies. These major qualities can give a better definition for
the VST. The features are described as follows:
Immersion: When we enter the medium, the medium disappears. The user is enclosed in
the VE, by filling his field of view, as well as by providing multi- sensorial information.
VST should deeply involve or absorb the user.
Presence: It includes the terms intensive, illustrative and intuitive. The user has the sense of
being in the environment specified by the displays and perceives the objects of the virtual
world as equally present. Virtual presence is a function of vividness (depending on the
number of sensory modalities involved and on the quantity and quality of information) and
of interactivity.
Inclusion: Inclusion in this context means interactivity. Process of control and feedback
between the user and the virtual environment (VE). The user can navigate and manipulate
the VE. Interactivity is determined by the time-lag between the actions and the response of
the VE, by the amount of changes that can be done on the VE and by the "mapping

metaphor" i.e. the way in which human actions are coupled with the response of the virtual
world.
The main difference between VR systems and traditional media (e.g. radio, cinema or television)
lies in the three-dimensionality of the virtual reality structure and in the important role played by
the body, which acquires knowledge through action and interaction with virtual worlds

Figure 1. VR Qualities
1.2 Evolution of VST
The idea of VST has been around perhaps as long as man has daydreamed or imagined other
places and realities. However, daydreaming and books limit the individuals virtual experienceomitting other sensory inputs such as sight, sound and touch.
The birth of VST can be tracked to the date when Mortan Heilig, developed a system called
Sensorama in 1956 a simulator that can be considered as an ancestor of VR video arcades. The
Sensorama used film loops, stereo sounds and smells, wind, vibrating handlebars and seat to
create the illusion of motor biking downtown Brooklyn and through Californian sand dunes.
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In 1965 Ivan Sutherland in his paper The Ultimate Display envisioned VST as a
generalized simulation, with an artificial space within which the computer could control the
existence of matter. Sutherland created the first Head Mounted Display (HMD) in 1968.
Myron Krueger is the first artist who focused on computer interactivity as a medium for
artistic creation. He coined the term Artificial Reality in 1973. Artificial Reality is a VR that
has no antecedents in the real world.
The term VR was defined by Jaron Lanier (1983), founder of VPL Research, the company
which introduced a commercially available HMD and the first data glove.
William Gibson coined the term 'Cyberspace' in his novel Neuromancer (1984). It is a
metaphor that allows us to grasp the place where we experience digital and virtual realities.
What made VR so exciting and powerful to researchers like Sutherland and Lanier was its
ability to make believe that the virtual environment (VE) was real by combining traditional
computer simulators with immersive displays. Thus, as the viewer and participant in the virtual
world, you would be willing to suspend your disbelief and accept that the components within the
virtual world were truly viable objects and actions.
VR today bears a striking resemblance to the early stages of computer graphics in the mid
1960s to the early 1970s. VST is growing at annual rates on the order of 60% about twice the
growth rate graphics experienced 30 years ago. As computer graphics and other component
technologies advance, VST advances at an exponential rate.
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2.0

ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY

2.1 System Architecture (fig. 3)

In VST at least two persons are involved. One is the user who uses the VST and enters the
VE and the other is the viewer who can interact with the user outside the VE, controls or instruct
the user.
VST architecture contains

following fundamental parts.

1. Input devices: Several

methods can be used to interact with the

virtual

world.

These

ranges from conventional keyboard and

mouse, to 3D space

mice, data glove, position tracking

devices and data capture

devices used to monitor events in the

real world.
Figure 2. HMD
2. The virtual world itself: This is the computerized model of the VE.
3. The World database: in which the information on objects and the world are stored.
4. VS software: VS software can be divided into two categories:
a) The development software used to design , build and programme the world
behaviour and
b)The viewing software allows the end user to visualize and interact with the virtual
world.
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5. Computers: At least one computer is required to design or to view the virtual world. Some
virtual worlds are designed to be used by several users at a time.
6. The reality engine is used which is usually a graphic workstation that generates real time
images.
7. Output devices: Some kind of visual display will be used to show the view of the virtual
world, usually refreshed many times a second. Mostly these are conventional computer
monitors, but head mounted displays (fig. 2) can also be used. In addition sound is often a
part of a virtual world and sound card with speakers are common output devices.

