Visual Impact Assessment Simulation Solutions
Our CGI simulations for visual impact assessments provide a comprehensive and reliable solution that ensures assurance for our clients and builds trust with your stakeholders.
With over 20 years of VIA experience managing survey and design data, facilitating workshops, stakeholders, impacts, geospatial information, and real-time rendering engines, we have developed a unique approach that sets us apart and ensures rapid regulatory compliance.
By reducing design and legal fees, our simulations provide cost-effective alternatives to traditional assessment methods.
Visual Impact Assessment (VIA) Challenges
Developers and proponents face several challenges when seeking approval for a project that requires a complex visual impact assessment. Here are some of the key challenges:
Costs: Visual impact assessments can be expensive, particularly for large-scale projects that require extensive data collection and analysis. The costs associated with design, legal fees, and stakeholder engagement can add up quickly.
Stakeholder Opposition: Stakeholders may oppose the proposed project, leading to negative publicity and reputational damage for the developer or proponent. Opposition from stakeholders can also lead to delays in project approval and implementation.
Regulatory Compliance: Developers and proponents must comply with numerous regulations and guidelines related to visual impact assessments. Evidencing compliance with these regulations can be complex and expensive using traditional means.
Complexity: Visual impact assessments can be complex, requiring extensive data collection, analysis, and modelling. The complexity of these assessments can make it difficult for developers and proponents to accurately assess the potential visual impacts of their projects.
Time Constraints: Developers and proponents may face time constraints when seeking approval for their projects. Traditional visual impact assessments can be time-consuming, requiring extensive data collection, analysis, and stakeholder engagement.
Economic Impact: Projects that have a significant visual impact on the surrounding environment can have a negative economic impact on the local community. For example, tourism may decline if the visual quality of an area is diminished by a proposed project.
Urban CGI makes it easy to navigate changes, offering 3D real-life simulations and powerful decision-making features.
Some examples to highlight the multifaceted nature of visual impact assessments and emphasize the importance of quality planning, stakeholder engagement, and effective communication.
Social Licence: Visual impact assessments can lead to an increase in complaints and project delays, resulting in community dissatisfaction. In extreme cases, public reactions can escalate to protests and demonstrations.
Community Anxiety and Resistance to Change: Communities often exhibit anxiety and resistance to change, which can hinder project progress. Government reports highlight the negative impact of community backlash on critical projects.
Litigation: Disputes over structures in the landscape or townscape and their visual impact can escalate into legal proceedings and tribunals.
Rebuilding: Operational projects may require relocation, reconstruction, or rebuilding due to unforeseen visual impacts. For instance, misplaced signals or signage or blinding reflections.
Rejection: Stakeholders or communities may reject proposed changes, adversely affecting brand reputation, viability and credibility.
Diminishing Place Value: Some places hold intrinsic value, attracting visitors from far distances to experience their unique views and environments. Altering or diminishing these values can have significant economic and cultural consequences.
Accidents and Safety: Visual impact on operations, such as blinding reflections on highways from glazed buildings, can compromise road safety.
The risks associated with visual impact assessments compound in proportion to the number of interfaces and stakeholders. Using primitive and abstract tools in VIA can increase these risks.
Visual Impact Assessment (VIA) Simulation Solutions
Our digital solutions for VIA offer an efficient and modern solution to the challenges faced by proponents. By leveraging our CGI simulation technology and 20 years of VIA experience, we provide certainty, assurance, and confidence to all stakeholders involved. Here’s how our CGI simulations change the game:
Clarity and Understanding: Realistic CGI simulations offer unprecedented clarity and understanding of proposals. Powered by real-world data, these interactive 3D worlds enable stakeholders to experience all visual impacts.
Streamlined Negotiations: Our technologies facilitate effective communication between proponents and stakeholders with endless views and preferences. The immersive desktop visualisation of the proposed changes expedites consensus-building and reduces the need for drawn-out negotiations.
Cost Reduction: Significantly reduce design and legal fees associated with visual impact assessments. By accurately representing anticipated changes, our simulations minimise the need for repetitive consultation and analysis paralysis.
Reputation Protection: Our systems help protect your reputation by enabling stakeholders to fully comprehend all aspects of proposals which increases trust and positive communication across audiences.
Accelerated Approvals: Our solutions expedite the approval process by providing a clear intuitive digital environment of the proposed changes. By enhancing stakeholder understanding and engagement, our systems help overcome opposition and facilitate timely project approvals.
