Play Simulator
MicroScape is a free urban microclimate simulator that runs right in your web browser. It helps urban planners, landscape architects, and architects quickly see how building layout and ground materials affect wind, surface temperature, humidity, and thermal comfort during early-stage design. Set your site parameters, draw buildings and surface types, run the simulation, and view the results instantly in 2D or 3D. No software to install.
Use Cases
- Early design comparisons: test building layouts and the placement of green space and water features
- Paving and materials: see how asphalt, grass, trees, water, and other surfaces change surface temperature
- Teaching: help students understand how urban heat islands and wind patterns are connected
- Client communication: show design concepts visually to clients and stakeholders
How It Works: 5 Steps
- Set parameters: grid size, climate month, latitude and longitude, 24-hour temperature and humidity curves, wind speed, wind direction, and more
- Draw the map: place buildings and set their floor heights, or paint any of 12 surface types
- Calculate wind: the wind field is solved with the SOR iterative method (ω = 1.75, up to 800 iterations, convergence threshold 1e-6)
- Calculate microclimate: solar radiation, convective heat transfer, Penman-Monteith evapotranspiration, and longwave radiation combine to produce surface temperature, air temperature, humidity, and PET
- View results: switch between 2D and 3D views and data layers, and drag the time and height sliders to update the map instantly
Wind & Physics Model
- Wind: a potential flow model that solves the Laplace equation (∇²φ = 0) with the SOR method, with wind speed adjusted by a logarithmic wind profile based on surface roughness
- Solar radiation: sun elevation and azimuth are calculated from latitude, longitude, and time of day, with atmospheric transmittance adjusting the shortwave radiation reaching each grid cell
- Surface energy balance: absorbed radiation = convection + evapotranspiration + longwave radiation
- Vertical temperature gradient: approximated with exponential decay, exp(−h/5)
Data Layers
- Wind speed: color heat map with vector arrows showing flow direction and speed
- Surface temperature / air temperature: continuous color scale with a legend
- Humidity: relative humidity distribution, including the cooling effect of evaporation from plants and water
- Thermal comfort (PET): Physiological Equivalent Temperature, which combines wind, radiation, and humidity into one comfort index
- Time and height controls: a 0–23 hour time slider and a height slider, with legends that automatically match the current value range
2D / 3D Dual View
- 2D (D3.js SVG): colored grid cells with wind arrows for a fast overview of the entire site
- 3D (Three.js WebGL): building massing, trees, and wind arrows, with mouse or touch rotation
- Building height exaggeration from 1× to 10×, plus a live wind compass
- Automatic speed estimates (fast / medium / slow) based on grid size
