 Just to get started, I'm going to go ahead and put the handouts for today's workshop in the Zoom chat, so anybody would like to go ahead and download those, and we'll also pass them around to everybody here in attendance. So. So yeah, good afternoon everyone. My name is Justin Sornson and the GIS specialist here at the Marriott Library. One of the things that I enjoy doing most is taking GIS technology to a new level and one of those ways that we've been doing it recently is by creating 3D topographic models. So taking a data sets that contain elevation, different information such as that and creating something you can actually physically print and, you know, a tangible model to work with. So that is what I will be demonstrating for you today. I'll also be introducing you to a new project that is currently in the development stages at the Marriott Library that allows us to project data onto these 3D models. So if you have any questions about what I'll be demonstrating today, I'll be happy to answer those for you at the end of the workshop. At which time I can also provide a hands-on demonstration with you if you'd like. All of our lab computers have all the software that I'll be covering in today's workshop. So let me go ahead and just, there we go. All right. So to start things off, I just wanted to briefly introduce you to what GIS is and why it's so important in our world today. And GIS is used in many aspects of our lives if we're really aware of it or not. And it finds a way of making many of the modern conveniences of life possible. This can range from something as simple or complex, sorry, my computer's open, something as complex as studying vegetation changes over time, and even something as simple as using our phones to navigate around towns like that. GIS stands for geographic information systems or in more recent trends is being referred to as geospatial information systems. And this relates to a number of different technologies, software processes and methods that are used to visualize different types of data within a geospatial context. And generally this information is presented through cartographic maps, interactive mapping platforms or geospatial infographics. But at its core, GIS allows for the visualization analysis interpretation of data in order to understand relationships patterns and trends and data. This is accomplished through the incorporation of multiple layers, which when brought together creates a geospatial visualization that expresses and enhances data by incorporating visual resources. Now these layers can include any of the following imagery such as satellite or aerial photographs, elevation data sets such as contour lines or elevation models, which is what we'll be working with today. Demographic data sets such as census information. Transportation data sets such as street networks for railways. Address information such as geo coded or plotted locations. Physical features including boundaries, hydrology and survey control points, as well as research data that an individual may wish to share with their viewers. Bringing this information together provides not only an educational experience, but also a method for researchers and viewers to answer questions. Find relay findings and identify solutions that previously may have been on consider. So in today's workshop we'll be we'll be focusing on one particular type of GIS data utilized to create 3D topographic models. This is known as digital elevation models or DEM as you'll hear be referred to it throughout this workshop. A DEM is a data set containing elevation data representing the surface or terrain of the earth that also has the unique ability to be expressed three dimensionally when the appropriate tools and procedures are applied. The level of detail contained in these data sets can vary depending on the resources you acquire from so to begin I'd like to introduce you to a free openly available resource for acquiring high quality DEM data sets that can be used to produce a 3D model. The resource that will be utilizing to acquire these DEM data sets is called the National Map Viewer. It's an online resource provided by the United States Geological Survey or USGS that contains a wide variety of products related to the United States. For this workshop will be focusing on a single feature found within the United States, but should you be interested in features found outside the United States Earth Explorer, which is another online resource provided by USGS USGS is a great resource requiring such data sets. When the National Map Viewer is first launched you'll see that I am presented with an overview map of the United States along with the selection of available data set options that are available to the left. To identify the available DEM data sets for my project I'll begin by selecting elevation products 3DEP within the selection window. I'll then narrow this down by selecting one third arc second DEM intervals. Now to kind of give you an idea of what that means a one third arc second DEM roughly translates to a model that has 10 meter elevation intervals. So this is actually one of the higher quality data sets that you can find throughout the United States some areas have even better but majority of the areas you'll can find 10 meter. The areas outside the United States you're looking more at one arc second, which is 30 meter intervals. So it's a little less detailed than the 10 meter but can still produce a very nice detailed model. So I'll begin my research or my search by identifying a single location or feature on the map that I can obtain a DEM data set for. For today's workshop, I'll be