Textures for the facades were created from photos of building exteriors and walls taken by the team. In SketchUp, textures were added to building facades to make them appear realistic. ![]() The multipatch feature was exported as a COLLADA file, a 3D interchange format that is compatible with SketchUp. Extrusion heights were based on the recorded building height found in the GIS database or, in the case of those buildings that had been destroyed, on historical research. First, the missing 2D footprints were created in ArcGIS Pro, extruded in 3D, converted to multipatch features, and saved in the project’s geodatabase. Garza described the process used to produce the 3D models of the buildings and walls. Footprints of the existing buildings around the perimeter of Alamo Plaza came from a GIS layer the team received from the City of San Antonio that included building footprints and heights. ![]() Garza’s team got the information needed to create 3D models of the missing buildings and walls from artists’ renderings of the Alamo from that period, as well as from a sketch used as part of the Mexican battle plan that was made by one of General Antonio López de Santa Anna’s senior officers. This viewshed visualization shows, as per the City of San Antonio ordinance, that there are no buildings behind this Alamo tall enough to be seen by a person standing in front of the Alamo. “We then resized and repositioned this model to match the exact location of established artifacts on the basemap, such as the west wall bricks found by our lead archaeologist Nesta Anderson.” We compared this model with several artist renditions of the Alamo for the 1836 time period and determined that it was historically accurate,” said Garza. “A 3D historical model of the Alamo compound already existed in Trimble’s 3D Warehouse, which is an open-source library of SketchUp images. “First, a basemap was created for the 3D models by clipping an image of the Alamo Plaza site from Pape-Dawson’s existing aerial data, and then SketchUp was used to create the bare earth courtyard where the battle took place,” said Garza. This model would not only aid those involved in the reconstruction project but could also provide an accurate historical perspective for those visiting or researching the Alamo. He convinced the company to let him contribute to the project by visualizing the site as a precise 3D model using GIS. Garza was interested in the work done by Pape-Dawson’s archaeological crew members at the site, especially when they determined the location of the Alamo’s long obscured walls. Modern buildings and the street network have encroached on the original site, as shown in this 3D model. It also provided topographic surveying and laser scanning to document existing conditions and provide a historical basis for the concepts of redevelopment presented in the master plan for the Alamo Plaza site. The company led the archaeological effort to establish the exact location of the west and south walls of the compound. Three-foot-thick walls surrounding the site were between 9 to 12 feet in height.Ī Texas firm, Pape-Dawson Engineers, joined the group responsible for designing the reimagined Alamo site. ![]() The garrison was composed of a large walled courtyard where the famed battle took place and a small number of outbuildings that included a chapel, storage rooms, animal pens, and the Long Barrack that provided living accommodations for the soldiers. The Mission San Antonio de Valero had been hastily converted into a makeshift fort. ![]() In honor of the 300th anniversary of the mission in 2024, the City of San Antonio and the Texas General Land Office have worked on the development of a major renovation plan for the site that accurately reflects the location of its 4.2-acre compound and historic buildings at the time of the battle of the Alamo.
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