Nearmap Adds Layers to Design for Dynamic Future

Good design isn’t subjective, it stands the test of time.

Environmental disasters, global pandemics, and changing customer needs ultimately determine whether a build passes merit.

When torrential spring rain caused record flooding in New South Wales in March, many newer residential homes escaped serious damage thanks to zoning and regulation established by the local government.

Those developments benefited from rich data in the planning stages that also came into play post-flood by spotlighting vulnerable areas and risks that now require further investigation and possible redesigns.

Planning for a city of tomorrow calls for fresh insights, not data that’s 50 or even five years old.

If an incident transformed the landscape last month, you’ll want to dig into the implications before designing something that’s meant to shelter residents for many decades to come.

Whether you’re anticipating flood fallout, identifying shifting population patterns or considering the impact of remote work on public transport, AEC professionals can use advanced data-driven content to visualise a wide range of scenarios—and make our cities more livable.

Given the rapid rate at which our urban areas are evolving, it’s imperative to consider the bigger picture.

Drones offer a solid snapshot of a particular scene at a particular moment, but they don’t provide the larger context needed for future-proofing projects.

A cafe might not seem terribly consequential, but what if it’s located kilometres from a new transport hub? Will it contribute to broad-scale economic growth or become irrelevant as companies downscale physical offices?

Local government agencies are increasingly partnering with urban strategists and architects, using human-centred design and ‘co-design’ approaches to identify factors that impact travel experiences.

For example, imagine a future in which 76 per cent of the population will be within 30 minutes of travel to their nearest city or city cluster, by public transport.

In this not-so-distant reality, people could enjoy better access to jobs, education and essential services, not to mention more time back in their days.

This utopic vision is outlined in Transport for NSW’s plans for 2056, but the ambitious goal will continue to be tested by disruptions, and planners must tap the latest data to adapt accordingly.

Nearmap content is typically updated every few months, which means you can rely on a wide range of data to more accurately depict risk, update models with recent data, and project/model future scenarios.

The combination of spatial data (oblique, 3D and AI datasets) and the frequency of update (up to six times a year in accordance with Nearmap coverage) makes it possible for planners and architects to anchor designs in today’s reality.

New generation AI enhances your ability to detect important nuances that fall outside of parcel boundaries, including road surfaces, different types of vegetation, solar panels on properties and tree overhangs.

You can calculate building heights, overlay insights from multiple vintages, visualise them with potential hazards and perform change detection over time.

In other words, you can classify and vectorize our world at scale.

The City of Ryde used Nearmap AI to calculate tree canopy cover from existing imagery.

It quantified what the tree management staff were seeking to measure, complementing the city’s 170 layers of GIS data to help staff consider the green space during their daily work and project planning.

It also allows them to observe trends to support valuable decision-making and then in turn communicate this information to the community.

Urban strategists and architects play a critical role in determining the future health of our cities—and our communities. With the right data you can build a world in which structures survive and, more importantly, people will thrive.

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