Spatial plan

Please note: This page is currently being updated.

What is a spatial plan

A spatial plan is a design of an area with focus on the landscape, environment, routing, the interaction between public and private space, buildings forms, materialization and more. This design can be made for an urban area as part of an urban planning project or for a more rural area for a landscape design or land art project. Spatial plans are created by urban designers or landscape architects and can have different scales and therefore different level of detail.

Requirements on a spatial plan

The Tygron Engine can be used for importing spatial plans in the Engine to evaluate certain design measures in a plan, for example if the parking standard is feasible. Depending on the use case of importing the spatial plan, there are some things to be taken into account:

• If the purpose is to create a 3D model of a 2D- drawing, remember that the level of detail in the Engine is not so high. Therefore, if the plan is very detailed, the design might not be distinguishable in the Engine.
• If the purpose is creating a visualization of the plan, sometimes it may be better to use placeholders for buildings, to emphasize the design phase in the project.

Most of the spatial plans on a smaller scale are being drawn in a CAD program such as AutoCAD (AutoCAD Map 3D, AutoCAD Architecture) or MicroStation. Therefore, below are some steps provided to convert a plan from a CAD file to a GeoJSON for importing the plan to the Engine. In principle every spatial plan can be imported, as long as the original format of the drawing can be converted to a GeoJSON.

How to insert a spatial plan into the Engine

How to Insert a spatial plan into the Engine:

1. Save the CAD file (.dwg) in AutoCAD/MicroStation as a .dxf or if you use AutoCAD Map 3D save the file as a Shapefile (.shp)
2. Open the .dxf or .shp in a GIS, for example in QGIS
3. Choose the right coordinate reference system (CRS) when QGIS prompts for a CRS
4. Save the layer as a GeoJSON
5. Import the file with the Geo Data Wizard

The first step is to convert the CAD drawing to polygons and saving this file as a Shapefile (.shp). This can be done in AutoCAD Map 3D, if you have another CAD program or if this is not possible, save the CAD file instead as a .dxf file.

File:Specify layer.JPG

Choose a coordinate reference system in QGIS

Now the .dxf or .shp file can be opened in a GIS (Geographical Information System). In this example QGIS is used. The .dxf/.shp file can be opened by dragging the file in QGIS. QGIS prompt to choose a Coordinate Reference System (CRS). Choose the coordinate system that is being used for the spatial plan. In the Netherlands, this is probably always Amersfoort/RD New (EPSG:28992).

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Layer panel in QGIS

If you have a .dxf file, QGIS asks which layers you want to open. Choose Select All en click Ok. There are then four layers added to QGIS:

• a Point layer, which consists of the text elements
• a LineString layer which contains the layers in the CAD file
• a Polygon layer, which contains the hatches in the CAD file
• a GeometryCollection layer, which contains the references for symbols used in the CAD drawing

The layer you probably need is the line layer. This layer can be saved as a GeoJSON. If you opened a .shp file in QGIS, save the layer also as a GeoJSON. The file is then ready to be imported in the Engine with the Geo Data Wizard.

Depending on the use case of the spatial plan in your project, it might be usefull to import the spatial plan as a measure. By doing so, it is possible to carry out the constructing of the plan as one action, instead of multiple actions. To import the spatial plan as a measure, open the Geo Data Wizard under the measure tab. After completing the wizard, the newly created measure can be found in the measure left panel.