Urban.com.au's 3D model is evolving

Recently we've been exploring new ways to host our 3D model (or parts thereof) on the site. And today we're going live with a public beta that we'd love to hear your feedback on.

This is a significant step forward as we have previously had to rely on rendered stills to illustrate future development projections.

As an example, we have taken an in-progress portion of the Southbank model, which allows you to orbit around and freely control with clickable annotations which provide details about a few of the buildings and links back to their respective database listings. This can be seen below:

If viewing on a mobile device or tablet, use two fingers to pan around and zoom in, and one finger to orbit around the model.

Fair warning however: the models are large and if you are on a mobile device, we recommend only loading it on wifi or better yet use a laptop or desktop.

To navigate around the model:

• Click and hold to orbit around the model.
• Hold Shift and click and hold to pan around the model (or hold down the mouse wheel).
• Hold Ctrl and click and hold to zoom into a particular part of the model.

It is worth noting that there are still a few issues to sort out, not least how to host the rest of the model (the CBD, Docklands etc), loading and viewing bigger models on mobile devices properly, colour coding and material testing.

Eventually we hope to make the full model readily available to everyone, but are still working through the finer details.

While it is still very much early days, there is a lot of potential. We will continue testing 3D content with a view towards including embedded 3D models as part of our planning articles, providing readers with the ability to view and control a new development within its immediate context right here on Urban.com.au.

So for now, have fun panning around the Southbank model and keep an eye out for more 3D content in future. Please leave any feedback in the comments.