Drone 3D mapping in identifying Malay urban form: case study of Kota Bharu

Abstract

Malay city was one of the oldest civilization in the world which contains unique identity of architecture, the urban design characteristic and the urban form of city planning. Kota Bharu was an example for one of the Malay city which contains the historical building which originally build from 1840 onwards that still exist in peninsular Malaysia. The location of the a few main and significant historical building scattered around the Istana Balai Besar Kelantan proved that, the area was one of the originally Malay city existed in Malaysia. This paper attempt to map an urban form and identify a historical building in Kota Bharu using Multirotor drone. Phantom 3 was used to carry out the aerial mapping and further proceed for 3D modelling at 500meter radius from the centre of study area Istana Balai Besar. the analysis of current pattern of the city, distribution of the land use and building height for the study area shows that the area still preserve the traditional Malay city element and shows the different in urban pattern between the Malay traditional city and area with the influence from the British government and planning for the area. This result proof that the use of drone in mapping and modelling helps in analyse for the urban form and building height for city area in collecting data especially for the aerial mapping. The integration between Urban Planning, GIS, and 3D are highlighted as the platform for the analysis tool and data storage.