Space Syntax · Depthmap · Visibility Graph Analysis (VGA) tutorial

Download depthmap software:

http://archtech.gr/varoudis/depthmapX/

Simple online tutorial with dataset:

http://otp.spacesyntax.net/software-and-manuals/depthmap/building-spatial-model/

Remember that running space syntax analyses is an iterative process. Try

one design proposal. Run analysis. Edit footprint. Re-run analysis…

This tutorial has 6 steps.

Step 1. Create Depthmap file

Step 2. Create visibility graph
Step 3. Fill grid
Step 4. Analyse visibility graph
Step 5. Look at results
Step 6. Export figures
Step 7. Additional analyses

Appendix:
What do space syntax measures mean
Using Depthmap: General tips & shortcuts

By Beatrix Emo: b.emo@gess.ethz.ch

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Step 1. Create Depthmap file

à Prepare a building footprint plan

Each building should be a closed polygon

Put a boundary line around your footprint: the visibility analysis will include
areas inside the boundary line. Keeping the boundary line as small as possible
will mean the analysis will run faster.

Decide whether you want to have an analysis that measures:

- accessibility ie. canals are treated as buildings. This makes sense if you are
investigating how people will move around your plan OR
- visibility ie. canals are treated as open space. This makes sense if you are
interested if visibility relationships only.
You can of course run both analyses! This requires importing 2 different dxf
plans.

TIP: Make sure you have set the correct units on your CAD file, as depthmap
uses the same units.

TIP: If any of the polygons are not closed, the visibility analysis will not
recognise the boundary and will compute it as open. This is very easy to see
once you “fill the grid” in step 3.

à Export footprint as .dxf

à Import .dxf into Depthmap

Open Depthmap
File-New (always!)
Map-Import

You have now imported the .dxf into Depthmap and should see the footprint
on the main window (“Map view”).

TIP: If depthmap crashes when you try and import your dxf, it may have too
many classes/layers. You can test whether this is the case by opening a
simple dxf (eg the one in the online tutorial mentioned at top of page) and
make sure that a simple dxf file can be imported without problems.

à Save .graph file

File-Save.

You have now created a .graph file with your footprint.

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Step 2. Create visibility graph

à Create visibility graph

Tools-Visibility-Set grid
The “Set grid properties” window pops up

Choose an appropriate grid

The grid spacing that is offered by default is one that will compute quickly.
However it is often too coarse for presentation.

TIP: Choose the default grid spacing to begin with, run the analysis, then
decide how fine you want your grid spacing to be.

“OK”

You have now created a visibility graph.

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Step 3: Fill the grid

à Fill the grid

Click the fill icon in toolbar. Click on the space to be analysed.

The space to be analysed goes grey.

Note that, depending on your project, you might have to connect parts of your project
that are otherwise disconnected. You can tell if this is the case, according to whether
you have to use the “fill” icon more than once to cover all the usable space in your
system. If you do, then you will need to link the spaces, so that the analysis treats the
system as one space (and not two). This will require an
additional step 3B:
- select the “link” icon
- click on a space on one side of the space to
be connected
- click on a space on the other side
- the 2 spaces should be connected with a green line
- if you want to delete 2 spaces that are connected with a green line, follow
the same procedure as above, only using the “unlink” tool instead

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Step 4: Analyse visibility graph

à Analyse visibility graph

Tools-Visibility-Run Visibility Graph Analysis.

Typically the below options are selected.

“OK”

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Step 5. Look at results
The analysis you ran now shows in the “Attributes” window, on the left hand side of
the screen. By clicking on each “Attribute”, the map view changes.

What do the attributes mean: see appendix

You might want to run:

Visual Integration HH
Visual step depth
Isovist analysis

Step 6. Export figure

Edit-Export screen.
This allows you to save the current view as an .eps or .svg file.

TIP: You want to change the background colour?

View-Background. Choose your colour (eg. white). Click “OK”. Then click
once anywhere on the screen.

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Step 7. Additional analyses

Visual step depth

You may also want to run additional analyses, such as
- Visual Step Depth
- Other forms of step depth

Select a pixel (you can also select a group of pixels by dragging across them with the
select arrow)

Tools-Visibility-Step depth-Visibility step

Figure. Example visual step depth

TIP: You want to change the colour scheme?

Go to: Window-Colour range. You might want to reverse the sliders, so that
spaces that are close to the highlighted location are red.

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Step 7. Additional analyses (cntd.)

Isovist analysis
You may also want to compute individual isovists for relevant places.

Select the isovist button from the toolbar (looks like yellow flower)

Choose whether you want to compute a full or partial isovist

(I recommend 360 degree isovist)

Figure. Example isovist

Note that you can compute overlapping isovists for multiple locations. These are then
shown in different colours on the screen

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Appendix: What do space syntax measures mean?

Choose your analysis to match your question.

A Visibility Graph Analysis (VGA) will tell you something about visibility
relationships between spaces in your project.

Visual Integration HH tells you how visually connected all spaces are in the
footprint.

Visual step depth tells you how many ‘steps’ it takes to cover the entire area,
where the ‘steps’ are measured by how far you can see. (Note you can also compute
step depth according to metric and angular displacement).

An Isovist gives you a 2D polygon corresponding to the viewshed at that given point.
This is relevant for an in-depth exploration of a specific location.

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Appendix: Using Depthmap: General tips & shortcuts

o Use a mouse with a scroller (the zoom function does not work so well with a
Mac mouse)

o Right-click to pan/drag

o Hover over a line to see the value of the parameter.

o File menu greyed out? Make sure the “Map view” window is selected. (The
“Map view” window can become de-selected when you switch back to
Depthmap from a different programme)

o Depthmap crashes when you import dxf? Test a simpe dxf to make sure you
have downloaded depthmap correctly (eg. simple axial dataset in online
tutorial). If that opens fine, reduce the complexity (eg. try removing excess
layers/classes/size) of the dxf you are trying to import.

o Many shortcuts common for other drawing software aren’t available for
Depthmap running on iOS.

o Change colour scheme using Window-Colour range. Try Equal range and
Depthmap Classic. “Apply all” selects the same colour range for all the
analysis (it is important to export graphics that have a consistent colour
scheme!).

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