Boston CityPrint D-7

thingiverse

Finally, you can download and 3D print the terrain and buildings for any part of Boston - or all of it! These 1km x 1km tiles cover the entire city, leaving no building unaccounted for. First, use the map at the BPDA's 3D Smart Model site (link below) to locate your tile. Then, head to our Collection of tiles (link below) and search for the code ("J-9" for example). Finally, just download and print! We recommend using white PLA, a 0.2mm layer height, four top layers, two bottom layers, and a little retraction to prevent stringing between buildings. Alternatively, if you'd like a set of printed and finished tiles, please contact us for pricing. The geometry is in millimeters, so printing it as-is will yield a 100x100mm (4"x4") tile at 1:10,000 scale. At this scale, all of Boston would be six feet high and seven and a half feet wide. If you print it at double size, the model will be 1:5,000 scale, and each tile will measure 200x200mm (8"x8"). If you printed every tile, the resulting map would be twelve and a half feet high and fifteen feet wide! In fact, this project is being done in collaboration with the CityPrint project, and you can see their progress at the Boston Society for Architecture Space at 290 Congress St. All models come with four cylindrical holes at the bottom. These will perfectly accept six millimeter diameter, one millimeter thick disc magnets when printed to original size. We recommend gluing two or four Neodymium magnets into those spaces - the magnets cost around twenty cents each from a variety of online retailers. Two will be enough to stick to a refrigerator, while four provides a nice, strong grip. Scuff the top (glued side) of the magnet with 100 grit sandpaper for better adhesion. Obviously, if you print the piece at 1:5,000 scale, you will need to use twelve millimeter diameter by two millimeter thick disc magnets. While the BPDA site already has 3D models of all the terrain and building geometry in various formats, none of those are ready for 3D printing. Those data contains gaps, holes, and overlaps that need to be cleaned up. 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 remarkably-detailed, professionally 3D printed cityscapes for dozens of US and world cities, using data far more detailed than what's in 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)