Digital Models – Proposal for the Interactive Representation of Urban Centres

The idea of ‘city’ has now surpassed its physical concept. The emergence of the Internet and the growing development of information and communication technologies (ICT) have changed the behaviour of our society in the past decade and revolutionised the traditional ways of representing space. The classic 2D (floor plans, sections and elevations) and 3D representations have been gradually replaced by 3D digital models that can reproduce buildings and places in a virtual environment.3D digital models are tools that enable a wide range of applications in urban planning and management, especially in architectural and data documentation where they allow the analysis of theoretical scenarios such as: 1) representation of the past, considering the procedures needed to restore the heritage; 2) visualisation of the present, to enable dissemination and communication of the city as it is; and, 3) simulation of the future, with the model being used to visualise and experiment with architectural objects, even those at a design stage. The main contribution of this work is to present an urban application developed into a GeoBIM tool, ESRI City Engine Software (CE), that integrates GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and BIM (Building Information Modelling) concepts. Finally, to enhance its potential, three spatial analyses were conducted