Modelling 3D Scanned Data to Visualise and Analyse the Built Environment for Regeneration

The renovation and refurbishment market is rapidly expanding in the construction industry. The regeneration and transformation of cities from the industrial age (unsustainable) to the knowledge age (sustainable) is essentially a "whole life cycle" process consisting of: planning, development, operation, reuse and renewal. Advanced digital mapping technologies are enablers for effective eplanning, consultation and communication of users' views during the planning, design, construction and lifecycle process of the built environment. Those technologies can be used to drive the productivity gains by promoting a free-flow of information between departments, divisions, offices, and sites; and between themselves, their contractors and partners. Such is the case of the 3D laser scanner which enables digital documentation of buildings, sites and physical objects for reconstruction and restoration. It also facilitates the creation of educational resources within the built environment, as well as the reconstruction of the built environment. The use of the 3D scanner in combination with the 3D printer provides the transformation of digital data from the captured CAD model back to a physical model at an appropriate scale - reverse prototyping. The use of these technologies is key enablers to the creation of new approaches to the ?Whole Life Cycle? process within the built and human environment for the 21st century. The paper describes the research of a building data integration in the INTELCITIES project undertaken by a European consortium of researchers and practitioners under the Framework 6 research programme to develop a prototype system of the e-City Platform in order to pool advanced knowledge and experience of electronic government, planning systems and citizen participation from across Europe (www.intelcitiesproject.com). The scope includes capturing digital data of existing buildings using 3D laser scanning equipment and illustration of how digitised building data can be integrated with other types of city data, using nD modelling, to support integrated intelligent city systems for enhancing the refurbishment process in the built environment.