The London Olympics: Security Managed with 3D Models

September 30, 2012 - By Art Kalinski

By Art Kalinski, GISP

Now that the London Olympics are completed, I can write about one geospatial tool that enhanced security. That effort was the creation of an extensive 3D model used by London security personnel to track activities and serve as a collaboration environment. The very detailed geospatial model was built by a team of people working for Aegis Technologies in Huntsville, Alabama. This was not a new effort for Aegis. It was in fact the third time AEgis was contracted to develop a high resolution 3D databases including cultural features of interest for use in operational planning and situational awareness in both preparation for and execution of the games. Previous projects include the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

AEgis Technologies is a privately held small business of about 250 professionals headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, that provides advanced technology and consulting services to industries throughout the world. AEgis specializes in modeling & simulation and micro/nanoscale technology development. As a third time selectee, Aegis was understandably pleased as related by David King, VP of Simulation Development “AEgis is proud to continue our support of the Olympic Games by providing our geospatial solutions to this global event. We look forward to the excitement of the London Olympics and are pleased to have again been selected for this project.”

Staffers of the Geospatial Programs Division of the AEgis Simulation Development Group like to refer to their effort as art meeting science and technology. That’s because the model creation process is not just a rote mechanical process. They believe that it takes a sophisticated blend of mathematics and critical artistic eyes to create models that are accurate, detailed and visually appealing. Aegis has built 3D models simulating reality for years supporting the Department of Defense, the intelligence community and commercial customers.

Development of London 2012 was a significant effort that required multiple 3D modelers, texture artists and geographic information system (GIS) analysts. Using satellite imagery and open source data, the team produced accurate and detailed models of the London metropolitan area, including landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Westminster Abby and the Tower of London. Also part of the virtual environment were new structures such as the Westfield Mall and train station which served as the entrance to Olympic Park. The historic architecture and dense urban landscape made the project especially challenging.

The project took over 4 months to complete using commercial 3D modeling software, GIS, CAD with a significant degree of manual artistic and technical efforts. Modelers were able to obtain about 65% of the needed data directly off the internet. They also used textures, cloned imagery and some ground level photographs to produce the models.

Few people realize how much manual intervention is required to produce top notch 3D models. Most of you know that digital elevation models are needed to accurately display ortho imagery to account for the angular displacement of objects from the camera lens that are not on a flat plane. But that correction when applied to bridges passing over ravines can result in some bizarre distortions. The problem is even worse when constructing 3D models using automated 3D creation tools and if there are anomalies in the elevation data. This was especially evident in the recent release of the IPhone 5 and Apple Maps which I’m guessing used automated tools to build their oblique views. This was spectacular priaulx that also included numerous misplaced data point and spelling errors. Although this will take a while to live down, Apple is big enough to survive. This clearly demonstrated the need for trained human eyes to do quality control.

Screenshot from Apple Maps.

For the London model, Aegis built approximately 300 high and medium fidelity 3D models populated the database of more than 2,600 square kilometers. As part of the final project delivery, AEgis also provided several days of hands-on training for London personnel as well as ongoing support. The training was primarily in the use of their viewing software, LightINT used with the database they created.

LightINT was developed in-house by Aegis to take full advantage of their detailed models. The Open Scene Graph (OSG) format is very efficient at managing memory and resources so navigation is quick and seamless. Unlike early 3D viewing software that was cumbersome because entire models had to be loaded into memory, OSG is “pageable”, taking away size and fidelity limitations. With the LightINT viewing tool, AEgis provided high fidelity, smooth navigation with very robust tools.

Although I didn’t get a chance to play with the system the list of tools and capabilities is quite impressive including:

A 3D view of the area of interest
2D map correlation with the 3D view
Multiple measurement tools such as length, width, height including slant ranges between objects in the 3D model
The ability to import/drag and drop Shapefiles and extrude the 2D data into 3D space
Falconview integration
Integration and display of observer locations
Creation of routes
Time of day lighting including weather conditions
Line-of-sight tools and analysis including separate viewpoints and red line/green line intersections
Geo-marker placement including go-to/fly-to markers
Route creation for video creation/playback
Terrain database formats – Terra Page(.txp), OSG (.ive), OpenFlight (.flt)
3D model formats – OSG and OpenFlight
Multiple coordinate systems

Although Aegis’ 3D models are not the most sophisticated in method of creation or photorealistic detail, they have built a strong history of quality execution and delivery. As I wrote in a previous column you only get one chance to make good first impression when it comes to data quality and I believe that’s been the key to Aegis’ success and selection for multiple Olympics. That’s good lesson for all businesses to remember, it’s easier/cheaper to keep good customers than it is to grow new ones.