I was recently alerted to a viral LinkedIn post as I was tagged in a comment by a Beyond Typicals user. Upon further inspection, I realized it was about a new Streetmix visualization tool called 3DStreet that will take the 2D visualization and convert it easily to 3D. While the execution varies from what is possible from Beyond Typicals, the end result is similar, which is why it was unsurprising that Beyond Typicals users started commenting on the post.
While 3DStreet has a nice aesthetic and is useful for the many that already use Streetmix on a regular basis, it isn’t a direct comparison to Beyond Typicals which can create 3D typical sections in real-time using photorealistic assets. Beyond Typicals also has a host of other features to make project design and visualization as easy and attractive as possible including phasing, section locking, hierarchy organization and more.
All that said, 3DStreet is a nice app that isn’t mean to compete with something like Beyond Typicals. 3DStreet is a free option (at least for now) while Beyond Typicals is a paid software package aimed at B2B customers including engineering firms and public agencies. Visually, Beyond Typicals will especially excel when V2 is released on November 1st.
All that said, it is wonderful to see the world appreciating the ease of transportation visualization in 3D using the host of efficient technologies that make this type of design and visualization as easy as possible.