Figure 3. System Architecture

Some devices can serve both as input and output devices. Input and output devices are
globally called effectors. Effectors provide the user with an audio-visual feedback and
communicate to the system user's actions and motions.
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2.2 Mechanism of a VST System

If you work with computers, you probably use a mouse and keyboard to input information.
When you move the mouse or type on the keyboard, you are telling the computer something you
want it to do. In this way you are interacting with the computer. Virtual Simulation Technology
is a major breakthrough in the way humans work with computers. It allows us to move beyond
computer keyboards and flat monitor displays to interact with a three-dimensional computergenerated world. Though the exact definition of virtual reality is disputed by many researchers,
most would agree that virtual reality systems successfully convince the viewer that the virtual
world is believable. Using methods of display, tracking, and rendering, VST allows the user to
become immersed and interact in a virtual world. A VR system makes artificial reality look so
real in three ways:
1. Visual Display
2. Tracking
3. Rendering
These three elements are the main components of a VR system.
1. Visual Display
When we want to step into a virtual environment we usually do so by putting on a headmounted computer display (HMD). The HMD acts as your eyes and ears when youre in the
virtual environment by showing the computer world on two liquid crystal display (LCD)
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screens. There are two LCD screens in the head-mounted display. Each screen shows the
virtual environment from a slightly different viewpoint, just like your eyes view the real
world. To see this difference in your visual points of view, hold one finger up and extend
your arm out directly in front of you. Close one eye, then the other. When you do this, your
finger appears to move. Thats because your eyes are spaced slightly apart and they see the
world from two slightly different vantage points. Each eye is sending information about its
unique viewpoint to the visual cortex in your brain. There its recombined and interpreted as
a 3-dimensional view. Likewise, there are two LCD screens in the HMD so that your eyes
will still have two slightly different visual sources of information, making it possible for you
to see the virtual world in 3-D.
Displaying the virtual environment is a very complicated component of a VR system.
Moreover, as a result of its sophisticated mimicking of human sight, the display device
masks its mechanical nature and creates an illusion of reality.
2. Tracking
Once were comfortably immersed in the virtual environment, we need a way to move
around. You can traverse distances in two ways: by moving your feet and walking or by
pushing a button on a hand-held device, like a wand, and "flying".
First, the computer needs to know where you are in the virtual world; it does so by using a
tracking system to monitor your movements. We accomplish this by attaching a device to the
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top of the HMD and to the wand. The device emits a signal that is picked up by the
computers sensor. In turn, the computer interprets the data from the sensor to calculate your
head and body position in the virtual environment. With this information the computer
changes the pictures or graphics of the virtual world to correspond with your position as you
turn your head from side to side or move forward. By tracking your movements, the
computer knows to redraw an object to appear closer to you as you move towards it. In turn,
you have a greater sense that this artificial world is real.
The tracking system must include not only the HMD, but the wand as well. The wand
functions like the HMD by signaling to the computer what you want the computer to do. In
the virtual world, it is an extension of you, allowing you to pick up and move objects, or to
propel yourself through space. Like the HMD, the wand also has a tracking device
embedded within its structure that communicates the position and actions of your hand to the
computer. As a result, you and the computer have an interactive relationship in which your
movements or commands are instantly acted upon by the computer. Because your actions
have a direct impact and effect on the virtual environment, you have a compelling sense of
actually being in the virtual world.
3.Rendering

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When you put on a head-mounted computer display, the first things you notice are the
pictures, or graphics, as computer scientists call them. It takes a lot of the computers power
to draw the graphics that you see.
Once the virtual environment is completed, there still remains the problem of redrawing
this world as you look or move around it. Unlike a video game, we need powerful
computing capabilities to draw or render images that correspond to your movements within
the virtual world. When the computer draws or redraws a graphic, we call this action
"rendering." In order to avoid a delay between your actions and the effect in the computer
world, the computer must work very quickly to redraw all the objects in the virtual
environment. In fact, the goal is for the computer to redraw the virtual environment you see
30 times a second. Some computers, such as flight simulators, are even faster and can
redraw the virtual world 60 times a second. All this work takes a very powerful computer.