creating a 3D model of Mount Rainier. So I'll begin by inputting this information into the search box, which navigates me to the location on the map. In the new pop up window I can select find products to display all the data sets matching my search criteria, which in this case returns a single item, which is a one third arc second DEM. So a 10 meter DEM data set that represents the area around Mount Rainier. I can also select the footprint option at this point to preview the extent of the data set covers on the map, and also verify that it contains the area that I wish to include in my project. I can also use the thumbnail option to preview what this DEM will look like before I download it. So this is the download option, which I'm going to do now to download and begin working with this particular data set. So I'm going to go ahead and save that to my computer. One tip that I do recommend that as you begin generating these type of models is to create a new project folder for each project you're developing. Doing so really helps to avoid problems with future projects that may utilize the same data set. So once the data set has downloaded to my project folder, I'll go ahead and unzip the file and I'm ready to take the first steps towards developing my 3D model. This is an example of what the DEM data set looks like. As you can see it's a geotip image. It contains both the image elevation information and location information for automatically overlaying in the correct location within a GIS mapping program. The next step in creating a 3D topographic model is to clip the original downloaded DEM into a specified area, shape, or extent. What's the file format to download? Is it a big CSV file or is it something that's more specific to a DEM? So it's a geotip image. It's going to contain a JPEG or a TIP in it, and then also a series of location files that are associated with that. And the GIS program knows how to read that and plot it right on the map. So as I was mentioning, at this point we can narrow down this DEM data set into a more specified area. This is completely optional, I will say, and you can proceed forward with just printing this entire data set if you want. The one issue you will run into printing something so large is the detail will be lacking because this is quite a large area we're looking at here. So I recommend zooming in, cutting this data set down into a really nice area. So like we're going to be doing with Mount Rainier here, we're going to get a nice model return of what the mountain and the details around it look like. So in this example, you'll see this is the area that I'm going to be clipping my DEM to. This is the area around Mount Rainier. You can see it's a very small portion of that downloaded data set. To perform this process, you will need access to ArcGIS software either using ArcMap or ArcGIS Pro, which is the version that I'll be demonstrating with today. Access to both of these programs is available on Marriott Library computers, university computing labs, and also the lab computers, ultimately available here in the 2751 suite at the Marriott Library. Just have to use your unit name and password to log in. That's just information, I'm not sorry. As this DEM data set contains no references to distinguish individual creatures from, I like to begin by selecting a base map for the project. I recommend going with either an imagery with labels or topographic base map as they assist in identifying specific areas and features on the map. With this reference base map in place, I bring the downloaded DEM into ArcGIS Pro using the add data tool within the match tools ribbon at the top of the screen. And I'll navigate to the file within my project folder. As you can see, once the DEM is added into ArcGIS Pro, it automatically overlays in the appropriate location on the map and also becomes a selectable layer in the table of context panel on the left side of the screen. I also have the option of zooming to the layer, should it not do so automatically by right clicking on the layer within the table of contents and selecting the zoom to layer option. I then want to adjust the transparency of the DEM in order to see the physical features references found in my base map. I can do this by going to the appearance ribbon at the top of the screen and adjusting the transparency using the transparency slider. So I generally choose this to about 30% so I can see a good transition between both layers. This is what that looks like. From here, I can use the reference information contained in the base map to identify the area representing Mount Rainier and go ahead and zoom in. This is the area and then we'll zoom in just using the mouse wheel and you can see we're right in where Mount Rainier is in that DEM. You can see the base map and reference layers poking through this as well. So I have a good reference of where I'm looking at right now. So I'm now ready to create a shape that represents the extent of Mount Rainier for my model. To do this, I'll begin by creating a feature class that will be used to create the boundary of the DEM features to be clicked. Now the boundary itself can be anything as simple as a circle, which is what we'll be doing here to create the Mount Rainier model. You can also do more complex boundaries as well, something like county boundaries like Salt Lake. So we have an example of that running in the back here. Everyone on Zoom, you'll also see what that looks like shortly as well. So go ahead and do this. I'll begin by going to the catalog panel on the right side of the screen and navigating to my project folder where I'll right click on the associated