Using CityEngine Web Viewer

CityEngine Web Viewer allows you to interact with 3D urban landscapes using a web browser. You can navigate the map by zooming, panning, and rotating; select a bookmark; choose specific layers to view; search for objects, attributes, and more; change sunlight and shadowing; share through various social media; and view additional information about the map.

CityEngine Web Viewer

Navigating in CityEngine Web Viewer

Bookmarks

You can use the following shortcuts on your keyboard for bookmark navigation and tours:

Working with the CityEngine Web Viewer panes

WebViewer Panes

The CityEngine Web Viewer panes give you additional tools for interacting with the Web Scene. They are located in the top right header area. Click one of the pane buttons to show that pane and hide the others. The Information pane Information is shown automatically when you select an object.

Layers pane

The Layers pane Layers lets you work with layers within a Web Scene. You can show and hide layers and split the view to compare two sublayers side by side. For example, a redevelopment layer might be a sublayer of redevelopment data and sublayer of built data and lets you see the differences side by side.

  • To hide a layer, click the Visibility button Visibility.
  • To show a layer, click the disabled Visibility button Disabled Visibility.
  • To zoom the Web Scene to the full extent of the layer, click the Frame button Frame.
  • To highlight (and therefore identify) a layer in the Web Scene, click the layer name.

If the layer includes sublayers of data, you can choose a sublayer to display or compare two sublayers side by side.

  • To see one sublayer, choose the sublayer name under the layer name.
  • To see two sublayers, pause your mouse over the layer name and click the Split View button Split View next to the layer name. This opens Comparison Mode within the Layers pane.

Comparison mode

Choose a sublayer for each of the two views and choose how to compare the sublayers:

  • Swipe tool Swipe tool displays the sublayers in a vertically split viewport. Drag the Swipe slider button Slider to change the position of the split line.
  • Side-by-side Side-by-side displays the sublayers in left and right views.
  • Dual landscape Dual landscape displays the sublayers in top and bottom views.

To exit Comparison Mode, click the Exit Comparison Mode button. You can also click the Close button Close next to the split line (in the 3D viewport).

Search pane

Open the Search pane Search to find specific objects and attributes within the Web Scene. CityEngine Web Viewer returns results based on object name, attribute values and keys, report values and keys, and layer name. Objects in layers that are hidden do not appear in the search results.

To find an object or attribute, enter one or more keywords into the search box. A list of results with summary information appears within the pane. You can then perform the following operations with the results:

  • To highlight an object in the Web Scene, move your mouse over the object name. If you don't see the highlighted object, it may be outside the visible area of the 3D viewport.
  • To frame an object in the 3D viewport, move your mouse over the object name and click the Frame button Frame that appears.
  • To frame an object and open the Information pane Information, click the underlined object name.

Settings pane

The Settings pane Settings contains tools for changing the amount of light in the Web Scene by selecting a time of day, season, and shadowing effect.

Sunlight

Use the Sunlight slider Sunlight to change the sunlight direction by time of day. If the Web Scene has a georeferenced extent, CityEngine Web Viewer estimates the GMT offset from the data's world position. The GMT offset is based on the offset from UTC coordinated universal time. You can manually change the GMT offset if you want. To find the GMT offset based on your local time, you can use a world clock.

Use the Season drop-down list to choose the season for the sun position.

Shadowing

Use one of the shadowing check boxes to toggle direct shadows and diffuse shadows. Enabling shadows can decrease the performance of CityEngine Web Viewer. If you notice slow interactivity while navigating, try turning off both shadowing options.

Share pane

Within the Share pane Share, you will find options to embed a Web Scene and share a Web Scene link through social media, email, or a URL. The shared link contains the current frame view (camera position) and the current layer visibility settings.

To embed a Web Scene, click the Embed button Embed, choose a size, then select and copy the provided HTML code. Paste the code into your web page where you want the map to appear. The large size shows the full user interface. The small size shows a reduced user interface.

Comments

The Share pane also displays comments associated with the Web Scene item. Sign in with your public or organizational account to leave a comment.

Comments published within CityEngine Web Viewer version 2.2 and later contain location information about the current extent of the Web Scene when the comment was originally published. (You can see the version number by opening the Information pane Information and clicking the Show loading details button.) These location aware comments are marked with a Comment icon Comment in the list of comments.

  • Location-aware comments are displayed in the Web Scene with a Comment icon.
  • Hover over the Comment icon in the Share pane to display the comment on the Web Scene. When you hover over the Comment button, it changes to the Frame button Frame.
  • Click the Frame button Frame to zoom to the extent of the Web Scene and activate the layer visibilities to the state when the comment was originally published.

NoteNote:

In order to use any of the sharing options, the Web Scene needs to be shared publicly. The owner of a Web Scene can modify the sharing permissions on the Web Scene item details page.

Information pane

The Information pane Information shows additional details about an object you have selected in the Web Scene or search results. Some Web Scenes may contain objects that are not selectable.

If no object is selected, the Information pane shows additional details about the Web Scene, including user ratings. Sign in with your public or organizational account to rate the Web Scene.

The owner of the Web Scene can update the thumbnail through the Information pane.

5/16/2013