In this tutorial you will learn how to quickly set up and run environmental simulations on your projects. Here, we want to go through the full process and get a first overview of how to add and run environmental analysis to your project.

In a more detailed tutorial, we will go deep into how to identify the right simulation scenarios, and what to look for in the results.

Step 1: Edit the Site Context

After setting the location and site, the next step is to prepare the context for your simulations.

On the map, you can orbit by holding the right mouse button and zoom with the scroll wheel or with a double click. You can pan across the view directly with the left mouse button.

Infrared.city allows you to directly perform essential edits on geometry models directly on the web. To enable editing, click on the pencil icon. On mouse hover, editable objects are displayed in a distinct color, making it easy to identify what can be modified.

You can also:

• Toggle map detail to show or hide street names and other contextual layers
• Toggle analysis area to display or hide the analysis boundary
• Switch between standard and satellite views
• Upload your own 3D models into the environment
• Save snapshots to capture simulation results

On the bottom right corner of the map interface, you will find a set of navigation tools designed to help you control your view efficiently. North Orientation lets you quickly rotate the map so that north faces up, while Reset Camera returns your scene to the default view and zoom level. You can use Save View to store your current camera angle and position for later, and Load View to instantly return to any saved viewpoint. The Set Perpendicular Pitch tool switches the camera to a straight top-down view, ideal for precise spatial analysis, whereas Set Normal Pitch restores the default angled perspective for a more natural 3D experience.

Step 2: Set Up Simulations

Once the context is ready, navigate to the Simulations Dashboard. This is where you define parameters and review results.

Click Add Simulations to access the menu of available simulations and select from the dropdown list to add the desired simulation scenarios.

You can set up multiple analysis with different parameters to run at the same time.

Simulation models available

• Wind Speed Analysis: Simulates airflow speed patterns at pedestrian level. By customizing the input direction and speed, you can evaluate the effects of specific wind scenarios.
• Pedestrian Wind Comfort: Evaluates how wind conditions around buildings and public spaces affect pedestrian comfort and safety. It calculates wind speeds at pedestrian height and compares them against comfort criteria, such as the Lawson standard, to classify areas as comfortable, breezy, or potentially unsafe. This helps designers identify zones where wind mitigation measures may be needed to improve outdoor usability and safety.
• Thermal Comfort Index: Evaluates outdoor temperature conditions to assess how comfortable they are for people in urban environments. This index integrates multiple climate variables such as air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation to estimate the apparent temperature felt by the human body. It helps identify areas with potential heat or cold stress and supports climate-responsive design decisions.
• Thermal Comfort Statistics: Analyzes how often outdoor areas experience thermal conditions that may impact comfort or health. It calculates the percentage of time during selected seasons and hours when conditions fall into specific thermal categories, such as heat stress, cold stress, or general thermal comfort.

Simulation settings can be customized by adding the desired parameters.

Once you have added the desired simulations, press Run Simulations to generate the results.

When analyses have been completed, you can use the results dropdown to visualize each result and evaluate the KPI’s.

You can choose to run all simulations at once by clicking Run All Simulations, or run individual simulations by pressing the Play button for the selected scenario. If your selected analysis does not display any results, you may need to run simulation. In this case, you can press the Play button once the analysis is selected.

Step 3: Upload your design

On infrared.city you can upload designs generated on your usual design software. Besides using our plugin to connect directly your software to our solution, we also provide an easy upload option to add geometry from your device. We currently support a few geometry formats, .obj being a well known standard.

Our geometry interpreter will be able to correctly display and communicate geometry to our model even in edge cases where the design model presents: intersections, unmatched vertices, flipped faces, interior objects, etc.

In this example, we will use a design sample created in Rhino to understand the necessary settings.

Choose Export Selected, select the geometry.

You may need to make a quick adjustment to the export settings depending on the defaults of your software. For this, please check the options or advanced options settings on the export menu.

It is a common standard for web based geometry formats to use a different coordinate system than the real world coordinates system. In some cases, the .obj export default options will align the design to coordinates axis where Y represents the up direction and Z represents the depth dimension.

In infrared.city, we maintain consistency of coordinates throughout the web and software connectors, therefore we will map Y coordinates to Up direction on all platforms. Your .obj export must follow the real world coordinate system.

If required to select a polygon count, or a level of subdivision, you may need to preview and experiment with different levels to ensure a good balance between accuracy and file size.

infrared.city uses geometry optimization processes to ensure even large and complex geometries can be added to the web app, but a smaller file size will be faster to manage.

You can now upload the exported file using the Upload your 3D models button on the right toolbar.

Imported models are placed at the center by default. You can manually select the exact location for placement. If the orientation appears incorrect due to export axis settings, you can rotate the model accordingly.

To manually position your geometry, you can drag the red location icon on the map to the desired spot. This allows you to fine-tune the placement of your model for greater accuracy within the project area. Once you are satisfied with the location, click Upload Model at Defined Position to save your geometry precisely where you have placed it. This ensures that your design aligns correctly with the intended context in the web environment.

After loading your geometry into the project, you can further customize its placement and orientation by clicking the Edit button. This unlocks tools that allow you to move the geometry to a new location, rotate it for the correct alignment, or remove any existing buildings that might interfere with your design. These editing features give you full control to integrate your model precisely into the surrounding context.

Now you can run the simulation set, or use the play button on the left to re-run the active analysis.

Step 4: Analyze and Iterate

With your design in place, re-run the simulations to observe its effects on the site. If the results indicate areas of discomfort or other issues, you can make further edits to your design, upload alternate versions, and reassess.

For example, you can evaluate the wind speed distribution by filtering critical areas directly on the graph. By hovering over the graph, you’ll see the distribution and size of different value ranges highlighted on the map. For example, filtering by a wind speed range between 12.5 and 15 m/s reveals areas most affected by potentially dangerous wind gusts.

With the new design geometry added to the scene, the wind analysis reveals a red zone appearing in the corner of the building. This red area indicates that wind speeds in this location exceed 12.5 m/s, highlighting a potential hotspot for high wind conditions. The visualization helps identify critical zones where the new building configuration may be intensifying wind flow, allowing designers to assess possible comfort or safety issues and explore mitigation strategies if needed.

Through an iterative process, you can improve the performance and minimize any negative impacts of your design. From testing minor position and orientation adjustments, to testing different designs, infrared.city offers a streamlined process that makes it easy to prepare, simulate, and refine your projects. By following these steps, you can ensure efficient and data-driven environmental analysis tailored to your specific design goals.