How Urban Planners Can Transform London’s Cityscape Using AccuCities & Plancity

Urban planning is an evolving challenge. With London’s population set to grow significantly in the coming decades, planners face increasing pressure to design spaces that are efficient, sustainable and livable. To meet these demands, having the right tools and data is no longer optional, it is essential. This is why CentremapsLive has partnered with AccuCities as their dedicated 3D modelling specialist, providing urban planners with high-resolution data and interactive tools to transform the way London’s cityscape is conceived and developed.

The complexity of urban planning in London cannot be overstated. Heritage preservation, zoning regulations, transport networks and environmental considerations all intersect, creating layers of information that must be interpreted and balanced. Traditional methods such as paper maps, static CAD drawings or isolated GIS datasets struggle to capture the city’s three-dimensional complexity, leaving planners with limited context for their decisions. What is needed is a comprehensive, interactive and precise representation of the city that reflects both its current form and its potential future development.

AccuCities delivers this through its LOD3 3D models, offering an unprecedented level of detail and accuracy. LOD3, or Level of Detail 3, models represent buildings not just as simple blocks but with fully detailed architectural elements. Facades, roof structures, windows, balconies, chimneys and even intricate rooftop details are included. The models provide accurate building heights, footprints, roof types and textures, giving planners a realistic visualisation of the urban environment. In addition, they integrate topographical data and surrounding infrastructure, enabling planners to see how a new development would interact with its context. LOD3 models also include semantic information such as building use, number of floors and structural attributes, allowing for more nuanced analysis and scenario testing.

While the data itself is powerful, Plan.City transforms it into a tool planners can actively work with. Plan.City is an interactive city planning platform that allows users to manipulate, analyse and visualise 3D urban models in real time. Its interface enables flythroughs, rotation, and zooming across the city, giving planners a tangible sense of scale and space. Zoning overlays, regulatory data, and planning constraints can be visualised directly on the 3D model, helping planners ensure compliance while exploring design options. Scenario modeling features allow teams to simulate development proposals, test alternative layouts and evaluate impacts on sightlines, pedestrian movement, traffic flows and environmental factors like sunlight and wind patterns.

Using AccuCities’ LOD3 models within Plan.City, urban planners can move beyond static representations and perform dynamic analyses. They can explore how a proposed high-rise might cast shadows on public spaces throughout the day, assess potential wind tunnel effects around tall buildings and model accessibility or pedestrian flow through new streets and public squares. These insights enable smarter, more informed decisions, reducing risks and improving outcomes for communities and developers alike.

CentremapsLive offers a London subscription that gives planners seamless access to the full suite of AccuCities models along with Plan.City tools. The subscription ensures continuous updates as London’s buildings and infrastructure evolve, access across all districts without coverage gaps, and smooth integration into planning workflows. For professionals managing multiple projects across the city, this subscription is not only convenient but essential. 

Urban planners are already leveraging these tools in innovative ways. Large-scale redevelopment projects can be visualised in full 3D, showing phasing and potential community impacts. Transport planning and street design benefit from simulations of pedestrian and vehicle movement, while heritage and conservation considerations are easier to manage when proposed developments can be viewed in relation to historic buildings and landmarks. Environmental assessments, from shadow studies to airflow analysis and green space optimisation, are more accurate when based on high-fidelity LOD3 models rather than 2D maps or incomplete datasets.

CentremapsLive is more than a data provider, it is a strategic partner for London’s urban planners. By ordering AccuCities models and Plan.City access through CentremapsLive, planners receive not only high-resolution 3D data but also practical planning tools and dedicated expert support, all from a single source. Acting as a central hub, CentremapsLive also provides access to complementary datasets such as BGS Civils for geology assessments, Ordnance Survey mapping and essential environmental reports, enabling planners to consolidate all critical information in one platform. This streamlined approach allows planners to focus on design and decision-making, rather than managing fragmented or incomplete data.

The future of urban planning is interactive, data-driven and integrated. By combining AccuCities’ detailed LOD3 3D models, Plan.City’s dynamic planning platform and CentremapsLive’s convenience and support all from a single source, urban planners have everything they need to design smarter, more efficient and sustainable projects. Do not let outdated maps or disconnected datasets limit your potential.

Order your London 3D models and Plan.City access through CentremapsLive today and take your urban planning projects to the next level.