geodatabase folder and selecting new and feature class. So using the feature class tool, I'll input information to create a polygon representing the boundary shape. And since I'm only creating a single feature, I'm only going to be adding a very small amount of attribute data to this data set. Okay, I can then click and drag this boundary layer into my map folder and I'm ready to create the actual shape that's going to be used to clip the boundary. To do that, I'll go ahead and highlight the clip boundary layer that I just created within the table of contents. And within the edit ribbon at the top of the screen, I'll select create features. Here's an example of how that's done. Sorry, just catching up here. I can go ahead and left click on the center of the Mount Rainier model that I'm interested in doing. So right in the center of the screen, I'll select the circle option. And then I can click and drag the extent of how big and how far I want my model to go. And this is the animation. Let's let it run one more time. And that shape is going to represent the clip that we use for our model. So now that we have that boundary in place, I'm going to clip the DEM to export only those features from the DEM that are found on the DEM layer within that circle. So to do this, I can go ahead and go to the analysis ribbon at the top of the screen and select tools. And I'll do a search to find the clip raster tool and select it to go through the available options. Within this new processing window, I input the DEM layer as the layer file to be clipped, the feature layer class as the boundary to put the features within. I'll name the new DEM file and select both extent boxes then choose run. From here, this is the result that we get. You'll see that it's a new version of the DEM clip to just the area that we've selected in that previous step. This is actually the data set that we'll be using from this point forward to create our 3D model. So with this step done, I can go ahead and close RTS Pro and move forward to the next step. And that step involves converting the clip DEM data set into an actual 3D model or an STL file that will be used to generate that final model. To do this, you will need access to QGIS. This is a free and openly available software program available for download from the QGIS website. It's also available on the lab computers here in 2751. Unlike RTS Pro, QGIS does have one particular tool that we need for generating 3D models. This is called DEM 3D printing. So I'll begin by opening QGIS, navigating to the new clip DEM data set and adding it to my QGIS project. In the raster menu at the top of the screen, I'll select DEM to 3D and choose 3D printing. In the new processing tool window, I'll input size and layer information that will be used to generate the 3D model. And for this model, I'll be applying the following information that are based on specifications for one of the Marriott Libraries TAS 6 printers. For the extent, I'm going to go ahead and choose to print the full extent, which means that I want to include the entire area within that red dashbox around it. For print spacing or how thick I want each layer to be, I want these to be on the thinner side. So I'm going to go with a 0.2 millimeter. I sometimes even reduce this further to a 0.1 or 0.15 millimeter as well. For dimensions, I want my model to be the maximum size of the print bed. So for the TAS 6 printers, this is about 11 inches or 279.6 millimeters. I also have other printers here at the Marriott Library that can do much larger. The Gigabot printers in particular can print up to a maximum of 24 inches or 609.6 millimeters. For exaggeration, I do want to emphasize the peaks on my model. So I increase these to anywhere from 1.2 to 1.5. I have found that if you do anything more than that, they tend to distort the features and just don't look like what you're finding in the real world. And then finally, for height, I input the lowest point indicated in the provided elevation data located to the right. From here, I select export to SDL, making sure to maintain the default file name for the export. The reason I do this is to avoid a common error in the export process that tends to make the process fail, but you can rename the model file after it's all completed being exported at the end. Now, depending on the file size, size of your model output, and the processing power of your computer, this process may take some time to complete. But once it does, you'll end up with a new model that looks something like this. This is just running that next model that was exported using a 3D preview program. This one is called print 3D. It's on the Windows machines. I think all the downloads have those available. And it gives me a chance just to make sure everything in my model looks good. So I can see that all the features look really nice. I've got a nice detailed model going here. And I'm ready to move on to the next step, which is printing. So yeah, we're on to the home stretch now. I'm going to use another program. I'm introducing you guys to a lot of programs today. This program is actually going to be used to convert the STL file into a code that a 3D printer can understand. This program that I'm going to be demonstrating for you is called Prusa Slicer. There are other ones out there. I have found this one to be the most user friendly, especially if you're new to 3D printing models, getting working with them. It's a very easy program to start working with. It's also free, openly available program for download from the Slicer website. It's also available on dedicated sizing computers here at the Merritt Library. There