Assessment of a Physical Planning Project through Virtual Reality: a case study

The study reports an application of VR models in the assessment of a part of physical planning project. The project outputs were different reports, GIS data and maps, and CAD drawings. The GIS data were used to create the VR models by importing Shpfiles of the GIS project outputs to VR software. The study presents VR models and the assessment of the physical planning project in terms of: 1) effect of the population increase, 2) effect of the required residential units, and 3) quality assurance for the current situation and future situation. The method used to build up the VR Models was through satellite images (by Google Earth Pro) and VR software (by UC Win/Road). Different models were built up to visualize and assess the alternative solutions and various influential factors. The study employed Virtual Reality in various urban and planning problems through models that are employed as tools of communication and design. The visualized environment and the associated models facilitated the evaluation of important areas, namely: impact of different factors and alternative solutions. The study concludes that the processes, such as decision making, visualization and representation, performed through VR manifest its importance to different design phases of urban and physical planning