Cartographic Modeling Lab
Cartographic Modeling involves the use of geographic information systems (GIS) for tasks ranging from site analysis and simulation to plan development and environmental assessment. The Cartographic Modeling Laboratory supports teaching and research in regional planning, a variety of application projects, and advanced research on the nature and use of geographic information systems. Recent research projects using the facilities have included studies of housing indicators which can predict abandonment, regional ecological studies, and studies of the locations and predictors of urban crimes. The laboratory is also the locus of the Philadelphia Data Consortium, an effort to compile and make available all geographic coded data for the Philadelphia region.Urban Simulation Laboratory
The Urban Simulation Laboratory offers students and researchers computer models of large regions to examine the transportation and air quality consequences of regional policies. Both the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) call for consistency between transportation and land use plans as used for inputs to estimating regional air quality. The modeling capabilities of the Lab are state-of-the art and mirror those used in cities across the US for analysis of transportation and land use arrangements.The Lab is also a powerful teaching environment. Through urban simulation modeling students gain an understanding of how large regions work; why people choose to live and work in the various sub areas of the region; how the transportation system affects those choices; and the long-term air quality consequences of those choices.
The Laboratory for Visualization in Architecture
The Laboratory for Visualization in Architecture was created for education and research in the application of new visualization technologies for the imagining of the built environment. Computer graphics techniques and other electronic media are developed as tools that allow architects to anticipate images that cannot be visualized with traditional media. These emerging technologies represent a powerful means for analysis of buildings of the future. The use of electronic media has important pedagogic implications because it provides an extraordinary vehicle for students to develop intuition and imagination concerning the effects of elusive phenomena such as light and sound in architectural environments.Digitial Studios
Winka Dubbeldam
Oliver Lang
Ali Vahim