are some out here in the proto space area that have that available to them or by the 3D printers. We also have them on the lab computers as well. So everything you need is right here. So to demonstrate this in Slicer, I begin by adding the exported 3D model that was created in the previous step. By adding the available tools within Slicer, I can apply changes to the final model which include adjustments to the overall scale and removal of additional material generated during the export process. So in this example, I'm going to go ahead and remove that square boundary at the bottom that was resulted during the export process so that I just have a circular model representing Mount Rainier. On the left side with the final appearance, I go ahead and select the Slice Now tool to begin generating the layers of the model to be printed. Now this process is really interesting because it gives you really an overview of what this printing process is going to be like. So you can see each layer of the model being printed. So you can see what your model is going to look like throughout the process. It also gives you information later on about print times, weights and stuff of the print so you can kind of know what this model would cost you to print. Once this placing process has completed, I go ahead and select the export gcode option and save the file to my project folder. This is the gcode that will be exported that was used to create the final printed model. So at this point I can see everything looks good. I go ahead and close Slicer and we have one more step in the process. And that is printing your 3D model. So with that gcode for the final model ready to go, I can now begin the 3D print. The printing process can be as simple as finding a 3D printer, such as those located at the Marriott Library, loading some printing filament into the printer, loading that exported gcode and selecting print, or even by uploading the gcode online and having it printed by a member of the 3D printing services team. So what you'll end up with is something like this and I'm happy to circle this around. This is the same model that everybody is seeing on Zoom right now. So it's what you're seeing is a detailed model of Mount Rainier that was created using all the processes covered in the workshop today and printed on a machine here at the Marriott Library. The Marriott Library has a number of 3D printers available for use by students, staff, and faculty of the University of Utah, as well as expert staff on hand to assist in answering any questions. For those of you watching over Zoom, pictures really don't do the model justice unless you see it in person. There's a lot of detail that goes into these and honestly the camera doesn't do a very good job picking up because you don't really know the size and everything you're seeing. But it does a really good job of accurately depicting these features that are found in the real world. Now, as you begin developing your own 3D topographic models, it's important to know that experts at the Marriott Library are available to support the development of your project and assist with any questions you have along the way. Should you require any assistance generating a topographic model? I'm happy to provide that through one-on-one consultations, helping you understand these processes and working through them together. People are able to get a hold of me schedule an appointment through the GIS Services website. Additionally, our expert staff in 3D printing services are also available to assist with the model slicing, any issues with the 3D printing process, and information about the available printers and detailed information on that can be found on their website. So, as you've seen today, DEM datasets are extremely useful for creating 3D topographic models of features found around the world. But the process of simply printing and examining these models is just the beginning. I'd now like to introduce you to another project in development here at the Marriott Library. The idea for it started very simple. How do we combine the power of GIS technology with 3D printing? The important role that GIS plays has the ability to be taken to another level, projecting various geospatial datasets directly onto a 3D printed model. Stage one of our projection concept began in 2018. We began with very simplified 3D topographic prints. These were strictly for test purposes, and we knew that based on the quality output that we were seeing that we would definitely need higher quality data for the project to progress further. In these images, you can see that the results of those initial tests, prints, and efforts to project GIS data from Google Maps onto the models was successful in using a handheld projector. While very simplistic in its approach, the results did prove that the possibility for projecting data onto these models was there and that the project had great potential if taken to the next level. That next level was stage two. This projection concept began in 2019. The process for acquiring, exporting, and converting DEM datasets into customized 3D models was refined with larger, highly detailed models being created. Such as in this example, where you'll see a large-scale wall-mounted model of Salt Lake County printed at almost two feet wide with silver filament. And the model that you're seeing on Zoom is the same one that we have on display here in Protospice today. So everyone in attendance, you're welcome to check this out after the workshop. I'll get a close-up view of what we're trying to accomplish here with this project. So the stage two projection concept utilizes a mobile