A collaborative multi-touch, multi-display, urban futures tool

Recent technological advances in multi-touch, multi-display computing interfaces and networking software have enabled the integration of all three roles into a single collaborative work space. This paper describes the development of one such application focused at carrying out complex urban design exercises through simple, transparent, and interactive means. Constructed through a federated system architecture, the system connects three independent applications: Google Earth, a Building Information Model (BIM) database, and an Indicators Dashboard (ID). The goal of this work is to provide a diverse group of stakeholders with a better understanding of the environmental impact and tradeoffs associated with a range in potential urban futures.