Author

Marvin Davis

Date of Graduation

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Geology and Geography

Committee Chair

Trevor M Harris

Committee Co-Chair

Jamison Conley

Committee Member

Timothy Warner

Abstract

GeoDesign is a relatively new field that serves as a repurposing of many different disciplines concerned with design decisions about the built environment. More specifically, GeoDesign represents a coupling of urban planning concepts with the analytical capabilities of GIS. While GIS has been used in planning mostly in the two-dimensional realm, the built environment is three-dimensional and challenges GIS in the handling of the vertical dimension, notably in floor-by-floor uses in mixed-use developments, basement-level parking, light capture, and intervisibility between structures. This research advances GeoDesign by addressing these three-dimensional issues through the utilization of highly-detailed 3D models using Trimble SketchUp, the mass-model generation power of ERSI's CityEngine, and the immersive Geo-Virtual CAVE at West Virginia University to explore these issues through an Immersive GeoDesign case study of the city of Morgantown, WV.

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