projection unit with various static images of data that are continuously projected on loop using a mini Raspberry Pi computer. Here is just an example of how this projection works on the different slideshows in action. You'll see various datasets being projected, including satellite. Here is municipal and transportation data. This is the original 10-meter elevation data, looking at the different highs and lows of the county, incorporating some hydrology layers into that. Doing some more analysis with some prime analysis data, which is really interesting. And then I guess you can see the original model again. So the results of this project, or at least this stage of it, showed that this was a very viable method for bringing new life into this data. And then also utilizing 3D models at the same time. So we began moving forward with the next step, but unfortunately, COVID hit, put a halt on this project completely. However, with our new physical area up in Protospice and more services being brought back online, we do see new life being brought back into this project. For that next stage in this concept, a further developed fine-tuned model is in development. Currently, I've scaled models of all 29 Utah counties and submitted them to our expert 3D printing services team for the large-scale printing. When complete, a large topographic model of Utah with individually interconnected county tiles will be on display within the Merritt Library. I'm anticipating this is going to be anywhere between five feet wide to four feet high. So mostly we will have a 4K projector that will be installed, either on a stand, projected on a wall, assuming we can find the large depth area. Most likely sitting on a table with a projector shooting down from the ceiling. It'll also be able to work with individuals GIS data as well. So people will be able to bring in their own data as well, plug it into a tablet or computer system, and interact with the data that they're creating. So again, this is currently in development. It's unknown exactly when it will be deployed, but I do encourage you to stay tuned through the library social media channels, blog posts, and the GIS services website as more information becomes available. I would like to conclude this workshop just by thanking all of you for taking time to join us today for your interest in learning more about our 3D topographic modeling and printing efforts at the Merritt Library. I hope it's provided you with some helpful information about developing your own 3D models and projects and possibly some ideas for utilizing this information in your own projects and research. Again, should you need any assistance, please reach out to me. I'm happy to help with that. And also the 3D printing services team can help you with the final model creation. Also know that you, everyone is welcome to use the GIS or the lab computers here in 2751, all that software again that we've covered today is available on these machines. And then area is open for use Monday through Fridays from 9am to 6pm. So with that, yeah, I'm happy to answer any questions that you have. Yeah. Thanks. I'm like you saw the head of photography at the art school had an exhibition at the museum recently, and he used a 3D scanning of the Grand Canyon somewhere, and then he digitally added light sources and some agents pretty cool. Questions about data sets. Other data sets available for man made objects as well. For example, fly over over downtown Salt Lake or Manhattan. Can they, can they be okay. We can I think you're thinking of things like, like some drone footage possibly even light our information. Yeah, all those are downloaded are available for download. Like I said, I'd be happy to even help you look into that if you're interested, we can find out what kind of data is available so. In addition to other data sets available for like ocean terrain as well as soon. There is so that particular you'd be looking more with the DMs they stop at sea level, what you'd be doing is looking into something more like back metric data. We've actually had one professor come in who is interested in incorporating ocean layers as well, something below sea level, and combining with the both and we found a way to merge the two together. It does take a little bit of extra to combine them kind of use another program called the lender, just to kind of get the two models to come together but. I have some friends who are efficient in Boston like to make them a 3D model and keep calling and have a bank and such. Last question, are there data sets available for the other planets, is there a room database. You know, I don't believe there is elevation data for that right now I could look into that for you. But yeah as far as I know right now the only stuff right you can find is for Earth at the moment. Just follow up on that where is the man made data. Oh gosh there are so many different websites for the different types of man made data and stuff like that. I usually just start with the Google search narrow down from there if it's something the government might have available USGS might usually have it. A lot of these things are through the national map here they have different data sets available there. So what's the specific type that has historical data like, let's say it was like. Um, in terms of like projected data or like the data we work with today. Yeah, I guess it would be to do with the technology there but like 10 years ago. I think different studies and stuff do one. When I was initially starting to learn 3D modeling and printing and stuff like this one of the first models I worked with was Mount St. Helm's I wanted