An Analysis of Urban Landscapes With Respect to Solid Angles Based on Computational Geometry Algorithms

Abstract

The solid angle, which is closely related to the sky amount and sky factor, has been commonly used to assess urban landscapes. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm to calculate the solid angles of urban landscapes based on computational geometry. This algorithm enables us to incorporate the complicated landscapes which consist of multiple nonconvex polygons. Furthermore, using the algorithms, we assess the public space near Shibuya Station in terms of solid angles. In the analysis, we describe how advertising billboards disturb our visibility. We also develop the algorithm to calculate the sky amount and the sky factor, and evaluate both indexes.

Proceedings of the 24th Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) [Volume 2]

“…Therefore, it takes a lot of preprocessing time and high labor costs in actual production and construction. Honma et al (2009) proposed a new algorithm to estimate the SVF by calculating the solid angles of urban landscapes based on computational geometry. On the basis of this algorithm, several engineering measurement design software programs can be used to estimate the SVF from 2.5D building models, which can extrude from building footprints with additional height information.…”