Enhanced Decision-Making: Our simulations enable proponents to make informed decisions quickly based on a clear, understandable 3D environment. By visualising potential impacts early in the process, we empower proactive decision-making and prevent wasteful overspending.
Our VIA simulations are a solution that only a select few, if any, can offer due to the range of skills and expertise required. With over 20 years of intellectual property development, we have honed our expertise and workflows in managing data, facilitation, design development and real-time simulation engines.
Our simulations provide you and your stakeholders with an unparalleled level of clarity and understanding, facilitating effective communication, trust and confidence.
Our solutions reduce design and legal fees as well as protect the reputation of proponents by improving how projects are received and perceived by stakeholders and communities.
We have experience applying VIA to scenarios including:
Architectural and Urban Design VIA: VIA of proposed changes in urban design, heritage townscapes, skylines, and interactions between place and community.
Property View Yields: Assessing residential visual amenities and views from new apartments. Capturing and optimising view yields early in the process can improve revenue at little extra cost.
Environmental and Landscape: Our simulations can assess land use issues, as well as changed geometries with a landscape’s physiology due to quarries, mines, excavation, retaining walls, cuts and fills, slope gradients, vegetation removal, energy generation equipment, and their impact on the environment.
Structures Above and Around Water: Assessing the visual impact of structures such as road bridges, railway bridges, and ports. Aesthetic considerations related to reflections, shoreline development (the interface between land and water), tides, flooding, rising water levels, and floating infrastructure.
Transport: Assessing the visual impact of railway, road, and airport projects. We have expertise in rail signal sighting, rail alignment planning, VIA for highway projects, and road safety auditing to national standards with horizontal curvature, linearity, steepness of incline and contour.
Monuments, Artefacts, Art, and Landmarks: Assessing the visual impact of historic places, archaeological sites, shrines, and iconic cultural resources.
Sniper Scenarios in Crowds: Assessing sightlines and impact of sniper scenarios in crowds – like the JFK scenario – for VIPs.
Ticketing and Events: Optimise seating layouts for events by assessing visibility from different seating positions. We also simulate environmental impacts like glare, sun, and rain, if you are in an outdoor environment.
Signage, Billboard, and Advertising: Maximising sightlines while demonstrating that graphics are positioned safely without compromising landscapes including structures and lighting impacts on traffic and operations.
Features of our Visual Impact Assessment Solution
Environment Character
Photoreal interactive 3D simulations immerse you in space from the desktop.
Light and Shadows
Accurate visualisation of sun, light, shadows, and reflection in context.
SIMs to Animations
Make videos and images direct from our photorealistic simulation system..
Guaranteed Accuracy
Every vertex is 100% accurate to design and survey inputs, guaranteed.
Dynamic Design
Modifiable assets and elements to achieve visibility analysis outcomes fast.
Infinite Views
Fly, walk, and drive anywhere for a serial vision that simulates the journey and the view.
Online and Live
Use our cloud Sim Viewer for high fidelity and precise 3D VIA from anywhere.
Measurable Impacts
Measure heights, distances, speeds and shadows live in plan and perspective.
Real-time Options
Switch between pre-planned design options live for easy comparison.
Benefits of our Visual Impact Assessments SIMs
Gain Control
You will now have full control and visibility and be in the driver’s seat across all.
Assured Accuracy
Measure and validate any survey and design input to quell concerns, live.
Trustless System
No need to trust. It’s all clear and measurable, live in 3D.
Move Faster
We get you set up quickly – and then you run fast with instant answers to questions.
Improve Confidence
Eliminate uncertainty to stop anxiety and hundreds of stakeholder meetings.
Reduce Design Costs
Use our services to optioneer and test designs in context via live 3D workshops.
Haters to Heros
Stakeholders who made your life hell will become silent, or advocates.
Shorten Timelines
From months and years to days and weeks. VIAs become easy and immediate.
Reduce Legal Costs
Live unequivocal answers stop bad actors in their tracks. There is no debate.
Industry Leaders Who See the Future
Testimonials
"When it comes down to it, the team ‘get it’. They know what they’re doing, chase all the data, do all the legwork, bring everything together on time and produce great outcomes. As a client, I feel confident it will be done and done well."
"Urban CGI completed the project in a very short timeframe. They got all of the details right, they were very committed to the project and went the extra mile. I hope to work together again.”
"No other supplier can meet the requirements for driver training - Urban CGI provide the only viable alternative to the expensive and demanding practical runs, and we rely on them solely."
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