16 replies to this topic

[brummer]

First some background. I'm a course design junkie with no 3D modelling experience so this will all be a steep learning curve for me. Tend to do all my work in2d on paper or very basic drawing programmes on PC. If I'm going to commit the time to learning a new programme I just need some basic info first.

I've managed to get my hands on some quite detailed topographical maps for real life sites. Will there be a way to use that information to generate terrain?

For example 1 local course which will require a complete redesign shortly in real life I have a topo at 25cm intervals for the entire 110acre site. Heights range from sea level up to 24 metres above sea level so there is quite a lot of elevation change.

1) will this info be able to be imported somehow? If so do I need the topo lines "separate" from any background info or must it be in a particular file format?

2) failing some sort of import option, how tough will it be to manually manipulate the terrain using the contour info (which I imagine would be extremely time consuming)

Can anyone guide me on what I may or may not be able to do. No need for too much jargon at this stage please, I'll figure that out later.

Thank you.

[shimonko]

A contour map isn't any good, you need the elevation data it was created from, the DEM.

 

Unity only allows import of 8-bit or 16-bit RAW files for the terrain, so you have to somehow get your elevation data in that form. Early vids of PP's Terrain Importer suggested it could convert ASCII text and grid formats to the correct RAW, so you may have to use another converter first (maybe  http://www.hangsim.com/3dem/ ) to get it to a format Terrain Importer understands.

 

Or the route I went below (3m elevation data from the NED) as TI isn't out yet, I converted the data  to 32-bit GeoTiff, then converted that in WorldMachine to 16 bit GeoTiff (as Photoshop does weird things with 32 bit files), then have Photoshop convert it to RAW. There's always a way!

 

But the whole while you'll need to keep the elevation data matched with the overhead imagery.

 

Olympic - (Ctrl-F5 if it doesn't appear to load. There are no boundary fences - don't walk off the edge of the world.)

[brummer]

Thanks shimonko. I figured that was likely the story. Not sure if I can get that source information.

I guess I need to spend some time understanding how unity works and then see if I can solve the issue that way. Perhaps I can try and get something more basic out of bing or similar and then "add " more detail myself later.

Cheers, brumner

[shimonko]

It would be nice to get that 25cm data, even if at least half will have to be discarded to fit into Unity's maximum heightmap resolution of 2049x2049 (unless PG/CF allow terrain stitching?). You appear to be from outside the States and I've found the data outside not to be that good. I used the 30m data Bing had available for my area and it left a lot of hand sculpting, although definitely better than nothing.  The 3m data I later used was far superior and really only needed a touch up.

 

What's the spacing on your contour lines? (the 25cm you mentioned will be the spacing of the original samples that the contour lines were derived from). There are programs that can convert contour maps back into DEMs but unless it was really tight spacing, I'd imagine it would be quite inaccurate.

[brummer]

Im in Australia. I know that most of the area within an hour of where I live has been mapped to about 15 cm. I'm going to contact the state government department that looks after this area and try for the data in a suitable format.

[shimonko]

Let me know how you go as I'm in Australia too. When I looked late last year, Australia's governmental agency only had 30m data available to anyone, with the higher resolution only available to government. This map, dated Dec 2013, shows the areas in my state available in much higher resolution (I'm thinking 1m data) and NSW apparently introduced an Open Data policy in Sep 2013, so I might ring up tomorrow and to see if anything is publicly available yet.

[Unique]

Yes Please let us know how you go. Where do you live and what course were you planning on doing? I plan on doing Bonneville at Coffs Harbour and by the look of shimonko's link I might be able to get the data. Planning to go down and play on March 10 and take photos.

 

Peter

[TheBigYin519]

Hi Guys,

Or should I say G'day mates ?

I signed up with the NEDF portal for Australia as an international user. (http://nedf.ga.gov.a.../main/home.page)

I am waiting to hear back as to the 'formats' of the data that is & may be available from them. It would appear to be Lidar data only. Depending on what formats are available, you may be able to use P.P.'s Terrain Importer to get it into a useable format for C.F.

Their site is still 'under construction' to a certain extent & is not very 'user friendly' at the moment (IMHO) & trying to get specific area info is 'challenging' to say the least.

When I get an answer back I'll let you know.

John

[shimonko]

LiDAR is best, but indicated as only available to government. They state they only give the 30m SRTM to non-government. I tried before registering with that site but heard nothing back. 

Update: tried registering again, got approval the next day so they must be back from holidays.

[shimonko]

Yes Please let us know how you go. Where do you live and what course were you planning on doing? I plan on doing Bonneville at Coffs Harbour and by the look of shimonko's link I might be able to get the data. Planning to go down and play on March 10 and take photos.

 

Peter

 

Bonville is sheer heaven - my fav in Australia. I remember my first time there and my non-golfing wife asked the pro shop what she can do in the area while I play. They said just ride in the cart. She loved it!

[shimonko]

I called up the guy behind the LiDAR data capturing for NSW (as depicted in the pdf I linked above), asking if it's publicly available under this Open Data scheme. Not yet apparently, 6 months they're looking at. 

[brummer]

I'm in Tassie. The course is Claremont in Hobart. Terrible golf course on a small but spectacular piece of land. Club has pretty much gone bust on the back of crap golf and declining membership. They are selling off 9 of their precious 100 acres for property development. Should get enough to repay all debts and fund a total rebuild of the course ( if they are sensible enough to realise they need a total overhaul) not a Mickey Mouse patch up.

I'll contact dpipwe ( the govt dept) next week when I get back home. So the liDAR is best? If not available like NSW what is the next best.

[TheBigYin519]

Hi Guys,

I had a reply from the Admin guy at NEDF. The LiDar is  restricted to "Gov" guys but 1sec SRTM DEMs data is available.

It is a bit of a hassle 'searching' on their site at the moment, not every search parameter is working & you can get funny results or no results, but the guy said the best way to search was using "keywords" or the mapping select bounding box.

So far I'm striking out trying to get some data from the east Perth, but I'll keep trying.

John

[brummer]

The big yin and Shimonko.

I too registered with NEDF and have received my first requested data back. It appears that the data is in adf format. Do I need to download arcGIS to open this (say in 60 day trial version) or could I do it some other way?

No idea on the quality of the data yet or even if I got the exact location I need as I had to use the very vague keyword process.

What can I do with this data now ( assuming it is remotely useful)

[shimonko]

It sounds like you've just got the elevation data, which is what people are finding also from the UK with their service. 

 

You'll need to get the photographic overhead imagery as well. I did my Aussie course using elevation data and imagery both from Bing (but wrote code to do it like TI does rather than use arcGIS/Global Mapper), so unaware of what NEDF supply.

 

It can get complicated, so first see if NEDF have decent quality imagery of the same area. 

[Unique]

Hi shimonko,

Today I booked in to play at Bonneville on Monday 10/3/14. I don't know how far away you are but there is a bunch coming from Sydney and a bunch from here in Brisbane staying overnight and playing Monday. You are welcome to join us if you want.

Also, thank you for the Muirfield data and instructions as I was able to load into unity no problems

Cheers Mate!!!!

Peter

[shimonko]

My pleasure regarding Muirfield. I'll send you a PM.