3.0 APPLICATIONS OF THE TECHNOLOGY

At the 1992 Meckler conference, a proponent of VST said, VST is a very special field
where there are no experts in using it and every one can be one. It implies that VST can be
applied to any field like training, engineering, science, medical science, entertainment etc.
Air Traffic Controls
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: To improve situation awareness for air

traffic controllers.

 Aircraft Design

: Prototyping and system evaluation.

Business

: Experiential advertising, marketing.

Communication

: Shared virtual environments, information

visualization.

Education/Training

: Virtual science laboratories, virtual

museums, virtual planetariums.

Entertainment

: Immersive games.

Industry

: Design, testing, manufacturing.

Legal/Police investigations : Re-enactment of accidents and crimes.

Medicine

: Training on virtual bodies, drug synthesis.

Scientific Visualization

: Conceptual modeling, Molecular Modeling,

planetary

investigations,

aerodynamics

or

simulations.
Arts

: Virtual museums.

Acoustical Evaluation
Design/CAD

: Sound proofing and room acoustics.

: Design of complex objects with a high

degree of designer interaction.

Architectural Design
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: Design and visualization of buildings and

fluid

dynamics

cities, Interior design, Virtual walkthroughs.

3.1 VST in Construction Engineering
The impact of CAD on the design process has been revolutionary. Just imagine the kind of
impact virtual simulation could have. The process of design in architecture is usually
consultative, and a virtuconference between the architect, consultant and the client could be
conceivably carried out on the virtual building site.
In June 1992, Intel and Sense8 co-sponsored designing a virtual house, a two day
demonstration of a prototype architectural application. This two person VR station,
represented the architect working with the client. It includes helmets, joystick and a point wand
used to move surfaces and to change these appearances. Apparently, the screens smoothly
reflected the shifting orientation of the users head.
This example shows how virtual simulation in architecture could be an interactive tool in
the overlapping area of design, visualization, task integration, communication and marketing.
Following is an expansion of the effects of VST on these areas in the design process.
1. Design
Virtual simulation technology could revolutionize the process of design, not only
because of its potential value as a communication and visualization tool, but because it
offers a trial run in designing architecture.
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It is far easier to recognize potential difficulties, or actual mistakes, when moving

around inside a design, rather than looking at 2D plane from the outside. Virtual reality
provides the opportunity to do one and exercise the other.
Furthermore, it is possible to repeat the virtual tours until there is a satisfactory
outcome. Another advantage of virtual simulation in design should be the case of use of the
computer as a design tool, due to a more intuitive and interactive interface than that which is
currently available with CAD.
2. Visualization
All architects, regardless of their visualization ability, innate or developed through
years of practice, will have a better chance to visualize when using virtual simulation.
Today, 3D computer modeled animations allow visualization using a two dimensional
screen. The architect /client can visualize the design fairly easily using computer-generated
animations. However, there are limits to believability (related mainly to display
techniques and power requirements) which VST attempts to overcome. Improved
visualization through the use of virtual simulation in architectural practice will clearly
benefit both the architect and the client.
3. Task integration
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Integration of the design process will be an overall aim of using virtual simulation
technology in architecture. For example, an office may want to integrate the following parts
for each project: VR walkthroughs, working drawings, specifications, estimates, and
construction programs. This will require setting up a system to link information in all of
these parts. This integration will lead to changes in office procedure from the creation of the
new tools to considerations such as time allocation for the optimum use of hardware.
4. Communication
The use of virtual simulation technology and increased use of computers in general,
could lead to several shifts in communication skills. Architects clearly benefit while shifting
from working with 2D data to working in 3D representations of that data. Architecture
students and students in general, may become more trained in abstract thinking and abstract
communication skills. Another change that might happen is that the manual dexterity once
needed for making models will become less necessary.
5. Marketing
This is an area that has already benefited from the development of VS technology. In
India, prominent developers such as Tata Housing and state governments including those of
Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have brought out CD-ROMS and 3D graphics (also
referred to as desktop VST) to market their projects to overseas investors. London and
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Hong Kong real estate agents regularly use highly powerful graphics computers to walk
their clients through expensive estates.
Two advantages of this, apart from the prestige of using a new technology, the
walkthroughs are not predetermined (and thus are better than videos), and can be user
guided. A client can define his own path while moving (virtually) through a building or
estate, which makes the presentation interactive and friendly.
Another example of VS technology in marketing is in America, where furniture
manufactures design furniture with the customer using a similar system to make exclusive
designs. The benefits are clearly greater prestige and presumably, a more personalized
service.
3.2 VST on the Web
Internet has become very popular in the last two years. A lot of architects have set up their
web sites as a new way to communicate with the public. The idea of 3D VST on internet was
proposed in 1994. Now VRML (virtual reality modeling language) 2.0 is widely used to
introduce 3D environments on the web. Although its use is still largely limited, as compared to
its potential, which is imposed by the computer hardware technology; VRML shows
applications in great many fields.

