Hypermedia urban models in virtual environments: Case studies of central areas of Argentine cities

Abstract

The virtual models of urban fragments recreate environments of simulation and analysis with a great degree of realism. This paper addresses a review of case studies in which Argentine researchers from three different university centres have worked jointly. We examine spatial databases from a representational and communicational perspective as virtual 3D, walk-through, and interconnected urban models. Our aim is to explore, recognise and analyse advances in this direction, and to apply them to the development of virtual models of central areas in the Argentine cities of Buenos Aires, Rosario, Santa Fe and Mar del Plata. We present the methodology used to analyse the design, production and management processes of the virtual model as well as the results of our research. We acknowledge that these models are consistent non-traditional instruments of analysis which complement the knowledge of the city and facilitate spatial comprehension. Finally, we review predominant tendencies.