1500 – Plans-Reliefs

The first terrain/city models date back from the 16th century and were created for military purposes. Left image: a plan-relief of Bayonne, created by Sébastian Vauban (1633–1707), a famous fortification engineer of King Louis XIV. Right image: a plan-relief of Grenoble from 1848. These scale models were highly prized for the tactical advantage they brought, and they were also shown around for dissuasive purposes. “Il y a un relief de Namur dans les Tuileries, je vous demanderai d'avoir la […]

The first terrain/city models date back from the 16th century and were created for military purposes. Left image: a plan-relief of Bayonne, created by Sébastian Vauban (1633–1707), a famous fortification engineer of King Louis XIV. Right image: a plan-relief of Grenoble from 1848. These scale models were highly prized for the tactical advantage they brought, and they were also shown around for dissuasive purposes. “Il y a un relief de Namur dans les Tuileries, je vous demanderai d'avoir la complaisance d'y venir avec moi. Je vous ferai toucher au doigt et à l'œil tous les défauts de cette place, qui sont en bon nombre [...].” There is a relief of Namur in the Tuileries, I would ask you to kindly come with me. I will make you touch with your finger and your eye all the defects of this place, which are in good number. — Vauban's letter to Le Pelletier, president of the constituent assembly (1695). “Le Moniteur parle d'un plan de la Suisse, du feu général Pfiffer. Faites examiner ce plan, et, s'il est meilleur que celui que j'ai acheté dernièrement, faites-le acheter et transporter à Paris. Comme il est possible que nous ayons encore la guerre, il n'y a point de meilleure carte que ces plans en relief.” The Monitor speaks about a map of Switzerland, from the late general Pfiffer. Have this map examined, and if it is better than the one I bought recently, have it bought and transported to Paris. Since it is possible that we may still have war, there is no better map than these relief maps. — Napoléon's letter to Maréchal Berthier (1805). Also see our entry on modern solid terrain modeling. Sources: Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation, ETH Zurich (2006-2015) www.terrainmodels.com Yvonne Jansen (2014) Physical and Tangible Information Visualization. Robert-Max Antoni (1992-2000) Vocabulaire illustré de l'Art urbain - Relief Model. Napoléon I (1858) Correspondance de Napoléon 1er. Wikipedia Plan-relief de Grenoble. Left image from www.terrainmodels.com, right image from Jean-Pierre Dalbéra (Flickr).

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic. Category: Physical model Tags: cartographic, plan relief, terrain model, walkable

1900 – Modern Solid Terrain Modeling

The Institute of Cartography ETH Zurich published a great review of past and present techniques for doing solid terrain modeling. Although terrain models are not physical visualizations in the strict sense, the techniques could be in principle used to convey data. Physical terrain models were already being built in 16th the century, and the review covers modern techniques from the early 20th century to today's digital fabrication. Source: Institute of Cartography ETH Zurich (2006) Terrain […]

The Institute of Cartography ETH Zurich published a great review of past and present techniques for doing solid terrain modeling. Although terrain models are not physical visualizations in the strict sense, the techniques could be in principle used to convey data. Physical terrain models were already being built in 16th the century, and the review covers modern techniques from the early 20th century to today's digital fabrication. Source: Institute of Cartography ETH Zurich (2006) Terrain modeling website - Production techniques.

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic. Category: Enabling technology Tags: cartographic, cartography, terrain model, terrain modeling

1949 – Mississippi River Basin Model

As a response to devastating floods of the Mississippi river in the early 1900s, the US Army Corps of Engineers built a large-scale hydraulic model of the entire river system. The model, 2.5 times the size of Disneyland, allowed them to design better flood control infrastructures and to eventually save millions of dollars. In 1973, the physical model ceased to be used and was replaced by computer models. Nevertheless, mathematical equations still cannot capture all the complexity of river […]

As a response to devastating floods of the Mississippi river in the early 1900s, the US Army Corps of Engineers built a large-scale hydraulic model of the entire river system. The model, 2.5 times the size of Disneyland, allowed them to design better flood control infrastructures and to eventually save millions of dollars. In 1973, the physical model ceased to be used and was replaced by computer models. Nevertheless, mathematical equations still cannot capture all the complexity of river dynamics, and physical models (albeit smaller) continue to be used by hydraulic engineers. Sources: 99 Percent Invisible Podcast (2016) America’s Last Top Model. Wikipedia (2016) Mississippi River Basin Model. Left image from 99 percent invisible, right image from Wikipedia.

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic, sent by: Wesley Willett. Category: Physical model Tags: cartographic, hydraulic, physical computation, terrain model, walkable, water

1957 – US Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco Bay Model

A working hydrodynamic model of San Francisco Bay and the surrounding waterways, with tides. It is still open to the public as a demonstration, although it is no longer used for research. Also see our related entry 1949 – Mississippi River Basin Model. Source: Wikipedia U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Bay Model.

Added by: Ed Mooring. Category: Physical model Tags: cartographic, hydraulic, physical computation, terrain model, walkable, water

1979 – Great Polish Map of Scotland

The "Great Polish Map of Scotland" is a 50 x 40 m concrete terrain model of Scotland. It was built by a Polish sergeant who stationed in Scotland during WWII and ended up living there. It is claimed to be the world's largest terrain model, although the Chinese built a 900 x 700 m model in 1999. Source: Atlas Obscura. Great Polish Map of Scotland.

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic, sent by: Benjamin Bach. Category: Physical model Tags: cartographic, scotland, terrain model, walkable

1999 – World's Largest Solid Terrain Model

In 2006, a mysterious 900x700m solid terrain model with military facilities was discovered by a German Google Earth user next to the Chinese town of Huangyangtan. It was quickly identified as a 1:500 replica of a disputed area in Tibet between China and India 2400km away, with perfectly matching orientation. Chinese authorities claimed the model was built 7-8 years earlier as a tank training facility. It is unclear whether the right image represents the same model. Sources: Newswatch (2011) The […]

In 2006, a mysterious 900x700m solid terrain model with military facilities was discovered by a German Google Earth user next to the Chinese town of Huangyangtan. It was quickly identified as a 1:500 replica of a disputed area in Tibet between China and India 2400km away, with perfectly matching orientation. Chinese authorities claimed the model was built 7-8 years earlier as a tank training facility. It is unclear whether the right image represents the same model. Sources: Newswatch (2011) The mystery of Huangyangtan. Left image from regmedia.co.uk, right image from web.duke.edu.

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic. Category: Physical model Tags: cartographic, large-scale, military, pragmatic, terrain model, walkable

2018 – Landscaper: 3D Printing and Assembling of Terrain Models

Landscape models of geospatial regions provide an intuitive mechanism for exploring complex geospatial information. However, the methods currently used to create these scale models require a large amount of resources, which restricts the availability of these models to a limited number of popular public places, such as museums and airports. Landscaper is a system for creating these physical models using an affordable 3D printer in order to make the creation of these models more widely […]

Landscape models of geospatial regions provide an intuitive mechanism for exploring complex geospatial information. However, the methods currently used to create these scale models require a large amount of resources, which restricts the availability of these models to a limited number of popular public places, such as museums and airports. Landscaper is a system for creating these physical models using an affordable 3D printer in order to make the creation of these models more widely accessible. Also see our other entries on terrain modeling and terrain models. Source: Kamyar Allahverdi, Hessam Djavaherpour, Ali Mahdavi-Amiri, Faramarz F. Samavati (2018) Landscaper: A Modeling System for 3D Printing Scale Models of Landscapes.

Added by: Hessam Djavaherpour. Category: Enabling technology Tags: 3d printing, assembly, digital fabrication, terrain model