A digital botanical garden: using interactive 3D models for visitor experience enhancement and collection management

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2023.17629

Keywords:

Virtual model, 3D Geographic Information System (GIS), LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), procedural modelling, CityEngine, trees 3D modelling

Abstract

Botanical gardens are important spots in urban spaces, both for researchers and for many different kinds of public. Conveying scientific information by means of an attractive digital product, on a pre- or post-visit experience, is a way of captivating the public, especially the younger generation, to the relevance of those gardens as repositories of knowledge and for conservation of plant species diversity. This approach also facilitates communication with the general public and access to historical data. On the other hand, bringing the garden to the desktop of researchers and managers can be an advantage, not only for an overview of the status quo but also in spatial planning matters. This paper describes the production of a 3D dynamic model of the Tropical Botanical Garden in Lisbon on top of a Geographic Information System (GIS). Its development included creating a spatial database to organise data originating from a variety of sources, the three-dimensional (3D) modelling of plants, buildings and statues, the creation of web pages with historic and contextual information, as well as the publication of a number of interactive 3D scenes. Several software packages were used, and the final outputs were published in ArcGIS Online to be explored by the public and researchers (link provided at the end of the text). The data are organised in a database, and most 3D modelling tasks are procedural through Computer Generated Architecture (CGA) rules. Thus, updating information or 3D models can be done without having to repeat all steps, an important feature for a dynamic botanical garden. Challenges and solutions are also addressed, providing a constructive contribution to the further implementation of similar experiences in other botanical gardens. According to a user survey carried out, the realism of the representation and the possibility of easily retrieving information from the objects are the most positive aspects of the project.

Highlights:

  • A virtual 3D model of a botanical garden was built based on a GIS with plants botanical information and buildings, statues and other assets historical information.
  • The height and crown diameter of individual trees were determined from watershed operations on aerial LiDAR data. Statues were modelled photogrammetrically. Buildings were modelled procedurally using CGA rules.
  • Users found realism and information access to be the most positive points. The way of data organisation and the elaborated modelling rules make the product easily extendable for new data and objects.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Paula Redweik, Universidade de Lisboa

Paula Redweik, Ph.D., is a geospatial engineer and teaches photogrammetry, cartographic production and 3D city modelling. Her research at the Instituto Dom Luiz is focused on photogrammetry, laser scanning and 3D modelling applications in geomorphology (coastal evolution) and in cultural heritage. In this area, her interests are in architectural heritage, allying the 3D modelling with the dissemination of knowledge about their construction.

Susana Reis, Universidade de Lisboa

Susana Reis is a biologist with a master’s degree in Geographic Information Systems from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. Her research interests are the application of 3D modelling techniques to natural heritage and to ancient instruments, creating interative platform contents for dissemination of knowledge. Currently, she is working at the Loulé Municipality developing and implementing web applications to make available geospatial information relevant to citizens.

Maria Cristina Duarte, Universidade de Lisboa

Maria Cristina Duarte, Ph.D., is a plant biologist, researcher at the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Change. She is the curator of plant collections at the Tropical Botanical Garden and at the Lisbon Botanical Garden. Her research includes plant systematics and evolution, species conservation and management of natural history collections focused on several geographical areas, specially the Macaronesian archipelagos and the African tropical regions.

References

.3D City DB (2021). Semantic 3D City Model of Berlin. Retrieved September 8, 2021, from https://www.3dcitydb.org/3dcitydb/visualizationberlin/

Almeida, A., Gonçalves, L., Falcão, A., & Ildefonso, S. (2016). 3D-GIS Heritage City Model: Case study of the Historical City of Leiria. In The 19th AGILE International Conference on Geographic Information Science, Geospatial Data in a Changing World, (pp. 14–17). Helsinki, Finland.

