Portland | 3D Cities

Keep Portland Weird

Named after a best-out-of-three coin toss between land-owners from Portland, Maine, and Boston, this city grew over the next 170 years to become a home for folks who are a little...different. This difference has attracted civic-minded and environmentally-conscious residents, leading to innovative urban planning and a very walkable and cosmopolitan city. A possibly unintended result is that Portland is now very expensive, due to it becoming a highly desirable place to live and work.

How do we make such hyper-detailed models of these cities? It starts with open source data, in this case airborne laser scans from a variety of projects, most recently 2014. These get merged and carefully cleaned up to generate 3D printable models of each city. Our 1:10000 scale model of Portland measures 8" on a side, and covers much of the downtown area. It includes a section of the Willamette River from the Marquam Bridge downstream to the Burnside Bridge (larger models include the Steel Bridge and Oregon Convention Center). On the west side the 8" piece contains the 405 and part of Providence Park stadium. On the southern boundary is SW Lincoln St, and the top is NW Flanders. The print includes almost all of the tallest buildings, including the 546-foot Wells Fargo Center, but is missing the more-recent 460-foot Park Avenue West. We'll update our models as new data becomes available.

While our 8”x8” MiniCty models are standard, we also offer a variety of larger sizes to satisfy any desire. Sizes include 12”, 16”, 24”, 30”, 36”, up to a wall-covering 54”x54”. As the prints get larger, the buildings get bigger and the detail increases! But you get a lot more than simply buildings from MiniCty - you get every tree, bus, hill, park, bridge, and detail, and the largest prints include every car, fence, chimney, spire, and shrub! Check out the shop for prices, and ask us if you don’t see the size you want. We do custom work as well!

Banner photo by Eric Baetscher, CC S-A 3.0.