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For architects, virtual simulation technology on internet is a tremendous boon. The use of
VRML on the web-site enables thousands of visitors from across the globe to visit virtual
architecture through the internet even before the building is built.
As VRML models co-ordinate system is being animated with the moving view point of the
user, the viewer is able to move around and view the building by himself. However, the
character of virtual architecture may vary widely from the architecture of the physical world, and
rightly so, for it responds to a completely different context and set of constraints.
Due to its relative youth, it is difficult to pinpoint just how virtual architecture and its
context of cyberspace will be integrated into our society over the coming decades.
Be that as it may, it is certain that immersive, networked, real-time simulation technologypopularly termed virtual simulation technology has gained a foothold in our society and will
only continue to grow in popularity. The technologies of virtual simulation and the Internet
continue to integrate, and the online culture is now the fastest growing demographic on the
planet. Designers are now turning to the virtual realm as an alternative, as the demand for threedimensional content in the virtual realm, on the internet and else where, continues to grow.

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4.0 VIRTUAL CITIES

Computer - based virtual cities are digital equivalents of cities that allow the user to
get a real sense of being in an urban place. This prospect helps people from anywhere
in the world at any time to visit their preferred place as they want.
Brian Pollack , a transportation planner from Boston, USA , wanted to confirm his
design for a roadway system for Boston. So he decided to give it a final test before
submitting it to the authorities. Brian decided to recreate the entire system on computer
simulated virtual environments and have the virtual traffic running on it . The work of
recreating an elaborate traffic system was out-sourced from India- based Build Zone
Networks. The entire highway was meticulously recreated for a block with all aspects of
roadways such as fire hydrants, power lines , sign boards, adjacent buildings, signals,
sidewalks etc designed with the help of 3D software.
With the help of sophisticated traffic planning software, several virtual traffic scenes were
created with various configurations. The end result was replacing an intersection with an
overpass to increase the average vehicle speed and installing a signal system to avoid accidents,
making a two-lane roadway into four ways to take care of future traffic load.
Urban simulations have evolved as an innovative tool for interactive city planning. It offers
urban planners, designers, investors, policy makers or simply concerned citizens to experience
the built environment even before it is actually built. It allows effective visualizing and
analyzing the physical impacts of a development prior to construction or investment. Designers
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have experimented with coloured map and site plans, card board models, rich architectural
renderings or a combination of those. However, none of these tools are complete or effective to
convey the past, present and future of a place to the wide array of diverse players in the
planning process.
The technology includes experiencing of an environment which may simply be your
neighbourhood as it currently exists or as it existed ten years ago or as it might look in the future
after physical changes like removal of existing and replacement with land scaped parks or new
developments, changing the type and age of the foliage and trees etc.
All of this is possible using state-of-the-art VST. Previously, the use of this technology has
been primarily limited to the exclusive realms of military and aerospace applications. Now as the
technology has become more affordable, it becomes feasible for planners, designers, and
community groups to use it to visualize and evaluate proposed changes and new developments in
the urban environment.
The basic tools for urban simulation are now within the reach of most architects and
planners. While more photo-realistic modeling still demands a high-end work station coating at
least Rs. 3, 00,000 4, 00,000, many architects can do less sophisticated work on a Pentiumclass computer with Rs.3000 64-MB graphics card. The software is more expensive. The
programs for building a 3D world (for ex: 3D Max 5 by Discreet, AUTOCAD 2002 by
AutoDesk Micro Station by Bentley Systems and Creator by Multi Gen-Paradigm) and for realtime simulation (like Vega and GameGen by Multi Gen Paradigm) costs about Rs. 2,50,000.
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4.1 Applications of 3D VST in Urban Management

