Precondition: Installation of Macromedia Flash 6.0
The demonstration files have been produced with the Macromedia software Flash MX and require the plugin flash player 6. Before starting the demonstrations on this site, make sure that Macromedia flash player 6.0 is installed. The flash player for Windows, Mac or Linux can be downloaded at http://www.macromedia.com/download, please follow the instructions.

The demonstration files are not optimized for Internet streaming and therefore, a highspeed internet connection is required. If such an Internet connection is not available, please email to schroth@nsl.ethz.ch and a standalone version of the demonstration files will be send to you. Unfortunately, there have been a few problems with the standalone version and if an error is reported which indicates that Windows does not know which software created the file, it may be necessary to install the full Flash MX authoring tool from the Macromedia WWW site for a 30 day trial period.

Design Studies
The results of our first design studies offer two complementary approaches for Decision Support Tools (DST), that aim at different stages of the planning process. Please take into account that the presented Decision Support Tools (DST) are design studies only, i.e. most functions are not working yet or they are just animations rather than algorithms based on real data.

1. Concept Tool

Click to start:

The first tool should help the user in assessing the priorities associated with development scenarios. Therefore, it complements traditional methods of assessing development priorities.

Instructions

First, the user can assess the importance of each indicator by moving the indicator bar at the bottom. Due to the linkage between the indicators this movement also affects the other indicators, as well as the number of visual objects to place.

Secondly, the user interactively learns about the outputs from the assessment by the placement of the objects in the landscape.

2. Assessment Tool

Click to start:

The second tool is an interface for presenting geodata, combined with indicators, in 3D realtime environments, 3D stills, animations (over time), tables, texts, images etc. in an integrated way. It is aimed at the stakeholders, who might not be familiar with more complex GIS interfaces, and it seeks to find an intuitive means of presenting land use scenarios.

The tool does not replace programs for generating geodata, such as GIS and 3D modelling tools, as these are needed in the creation of the underlying materials.

Instructions

In the menu on the left, location, scenario and indicators (visuals, text and tables can all be included as well as materials in other media) are chosen. The bottom menu contains the 3D navigation facility as well as a timescale for showing animations of developments over time.