Antunes, S. (2013). Virtual Campus for the University of Jaume I, Castelló, Spain: 3D Modelling of the Campus Buildings Using CityEngine (Masters thesis, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10362/9209

Arnold, J. (2017). Preserving the Vernacular Postindustrial Landscape: Big Data Geospatial Approaches to Heritage Management and Interpretation (Master thesis, Michigan Technological University, United States of America). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.37099/mtu.dc.etdr/485

Badwi, I. M., Ellaithy, H. M., & Youssef, H. E. (2022). 3D-GIS Parametric Modelling for Virtual Urban Simulation Using CityEngine. Annals of GIS, 28(3), 325–341. https://doi.org/10.1080/19475683.2022.2037019

Ballantyne, R., Packer, J., & Hughes, K., (2008). Environmental awareness, interests, and motives of botanic gardens visitors: Implications for interpretive practice. Tourism Management, 29(3). BGCI Care for the Rare Sign Library. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2007.05.006

BG-BASE (2022). Collections Management Software. Retrieved July 14, 2022, from http://www.bg-base.com/

BGCI (2022). About Botanic Gardens. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://www.bgci.org/about/about-botanic-garden/

Catita, C., Coutinho, L., & Miranda, H. (2018). 3D Virtual Campus - FCUL: an integrated system for university services management. In The 21st AGILE International Conference on Geographic Information Science, Geospatial technologies for all, (167_v2). Lund, Sweden.

Chen, Q., Baldocchi, D., Gong, P., & Kelly, M. (2006). Isolating individual trees in a savanna woodland using small footprint lidar data. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 72(8), 923–932. https://doi.org/10.14358/PERS.72.8.923

Cunha, A. R., Soares, A. L., Brilhante, M., Arsénio, P., Vasconcelos, T., Espírito-Santo, D., …, Romeiras, M.M. (2021). Natural and Historical Heritage of the Lisbon Botanical Gardens: An Integrative Approach with Tree Collections. Plants, 10, 1367. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10071367

Dell’Unto, N., Landeschi, G., Leander Touati, A. M., Dellepiane, M., Callieri, M., & Ferdani, D. (2016). Experiencing ancient buildings from a 3D GIS perspective: a case drawn from the Swedish Pompeii Project. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 23 (1), (pp. 73–94). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-014-9226-7

Duarte, M. C. (2021). Jardim Botânico Tropical. Presentation. In Espírito-Santo D. (Coord.) Jardins Botânicos Portugueses: o antes e o depois de 2020 (pp. 20–21). Edições Lisboa Capital Verde Europeia 2020. Coleção Portugal. ISAPress. https://issuu.com/camara_municipal_lisboa/docs/jardins_botanicos_portugueses

Duarte, M. C., Moura, I., Pinheiro, M., Nunes, M. C., & Palminha, A. (2016) Plantas do Jardim Botânico Tropical. Lisboa. Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical. Universidade de Lisboa.

Duarte, M. C., Moura, I., & Romeiras, M. M. (2021). Coleções do Jardim Botânico Tropical. In C. Casanova, & M. M. Romeiras (Eds.), Lisboa Guardiã de Saber Tropical (pp. 88–93). Câmara Municipal de Lisboa: Lisboa, Portugal. https://issuu.com/camara_municipal_lisboa/docs/lisboa_guardia_saber_tropical

Dylla, K., Frischer, B., Müller, P., Ulmer, A., & Haegler, S. (2008). Rome reborn 2.0: A case study of virtual city reconstruction using procedural modeling techniques. Computer Graphics World, 16(6), 62–66.

Edvardsson, K. N. (2013). 3D GIS modeling using ESRI ´s CityEngine. A case study from the University Jaume I in Castellon de la Plana Spain, (Masters thesis, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10362/9198

Elmqvist, T., Setälä, H., Handel, S. N., van der Ploeg, S., Aronson, J., Blignaut, J. N., … de Groot, R. (2015). Benefits of restoring ecosystem services in urban areas. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 14, 101–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2015.05.001

e-on (2017). PlantFactory. e-on software, SARL © 1997-2017.

ESRI (2020). ArcGIS CityEngine 2020.0.6332 © 2008-2020 Esri R&D Center Zurich AG.