to see the difference between how it was pre 1980 and then after the eruption. And I was actually able to find somebody who did some research and found the original model we're able to reconstruct that data so we can see how much of the whole mountain side blew apart during that eruption. So the data is out there. It's just a matter of finding it. You're dealing with terrain photography that has some water and some bare land. So what's your way to specify whether you want to print the water or print what's below the water like they were the great solid for example. Good question. I want to say with the DEMs though because we did look into the Salt Lake, a great solid area. It all seems very flat there. I'm not sure how much elevation change maybe it wasn't enough in the model to show. I noticed what made me think it was on the rain year and looked like you could see a glacier. I wasn't sure if there's a way to take that glacier out or. I think you could manipulate the data so if you if you knew the result you wanted to do you would just go into the RGS software to begin. Maybe all of your analysis work before you ever export stuff like that. I think it'd be easy to, you know, identify it with a projection like you could show that data very easily on the model, but just taking it out of the model itself might be a little more tricky. But yeah, I'd say anything's possible. I guess one more question. I were to make something like this uses a mold cast something in what would you suggest to seal up some of the, some of the spots where it's not so tight like there's a couple like whole green light through it. Yeah, this particular model it could have used a few more top layers on it. That's why you can see a few gaps on it. I also did have a solid bottom on the bottom we just were testing so this is just infill that you're saying and everybody on the zoom can probably see that as well. That would be a question I would break up with 3D printing about that just to see what they suggest but yeah that was one thing with this layer this particular model I do wish I put a couple more layers top layers on it just to make it a more fleshed out presentable. I think it's really in just what kind of model you want to do. I don't think it's really in just what kind of model you want to do. How would you specify more details or what will come on to kind of delineate the different characteristics of say on the layer. You focus on rivers of the landmark or I think it's really in just what kind of model you want to do I don't, you know, for me particularly, you know I wanted to see the mountains I wanted to see the details so I kind of emphasize those aspects of it. But I could see those when I was exporting a model of what features I want to focus on in particular. So looking at something more flat I would probably want to play around with like exaggeration levels with the DEMs it's only focusing on the elevation data itself so if there were some higher hills or something there maybe I want to exaggerate just a little more to give a little more emphasis in that area. So what are your plans to projecting users instead of like cycling through. Yeah. My thoughts are to right now to incorporate ArcGIS online with it, and that has a lot of like interactive options so you can create a bunch of different layers. So users can come in turn them off and on work with them do different kinds of mashups and stuff with it. I also want to give them ability to bring in their own data as well so bringing in on a flash drive. Not sure what that's going to look like just yet but if they're working on something or, you know, say something related to their research and they just want to see how that data overlays on that. So it's time to have that ability so that's definitely something under consideration this time. And also thinking of like something as phenol as leather. They look a little bit like. Oh yeah, update your real time or even. Absolutely yeah because they do have the live data running through the ArcGIS online you can bring a layer and that brings live data like that. I can see in that type of situation it'd be really interesting to have like all the mountain ranges and stuff and see the storm coming in. What's it going to do to impact is it going to go around is it going to impact it some way. So yeah, it'd be really cool to incorporate live data as well. Traffic data would also be really interesting to see and what's happening throughout the state at one time. They're like overlaying traffic and air pollution. Exactly yeah. Do we have any questions on. No Tony just said that we should print this at some point, which is Castleton tower. Pretty cool. So Tony is one of my colleagues I work with he's really interested in Castleton tower. Yeah this is really cool. I know he wanted to take like a drone and fight around there and get like a really cool model of it so. But yeah Tony that'd be really cool to print that out. Well there's no other questions. Like I said thank you so much for your time and consideration of this project and if you'd like you're welcome to stick around and try out the models and software here and anybody online please reach out if you have any questions. Just a quick question just if you have sample data. No, just following the steps through that in the handouts. You can really choose any location you want with it so I leave it to you whatever features in the world are most interesting to you. Start there. So that's. When you're down with it can't make it. Yeah, you bet. Absolutely. Absolutely. Maybe we can say thank you to Justin and then we'll fill in from there. All right, thank you.