OBJ Wavefront Object

GIS File Name

CAMB3D_[Tile Name (ex: E_2)]_OBJ_Buildings_obj.zip

Updated

August 2021

Format

Wavefront OBJ Format

Description

The City of Cambridge Geographic Information System (GIS) City-Wide 3D project provides a detailed three-dimensional model of buildings and bridges has been compiled from many sources over several years. The open-source building model collection provides 3D models that are compatible with open-source tools for modeling, model transformation, and web visualization. The model collection is segmented into tiles which is contiguous with the City of Boston 3D tile grid. Each model being assigned to the tile that its centroid falls within. Each three-dimensional building and bridge model is formatted in Wavefront Object (.OBJ) format.

Purpose

The City of Cambridge GIS maintains a 3D model of the city as a visualization and analytical tool for understanding ideas related to the future of the City. The Cambridge 3D model are of buildings and bridges. Each of these components is shared in formats intended to facilitate collaboration between diverse communities who have an interest in understanding places in the city as they have changed or as they may be changed.

Download Tiled Data

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Sources

The Cambridge 3D buildings and bridge layer was initially built using aerial photography from Spring 2010. Photogrammetric updates were added based on imagery from 2014, 2018, 2020, and 2021. Photogrammetric development of the 3D building models was conducted by CyberCity 3D.

Coordinate System

Projected Coordinate System: State Plane Massachusetts Mainland (Feet), North American Datum of 1983.

Vertical Coordinate System for 3D data: North American Vertical Datum, 1988 (NAVD 88) Feet (Height)

Usage Notes

OBJ is a standard 3D image format that can be opened by various 3D image editing programs. It contains a three-dimensional object, including 3D coordinates, texture maps, polygonal faces, and other object information. OBJ files also store references to a MTL (material setting file) that contain surface shading material for the object.