With the help of 3D models of the cities, planners can view the city scape from different
view points; the birds eye view gives survey information about the city and eye-level
perspective gives the vantage points of pedestrians and motorists. By linking GIS databases with
3D city models, planners can map on the site and its surroundings census data, land use and
behavioral diagrams, climate and pollution simulations and other data, which enhance the
experts assessments and most importantly increasing the familiarity of the site.
Furthermore, planners can use VST models to assess the impact of new housing schemes in
relation to transportation patterns, access to schools, shopping facilities, parks, and other
amenities. Lastly, 3D virtual city models could be handy in utilities management. Most urban
setups have a maze of utility lines running underneath them. Tracking these in a 2D setup
would not give a realistic picture of their positions relative to the many foundations of buildings.
2D presentations are incapacitated when it comes to slope representations. New utility lines can
be easily introduced in a simulation exercises in virtual city systems.
4.2 The Virtual Los Angeles Project
The UCLA Urban Simulation Team is in the process of creating a virtual model of the entire
Los Angeles basin. This area comprises well over 4000 sq. km. The model is extremely accurate
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and provides a level of visual feedback to the user, which allows the immediate recognition of
the present location by virtual identification.
The creation of the Virtual Los Angeles database is a long-term project. The objective is to
build a virtual model, which can be used to help solve a multitude of urban design and planning
related problems. Using commercial off-the-shelf modelers, such as Multi Gen, the Urban
Simulation Team is creating the database from city engineering maps, numerous site visits and
its own internally generated plant, tree and foliage libraries.
Rather than attempting to build one large model from scratch, the team has defined a
methodology, which allows multiple small models to be created and linked together. To date
more than a dozen separate area models have been built, ranging in size from one to twenty
square kilometres. This approach allows the team to work with various public and private
entities that have an interest in studying specific areas of Los Angeles. The approach also allows
clients to commission models, which respond to their particular needs, while extending the urban
database. The methodologies that the team employs to build these models, have reached
satisfactory levels of cost efficiency and consistency. After creation, these individual high
resolution urban models are inserted into a large area terrain database, which is currently
bordered by San Diego, Las Vegas and Santa Barbara.
Urban Simulation Team at UCLA
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The Urban Simulation Team at UCLA is a research group developing applications for realtime visual simulation in design, urban planning, emergency response, and education.
The Teams primary focus is to build a virtual model of the entire Los Angeles basin which
can then be used to interactively fly, drive or walk-through the city. (Real-time technology
differs from animation, which uses a sequence of pre-determined and pre-rendered images to
create the illusion of movement. In real-time technology, the user interacts with the modeled
environment at will, controlling movement direction and speed with the mouse or keyboard
commands.)
The Virtual Los Angeles model already includes major sections of the city including
downtown, the Pico Union district, the Miracle Mile and Mid-Wilshire portions of Wilshire
Boulevard, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Westwood, UCLA, Hollywood,
MacArthur Park, Playa Vista, and portions of South Central and Santa Monica. Negotiations are
currently underway for other areas.
The Team has developed an extremely efficient system that can be used for visualizing any
urban environment. This efficiency begins with the time and labor to construct a model and
includes the computer resources required to interactively render such large models. The model is
constructed by combining aerial photographs with street level imagery and three-dimensional
geometry to create a realistic visual simulation of the dense Los Angeles urban environment,
detailed enough for the graffiti on the walls and signs in the windows to be legible.
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This approach has proven to be a useful tool for architectural design development and city
planning because it is possible to evaluate alternatives more rapidly and in more detail than
through traditional methods of analysis. Results of the planning/design process are illustrated
visually, allowing the client or community to view a proposed environment in a realistic fashion
and become informed participants in the decision-making process.
The strength of the simulation system is the elimination of complex blueprints, charts, and
other hard-to-understand traditional representational methods. Instead, viewers can easily place
themselves within a digitally accurate perspective representation of a proposed development and
better assess the projects impact.
The Team has worked extensively with the Los Angeles City Councils Chief Legislative
Analyst and the Office of Economic Development on projects across Los Angeles. Other
principal clients include UCLA Capital Programs, Los Angeles World Airports, the Metropolitan
Transit Authority, and the Israel Antiquities Authority.

