"Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people."
William Butler Yeats

 

CSS and project development rely heavily on communication between project stakeholders, jurisdictional agencies, and the project team. The technical drawings and maps required to construct a transportation project are not always the most effective instruments for communicating with non-technical disciplines and the public.

 

It is therefore important to illustrate improvements both graphically and technically to demonstrate what certain improvements will look like how improvements may impact (both negatively and positively) the surrounding context of the project.

 

There are different types of visualizations, ranging from renderings over photographs to three-dimensional images generated from design files and digital terrain models. The latter require more preparatory work (the proposed functional design must be completed first in both plan and profile), but are visually true to scale. Also, it is possible to readily generate countless images from different angles and eye locations. The former are relatively simple and easy to generate and have become standard practice for GDOT, but care must be taken to represent the true visual character.   

It is important to recognize the cost and time needed to produce meaningful visualizations for your project and to plan and budget for it accordingly.

 

The more commonly used visualization techniques include the following: 

• Models and Simulations
• Illustrations & 3-Dimensional Images
  • Sketches
  • Plan Views
  • Cross Sections
  • Isometrics
  • Renderings
  • Videos

 

See Appendix H for examples, definitions, and information about how each technique could be applied to CSS projects.