Fabricius, T. (2020) Gothenburg is (t)winning! ArcGIS Blog. Retrieved September, 8, 2021 from https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/city-engine/3d-gis/gothenburg-is-twinning/

Gratzfeld, J. (Ed.) (2016). From Idea to Realisation – BGCI’s Manual on Planning, Developing and Managing Botanic Gardens. Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Richmond, United Kingdom. Retrieved August 4, 2021, from https://www.bgci.org/resources/bgci-tools-and-resources/

Guimarães, N., Pádua, L., Marques, P., Silva, N., Peres, E., & Sousa, J. J. (2020). Forestry remote sensing from unmanned aerial vehicles: A review focusing on the data, processing and potentialities. Remote Sensing, 12(6), 1046. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12061046

Hastings, J. H., Ollinger, S. V., Ouimette, A. P., Sanders-DeMott, R., Palace, M. W., Ducey, M. J., …, & Orwig, D. A. (2020). Tree species traits determine the success of LiDAR-based crown mapping in a mixed temperate forest. Remote Sensing, 12(2), 309. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12020309

Harrington, M., Bledsoe, Z., Jones, C., Miller, J., & Pring, T. (2021). Designing a Virtual Arboretum as an Immersive, Multimodal, Interactive, Data Visualization Virtual Field Trip, Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 5(4), 18. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti5040018

IUCN (2021). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2021-1. Retrieved August 4, 2021, from https://www.iucnredlist.org

JBT 3D (2022). 3D Model of the Tropical Botanical Garden, Belém, Lisboa. Retrieved June 4, 2022, from https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/2f51382e2183432bb82d6fb81e99591c

JBT 3D 360VR (2022). Tropical Botanical Garden ArcGIS 360 VR. Retrieved June 4, 2022, from https://ulisboa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/360vr/index.html?id=a8cf698ba87f46cea0fd77a8c1de3a54

Jelles, H. & Kessler, P. (2014). Apps in botanic gardens: Dos and Don’ts. Roots: Botanic Gardens Conservation International Education Review, 11(1), 12–15.

Kelly, T. (2021). CityEngine: An Introduction to Rule-Based Modeling. In W. Shi, M. F. Goodchild, M. Batty, M.-P. Kwan, and A. Zhang (Eds.), Urban informatics (pp. 637–662). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8983-6_35

Kimball, S., Mattis, P., & GIMP development team (2021). GIMP 2.10.22 © 1995-2021.

Krämer, M. & Peris, B. (2014). Usage of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Building Information Models (BIM) in Facility Management at Botanic Garden Berlin. In K. Alexander, (Eds.), Research Papers - Advancing knowledge in Facilities Management: Promoting Innovation in FM (pp. 224-234). European Facility Management Network (EuroFM).

Leica Geosystems (2022). 3DReshaper Point Cloud Processing Software. https://leica-geosystems.com/products/laser-scanners/software/3dreshaper

Lima, D. (2016). Campus Virtual da FCUL: Modelação de um Edifício Inteligente, (Master thesis, Universidade de Lisboa). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10451/25989

Longwood (2022). Longwood Gardens. Retrieved July 14, 2022, from https://plantexplorer.longwoodgardens.org/weboi/oecgi2.exe/Inet_ECM_Map_Popup?MapType=background

Malinverni, E. S., Chiappini, S., & Pierdicca, R. (2019). A Geodatabase For Multisource Data Management Applied To Cultural Heritage: The Case Study Of Villa Buonaccorsi’s Historical Garden. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XLII-2/W11, 771–776. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W11-771-2019

Maunder, M., Higgens, S., & Culham, A. (2001). The effectiveness of botanic garden collections in supporting plant conservation: A European case study. Biodiversity and Conservation, 10(3), 383–401. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016666526878

Morgan, B. & Greco, S. (2019). A GIS data model for public gardens. Transactions in GIS, 23, 87–103. https://doi.org/10.1111/tgis.12509

