Help me name an urban modelling application.

July 17, 2005 9:21 AM

Help me name an urban modelling application.

I am working on an application that generates a 3d model based on a given urban area (streets, blocks, lots) and its zoning laws (maximum height, lot/total area ratios, sunlight angles, etc.). The output is a 3d model showing examples of the buildings that could be built according to each lot’s geometry and applicable codes. Images taken from the 3d model and showing the process can be found here.
My partner and I have been invited to present our work at two conferences (this and this) and feel this is a good time to name the application, so it’s not “that thing that the two Chilean guys did, with the modeling and stuff”.
The work so far has been done within AutoCAD (using AutoLisp), but we will probably be moving it over to a standalone Python application.
The name could be in English or Spanish and should not be at all cute or punny.
Keywords: urban, modeling, simulation, city, parametric, algorithmic, procedural, system.

posted by signal to Computers & Internet (25 answers total)

Cityscape?

If you don't want to be cute or punny (Building Blocks!), I don't see why it's so hard. Anything functional should do.
posted by cardboard at 9:52 AM on July 17, 2005

zonescape? is that too boring? this looks neat - congratulations.
posted by andrew cooke at 9:52 AM on July 17, 2005

"uma" is pretty good anyway. i can imagine a decent logo, and it can be pronounced as a word in itself.
posted by andrew cooke at 9:54 AM on July 17, 2005

another vote for UMA. You could exploit it's female name connotations or keep it serious.
posted by fire&wings at 10:05 AM on July 17, 2005

Response by poster: cardboard: it shouldn’t be cute, but it should be cool. That’s the hard part.
Anything with “-scape” is good, IMO.
a.c.: thanks for the encouragement.
UMA, huh? Hmmm...
Keep ‘em coming.
posted by signal at 10:19 AM on July 17, 2005

You could always just call it UMA for the conferences, and let the marketing guys do the focus groups and the hoo-ha later.

UMA is nice and to the point, IMHO.
posted by cmonkey at 10:33 AM on July 17, 2005

these aren't good, but maybe will inspire a direction:

techbuzzwordish:

VirtuScape
VirtualVista
SimuScape/SimulaScape

radioshackish:

CompuScape

proposalish:

PrognostiScape/PredictoScape (yuck, but you get the idea)
ForeScape
PropheScape

'panorama' is a cool word...maybe someone can come up with something for that one...
posted by troybob at 10:38 AM on July 17, 2005

hmm...or ForeSite

great, now this will be in my head all day!
posted by troybob at 10:40 AM on July 17, 2005

PropheSite, PrediScape, CitySeer
posted by troybob at 10:58 AM on July 17, 2005

wow this looks great!

I like UMA as well but it's not super creative, don't know if that matters.

off the top of my head...
urbanized
Urban Eyes
Cityfied
CityBorn
posted by freudianslipper at 11:04 AM on July 17, 2005

How about
UMA the Koolhaas Destructor
posted by ouke at 11:07 AM on July 17, 2005

metro harbinger
PrognostiCity
urban foreshadow
MetrOmen
posted by troybob at 11:14 AM on July 17, 2005

construction foresight
metro forecast
posted by troybob at 11:27 AM on July 17, 2005

ok last one...easy street
posted by troybob at 11:30 AM on July 17, 2005

EasyStreet!!! Winner!...oh man that's so perfect haha.
posted by freudianslipper at 11:31 AM on July 17, 2005

How about

CitySmart
posted by freudianslipper at 11:32 AM on July 17, 2005

Anytown, U.M.A.
posted by troybob at 11:34 AM on July 17, 2005

or i suppose Main Street, U.M.A. ok i'll stop
posted by troybob at 11:40 AM on July 17, 2005

by the way, it would be neat to see modeling like this done as part of mapquest or some such...
posted by troybob at 11:58 AM on July 17, 2005

I like "City Blocks" a lot more than CityScape. Especially since the output is all squares.

I have the sense that the software is meant to help with the ideation / inspiration / zoning " constraints" of an architectural / urban planning project. So, in that vein, here's a few ideas:

Spire
Inspire (it's a verb, which is nice)
Ideate (it's a verb, which is meh)
Idea Blocks
Sizer
City Sizer
Developer (if it's aimed at developers / firms that work for 'em)
Think Outside the Box (double meh)
posted by zpousman at 12:10 PM on July 17, 2005

Skyliner?

I keep wanting to come up with some combination of "city/urban" and "juggler/shuffler" or something similar.

Also, just out of curiosity, are you thinking big enough for this? That is, do you have a company name in mind independent of this product?
posted by kimota at 12:44 PM on July 17, 2005

Whatever you pick, Google it to make sure someone else hasn't used it for something similar.

I thought I had actually bought something called "VirtualVista", but I can't find the box. I tried Google, and it looks like there are some softwares that use a name like that for what it produces, although i can't find any software with that name.

A quick check on the 'net could avoid problems later.

(I like Easy Street, if someone else isn't using it.)
posted by unrepentanthippie at 1:08 PM on July 17, 2005

BRaVE (Building Regulation Visualization Engine)
posted by claxton6 at 3:44 PM on July 17, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks for all the answers, everybody. No winners yet, I’ll talk it over with my partner.
For those interested, this is at present more of an academic unertaking, and though we do plan to make money of of it (and already have, actually), it’ll probably be as a service offered via the University where we teach to Municipal Governments in Santiago and other parts of Chile (Santiago is splintered into more than 40 politically and independent “municipalities”, so we have a large client pool), to help them visualize de actual built impact of the abstract mathematical and geometrical zoning regulations.
Thanks!
posted by signal at 6:54 AM on July 18, 2005

LandFill
posted by Caviar at 8:15 AM on July 18, 2005