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Figure 4. Virtual Los Angeles, Downtown

The Virtual Los Angeles model (fig. 4) also provides the environment for the Teams
continued explorations into diverse applications for real-time virtual reality models of urban
environments including emergency response and community governance. One compelling
application is to use the model as a graphic reference to information via the World Wide Web.
This approach allows the association of a rich (and virtually infinite) assemblage of information
with the three-dimensional graphic entities located within the visual database.
4.2.1

Los Angeles Entertainment District (fig. 5, fig. 6, fig. 7)

The Los Angeles Arena Land Company, owners of the Staples Center in downtown Los

Angeles, used the Urban Simulation Team to visualize their plans for the L.A. Sports and
Entertainment District. The proposed District is to be built adjacent to the Staples Center in
downtown Los Angeles, and is slated to include a 1,200-room convention headquarters hotel,
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entertainment facilities like stadiums, theatres, clubs, retail shops, restaurant and office space,
parking, and an outdoor plaza in its first phase.

Figure 5

Figure 6

In May 2000, the president of the L.A. Arena Land Co. and STAPLES Center, unveiled
plans for the development

to the City Council by showing a video

walk-through of the real-

time model on a projection system. By

situating

development

the

downtown,

the

proposed

in

the

context

of

model

allowed for both broad discussions of

urban planning issues and

specific design questions such as the

Districts impact on the Figueroa corridor. The response was positive and public funds have
been committed to the development.
4.2.2

Figure 7.

UCLA Physics / Astronomy Building.

UCLA Capital Programs requires that all new construction at UCLA be analyzed in the
context of the Urban Simulation Teams real-time model of the campus.
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When the first design (fig. 8) was shown to the campus architects and administrative vicechancellor, the feedback was that the building was too massive and so the architects were
charged with producing a more subtle scheme. Subsequent designs were shown to interested
stakeholders and members of the faculty in group meetings in an auditorium with a large screen
projection system. The additional feedbacks developed in these meetings were provided to the
architects.
Throughout the process, changes were modeled and analyzed. One of the design challenges
was to create a dominant entryway to the building. Construction on the project has just begun.
Thus the final design is as shown below.(fig. 9)

Figure 8.
4.2.3

Initial design

Los Angeles International Airport

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Figure 9. Final design

In 1998, the Los Angeles World Airports commissioned a multi-disciplinary team led by Ted
Tokio Tanaka Architects to explore beautification opportunities at Los Angeles International
Airport (LAX).
The project was constructed in two phases. To record the existing condition of the airport,
the team first built a model of the Central Terminal Area (CTA) including the terminal buildings,
parking structures, roadways, operations facilities, and signage components. The second phase
of the project was to model the beautification teams proposed changes. Architecturally, the
changes included a canopy to unify the primary elevations of the terminal buildings (fig. 10, fig.
11), sheathing for the bridges between the terminals and the parking structures (fig. 12, fig. 13),
and cladding for the underside of the elevated roadway. New landscaping was introduced
throughout the airport; the model focused on the changes to the primary airport entrance and in
the open areas surrounding
the Theme Building.

Figure 10. Initial Condition

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Figure 11. Final Condition

Figure 12. Initial Condition

Figure 13. Final Condition

The model was used to present the beautification teams ideas to the Los Angeles World
Airports Board of Commissioners and at public meetings held throughout the process. Future
long-range airport planning and development efforts will also be able to use the model to explore
expansion alternatives as LAX grows to keep pace with the demands of the next century.

4.2.4

Wilshire Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit Study (fig. 14, fig. 15, fig. 16)

The Miracle Mile section of Wilshire Boulevard was in 1999, added to the Virtual L. A.
model as part of a Bus Rapid Transit Study for Martha Welbornes Surface Transit Project.

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Figure 14.

Figure 15.