NYBG (2022). New York Botanical Gardens Plant Tracker. Retrieved July 14, 2022 from https://planttracker.nybg.org/map

Patrick, B. (2021). Uppsala Creates a Detailed Digital Twin to Enhance Sustainability. Retrieved September 8, 2021 from https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/blog/uppsala-sustainable-development/?adumkts=social&utm_source=social&aduc=social&adum=external&aduca=social_technical&adusf=linkedin&adut=59964203-1198-4c17-a748-f302db947f21

Pix4D (2022). Pix4D. Retrieved July 14, 2022 from https://www.pix4d.com/product/pix4dmapper

Postolache, S., Torres, R., Afonso, A.P., Carmo, M.B., Cláudio, A.P., Domingos, D, … Redweik, P. (2022). Contributions to the design of mobile applications for visitors of Botanical Gardens. Procedia Computer Science, 196, 389–399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2021.12.028

POWO (2021). Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved August 4, 2021, from http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/

Redweik, P., Sousa, M., & Duarte, M.C. (2018). Um jardim inteligente: o Jardim Botânico Tropical de Belém. In IX CNCG – IX Conferência Nacional de Cartografia e Geodesia – Informação Geoespacial na Era 4.0 para um Planeta em Mudança, Amadora, Portugal. http://www.cncg.ordemengenheiros.pt/fotos/editor2/cncg_2019_2_1_1.pdf

Repetskaya, A., Petlukova, K., Tabunshchik, V., Vishnevski, V., & Savushkina, I. (2020). Application of the Field-Map software and hardware complex for creating GIS of urban green spaces and Botanical gardens collections. IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 574, 012069. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/574/1/012069

Ross, L. (2010). Virtual 3D City Models in Urban Land Management, Technologies and Applications (Doctoral thesis, Technische Universität Berlin). Retrieved September 1, 2022, from https://d-nb.info/1013876695/34

Shutterstock (2021). TurboSquid. https://www.turbosquid.com/

Smith, P. (2019). The challenge for botanic garden science. Plants, People, Planet, 1(1), 38–43. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10

Smith, P. & Harvey-Brown, Y. (2017). Defining the botanic garden, and how to measure performance and success. BGCI Technical Reviews. Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Richmond, United Kingdom. Retrieved July 14, 2022, from https://www.bgci.org/resources/bgci-tools-and-resources/bgci-technical-reviews/

Smithsonian (2022). Smithsonian Gardens. Retrieved July 14, 2022, from https://gardens.si.edu/collections/plants/living-collections-management/collections-information-and-system-mapping/

Topiaris (2022). Landscape Architecture. Retrieved July 14, 2022, from, https://www.topiaris.com/

UCR (2022). University of California Riverside Botanic Gardens. Retrieved July 14, 2022, from https://ucr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=36bf2fdff28f4339988321700f82f071

UNEP (2021). The Species+ Website. Nairobi, Kenya. Compiled by UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Retrieved July 1, 2021, from www.speciesplus.net

Unreal (2022). Unreal Engine. Retrieved July 14, 2022, from https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US

UPenn (2022). University of Pennsylvania – Penn Plant Explorer. Retrieved July 14, 2022, from https://www.facilities.upenn.edu/services/landscape/penn-plant-explorer

Wyse Jackson, P. S. (1999). Experimentation on a Large Scale - An Analysis of the Holdings and Resources of Botanic Gardens. Botanic Gardens Conservation News, 3(3) (pp. 27-30). Richmond, United Kingdom: Botanic Gardens Conservation International.

Zhao, K. & Popescu, S. (2007). Hierarchical watershed segmentation of canopy height model for multi-scale forest inventory. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XXXVI-3/W52, 436–441.

Downloads

Published

2022-09-08

How to Cite

Redweik, P., Reis, S., & Duarte, M. C. (2022). A digital botanical garden: using interactive 3D models for visitor experience enhancement and collection management. Virtual Archaeology Review, 14(28), 65–80. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2023.17629

Issue

Section

Articles

Funding data