Boston CityPrint C-8

thingiverse

Finally, the wait is over - you can download and 3D print the terrain and buildings for any part of Boston, or all of it! These tiles cover the entire city in 1km x 1km squares, with every single building accounted for. First, use the map on the BPDA 3D Smart Model site (link below) to find your tile. Then, head to our Collection of tiles (link below), look up the code ("J-9" for example), and download it straight away! We recommend using white PLA, a 0.2mm layer height, four top layers, two bottom layers, and some retraction to prevent stringing between buildings. If you'd like a set of printed and finished tiles, please get in touch with us for pricing. The geometry is in millimeters, so if you print it as-is, you'll get a 100x100mm (4"x4") tile at 1:10000 scale. At this scale, all of Boston would be 6 feet high and 7.5 feet wide. If you print it at double the size, the model will be 1:5000 scale, with each tile measuring 200x200mm (8"x8"). If you printed every single tile, the resulting map would be 12.5 feet high and 15 feet wide! This project is being done by CityPrint, and you can see their progress at the Boston Society for Architecture Space on Congress St. All models come with four cylindrical holes at the bottom - these will perfectly fit 6mm diameter, 1mm thick disc magnets when printed to size. We recommend gluing two or four Neodymium magnets into those spaces - each magnet costs around 20 cents from online retailers. Two magnets are enough for a strong grip on a refrigerator, while four provides an even better hold. Scuff the top (glued side) of the magnet with some sandpaper for better adhesion. If you print at 1:5000 scale, you'll need to use 12mm diameter by 2mm thick disc magnets. While the BPDA site already has 3D models of all the terrain and building geometry in various formats, none are ready to print yet. Those data contain gaps, holes, and overlaps that need fixing - we've done all that work so you don't have to! Just download and print any tile you want at home, or contact us for pricing. MiniCty offers detailed, professionally 3D printed cityscapes for dozens of US and world cities using even more detailed data than these tiles. Check out our website (link below) to see our work. This project wouldn't have happened without the freely-available data from the Boston Planning & Development Agency (provided without warranty), and support from Artists For Humanity. The work to prepare and post these tiles was done by Suleiman Hussein and MiniCty founder Mark Stock. [BPDA 3D Smart Model site](http://www.bostonplans.org/3d-data-maps/3d-smart-model/3d-data-download) [Thingiverse Collection of all Boston Tiles](https://www.thingiverse.com/minicty/collections/boston-city-tiles) [CityPrint project](https://www.architects.org/exhibitions/cityprint) [Boston Planning & Development Agency](http://www.bostonplans.org/) [Artists For Humanity](http://afhboston.org/) [MiniCty](http://minicty.com/) [MiniCty on Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/shop/MiniCty)