Display 3D

With Display 3D, you can create and edit a georeference 3D in order to obtain a three dimensional view of one or more maps. A Digital Terrain Model (DTM), also called a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), is required to create a georeference 3D. For more information on creating a DEM, see How to calculate a DEM.

By relating any map with the corresponding terrain surface in a 3D model, you can discover and understand relations between spatial data sets. For example, by draping a land use map over the height values of a 3D model, you can see where your areas of interest are located: on slopes, on flat areas, in the lower areas, in the mountains, etc.

Although Display 3D was originally developed to model relief, it can of course also be used to model the continuous variation of any other value map as a surface (e.g. concentration values, land values).

When you start the Display 3D operation, first the Display 3D dialog box appears. Create a new georeference 3D or select an existing one.
Then, the Display Options - 3D Grid dialog box appears. Specify whether the DEM should displayed as 3D grid lines with or without a drape of a raster map (preferably a raster map with a class domain).
Subsequently, the DEM is displayed in a map window which uses the georeference 3D.
To edit the georeference 3D, you have to start the Georeference 3D editor: choose Georeference from the Edit menu in the map window. The large Georeference 3D editor : Edit dialog box appears.
When finished editing the 3D view, close the Georeference 3D editor and return to the map window.
In the map window, you can add point, segment and/or polygon maps and/or annotation to improve the 3D view.