Boston CityPrint Q-3

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 not a single building unaccounted for. First, use the map at the BPDA 3D Smart Model site (link below) to find your tile, then head to our Collection of tiles (link below) and look for the code ("J-9" for example). Next, just download and print! We recommend using white PLA, a layer height of 0.2mm, 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 mm, so printing it as-is will yield 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 200% size, the model will be 1:5000 scale and each tile will measure 200x200mm (8"x8"). Printing every tile at this scale would result in a map that's 12.5 feet high and 15 feet wide! This project is being done by the CityPrint initiative, 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, which will perfectly accept 6mm diameter, 1mm thick disc magnets when printed to original size. We recommend gluing two or four Neodymium magnets into those spaces - the magnets cost around 20 cents each from various online retailers. Two magnets should be enough to stick to a refrigerator, while four provides a nice, strong grip. Scuffing the top (glued side) of the magnet with 100 grit sandpaper for better adhesion is also recommended. If you print the piece at 1:5000 scale, you will need to use 12mm diameter by 2mm thick disc magnets. The BPDA site already has 3D models of all terrain and building geometry in various formats, but none are ready to 3D print due to gaps, holes, and overlaps. We've cleaned up the data so you don't have to - just download and print any tile 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 web site (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)