ABSTRACT
Development application (DA) assessment requires high technical planning skills since it is not an easy task to envisage and assess proposed buildings which are originally in two dimensions (2D) in three dimensions (3D). To respond to this necessity, this study aims to assist local governments and real estate agencies in improving the quality of their services by integrating 3D modelling and virtual reality (VR) technologies. The key argument discussed here relates to the usefulness of 3D digital modelling and VR for DA assessments at local governments to deliver faster and higher quality building information to real estate agencies and housing stakeholders. The study has two phases: firstly the implementation of 3D digital modelling and VR for DA assessments for municipalities are investigated. Focus group interviews were conducted at three local councils with the participation of professionals from Sydney, Australia. Secondly, different levels of detail (LODs) are examined to determine their perceived utility in supporting DA-related tasks. An experiment was designed to further investigate the importance of LODs in 3D modelling as part of the assessment of DAs. Results show that LOD3+vegetation was the most appealing level for understanding urban design projects including planning proposals and DAs. Hence, we recommend the inclusion of vegetation as part of the building assessment during the DA assessment process in future. Furthermore, participants perceived utility of 3D digital modelling to support a number of DA-related tasks which are explained in the study. In addition, VR proved beneficial in providing a better understanding of the design by navigating through the virtual environment and around the buildings; it also facilitated the sense of scale and ability to manipulate the design, such as modifying the building height at the time of assessing the proposal. Nevertheless, the implications of VR are constrained by cost and VR-related motion sickness, aspects that are briefly addressed in the study.
