Although there is some truth to the your picture of the DT customers, there is a much larger picture we may want to study. What about tomorrow? 5 or 10 years down the road I hope to see an improvement in the patrons of these local businesses and an increase in overall business, not just liquor sales. That would help raise property values, taxes, and overall revenues. This technology would, IMO, certainly help to get there. In the meantime, i do enjoy a drink and cigar from time to time at the Slidebar or one of the other cigar-friendly drinking establishments while my wife window-shops. After 20 years of date nights, its the sort of date where both of us get exactly what we want… ;0)

Greg : When I am going someplace that is mission-critical, like the tax-collector or my in-laws, I look up the address in Google Earth to get an idea of what the area looks like. I use Google’s terrain model along with their street view for additional input. I use it as my crystal ball for all/most of my trips.

Greg, you are a nerd. Nothing wrong with that, but you are not in the target market for downtown businesses.

Downtown is looking for the kind of consumers who give a credit card to the bartender, get drunk and forget to take it back. Women who buy $200 sweaters from a boutique store just because they can. Red Hat society shoppers. Yellowing observers.

All of these people either know where they are going or don’t care where they end up. None of them will benefit from a 3d model of downtown fullerton.

Why: I see it as a potential benefit to the local businesses. This 3D model could help customers “map” the best route to a business. IMO, Some of the buildings can be difficult to navigate for first-time customers. My wife had a terrible time locating an office in the Vila del Sol building. I had a devil of a time finding an engineer in the old BofA building.

When I am going someplace that is mission-critical, like the tax-collector or my in-laws, I look up the address in Google Earth to get an idea of what the area looks like. I use Google’s terrain model along with their street view for additional input. I have discovered that streets which appear to be intersecting now have barricades. I have also found that some businesses do not have substantial signs to look for. I use it as my crystal ball for all/most of my trips. I could see the 3D model being helpful to that end.

As a tool for planners, they could see the relationship between existing buildings. Then they might be able to make better decisions as to impact of construction on local properties.

If the whole thing went away, it wouldn’t bother me, but I do see a benefit to having the data available.

The whole topic struck me as well, you know, Redevelopmentish.

How?

GIS isn’t the issue. The issue is – what’s the purpose of a 3D downtown model? To see what the brick veneer looks like axonometrically?

Most cities have a GIS (geographic information system) person or department depending on size. The GIS is usually under the public works/engineering department-heads because those departments use the information daily. So taking this 3d information and including it with the City’s existing GIS (at least I think Fullerton has a GIS) would be good.

Also, ESRI (the No. 1 GIS software manufacturer) has developed a global GIS database structure. It networks with other GIS databases creating what amounts to a global GIS. It’s like taking Google Earth, Mozilla, Yahoo, and all of the world’s geographic information systems into one massive system that is accessible to the public.

So in conclusion, if the City of Fullerton wants to be a 21st century city like Orange, Anaheim, or Los Angeles to name a few, it should incorporate GIS data from sources like the 3d data being pondered. As for the maintenance…If we have no GIS, there is nothing to maintain. And if we DO have a GIS, it would be business as usual for the GIS person.