3D Laser Scanning Services Spotlight: Bradford, England Modeling the City in 3D

3D laser scanning services are being utilized to recreate the city of Bradford, England, calling it “Virtual Bradford,” which is on track to be finished this summer. This virtual city is a project being completed with the help of the University of Bradford and the Bradford city council. 

Virtual Bradford plans to use their 3D scanning services to examine environmental issues such as noise pollution, surface water drainage, air pollution, and flood risk. This will be accomplished by using the 3D model of the city to see what impact new developments will have on these issues. This would allow cities to prepare or have solutions for these issues before or while making new developments. This could drastically lower the environmental impacts caused by cities.

The main issue Virtual Bradford hopes to tackle is clean air. Virtual Bradford will use their 3D scanning capabilities to make roads safer by limiting traffic in hopes of creating ‘active traveling neighborhoods,’ which means neighborhoods that use walking and cycling as a part of their daily traveling. This would, in turn lower or eliminate CO2 emissions from cars. 

Researchers from the University of Bradford have put in months of work to capture the imagery and data for the 3D scanning to complete this model. This will be the first 3D city with this level of detail in the UK. Creating a virtual 3D city will lead to many other uses within the city. A 3D laser scan can be used for businesses, museums, and any type of shop where it can be displayed and accessed online rather than only having the option of going in person.

This is a good time for businesses to take advantage of 3D scanning and its uses while the world is more remote now because of the pandemic. This is valuable as it can be worked on and accessed from anywhere, as long as there’s the internet. This would be a significant evolution for the city of Bradford and others to follow. 

3D scanning could open infinite potential for researching environmental impact, businesses, and even constructing models of what the city may have looked like in the past. These give opportunities for education, modeling and finding environmental impact, and boosting the economy.