A WEB-BASED PLANNING PERMIT ASSESSMENT PROTOTYPE: ITWIN4PP

Abstract. The current process of issuing planning permits mostly relies on checking Land-use Regulations (LuRs) against two-dimensional (2D) analogue or digital proposed development plans. Checking three-dimensional (3D) LuRs within 2D proposed development plans results in challenges for decision-makers to understand LuRs’ limits and the impacts of the proposed developments on existing buildings in their surrounded proximity. Given the advancement of 3D geospatial technologies, to overcome such challenges and facilitate the process of issuing planning permits, 3D digital approaches should be developed for effective 3D storage, analysis, and visualisation of 3D LuRs and detection of their potential conflicts. This paper, as part of an internship project with Bentley systems, aims to design and develop a web-based 3D visualisation prototype called iTwin4PP for issuing planning permits using Bentley iTwin platform. This prototype first demonstrates how 3D LuRs related to planning approval can be modelled automatically in 3D and combined with an integrated BIM-GIS environment including BIM designs of the proposed developments and GIS models of planning/city-data. Then, the prototype considers the possibility of 3D spatial analyses (especially proximity analysis) for verifying 3D LuRs automatically to detect potential spatio-semantic conflicts that may arise between modelled LuRs and physical/planning objects. Five LuRs subject to planning approval in Victorian jurisdiction, in Australia, including height limits, energy efficiency protection, overshadowing open space, noise impacts, and overlooking are highlighted. While these LuRs are specific to Melbourne’s planning scheme ordinance, we believe that the prototype and encountered challenges in integrating different sources of information especially BIM and GIS, modelling 3D LuRs, and detecting their potential conflicts are common and can be applied in other jurisdictions.