After modeling the existing street context using accurate street coordinates supplied by the
City of Los Angeles, the Team constructed alternative road configurations to analyze the impact
of a dedicated rapid transit bus right-of-way. Traffic patterns in the different road configurations
reflected projected density. The majority of vehicles were constructed specifically for the project
while landscape elements and street culture were pulled from the Urban Simulation Teams
proprietary libraries. A special bi-articulated high-capacity bus was created for the project based
on those in Curitiba, Brazil.
The Team modeled the existing situation and three different alignment alternatives. Footage
from

fly

through of the model was then captured

and edited into a video

illustrating the project. This video was

presented

the

Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)

Board and the proposed

design was immediately selected. (At

that

different project group presented four

same

real-time
to
meeting,

other proposed alignment

a
29

changes; the Board postponed those decisions,

Figure 16.

saying that they did not have sufficient information.) The MTA is currently preparing an
environmental impact report on the new Wilshire Boulevard alignment.
4.2.5

An Orthopedic Hospital in Santa Monica (fig. 17, fig. 18)

Figure 17.

Figure 18.

A video walk-through of the model was used at public forums to present the design to the
community. This strategy proved very effective. In a Sunday, June 27, 1999 L.A. Times article
about the hospital plans, the Santa Monica project team was commended for its commitment to
working with the neighborhood and sharing their plans in an open process that included
exploration of the project through the Urban Simulation Team model. Representatives from
neighborhood organizations who had previously been opposed to nearby Saint Johns Health
Centers $270 million renovation plan, appeared to be somewhat pleased by Santa MonicaUCLAs plan.
4.2.6

El Pueblo de Los Angeles A historical monument.(fig. 19, fig. 20, fig. 21)
30

El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument is the historic birthplace of the City of Los
Angeles. The park is now run by the City of Los Angeles and its museums and exhibits celebrate
the people of different ethnic groups who
have settled in Los Angeles.
Figure 19.
Figure 20.
The Urban Simulation Team was commissioned to model the existing park and
proposed rehabilitation efforts so that all of the development participants would have a common
understanding of the project and a single point of reference for design discussions. The proposed
changes included the rehabilitation of key buildings, new landscaping, and new urban features.
Of chief concern was
the

architects

the frontage along Arcadia Street where

were

proposing

large

block

wall

and

landscaping. The City felt

that the proposed wall would cut off the

area from the central

business district. Landscaping in this area

was also a major issue.

Real-time tours of

the project were shown at meetings at the

City and the architects were immediately given feedback

31

Figure 21.

on the design and the relative merits of the rehabilitation proposals. Subsequent changes to the
design were based on the information provided by the model.
5.0 CONCLUSION
Virtual simulation has been in extensive use in countries like the United States, where the
need for perfection eclipses the cost factor involved. But, in India the cost factor has played a
crucial role in limiting the use of Virtual Simulation Technology as effectively as it can be used,
if desired. With the realization of this fact, the domain experts are evolving attractive marketing
strategies to encourage its use in the Third World countries like India. Thus, it seems that the
slow but steady emergence of VST in India will in the near future receive the much needed
boost which will catapult the technological and functional performance levels of various
applications to new heights.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I take immense pleasure to express my sincere gratitude to Mrs. N C Nirmala Devi Sr.
Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, NSSCE Palakkad for the valuable guidance and
32

constant encouragement she has rendered as the seminar guide. I am also thankful to Dr. A. K.
Raji, staff - in - charge of the seminar for her assistance during the entire process. I would also
like to thank Prof. T. Divakaran, Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, NSSCE Palakkad
for his valuable help. Last, but not the least, I thank one and all of my friends whose contribution
led to the materialization and completion of this seminar. Above all I thank God Almighty for his
blessings.
REFERENCE
1)Prashant Telang, Future Shock, Indian Architect and Builder, Vol. 11, March 1998, pp. 126
131.
2)Prashant Telang, The World of Virtual Cities, Indian Architect and Builder, Vol 16, January
2003, pp. 38 42.
3)Prashant Telang, Virtual Architecture, Indian Architect and Builder, Vol. 12, March 1999, pp
128 131.
4)Evolving a perfect City Matrix, The Journal of the Indian Institute of Architects, Vol.

69

(06), June 2004.

5)Donald Hearn & M. Pauline Baker, Computer Graphics, Prentice Hall of India Private
Limited.
6)www.ust.ucla.edu.com
33

7)www.cs.unc.edu
8)www.beard.dialnsa.edu

34