Because stakeholders play an active role in the realization of a 3-D Model, communities and administrators both understand it easily. A relief model makes information tangible, eases communication, helps bridge language barriers and increases the potential of all stakeholders to deal within their constituencies as well as with central government and outsider institutions. Models and maps can be used as part of a larger communication strategy to foster legal and policy reform at the national level. Consensus surrounding a map gives legitimacy in political debates, in an open society. In the Philippines, maps and models produced for establishing Ancestral Domain Claims built public support for the passage of the Indigenous People's Rights Act in 1997.
Users can see and feel the contours of every mountain range and river valley.
Two-dimensional maps cannot match their impact and appeal. Compared to data appearing on a planimetric map, a relief model facilitates assimilation, interpretation and understanding. When dealing with remoter and extensive areas, P3-D models remove logistical constraints to public participation in land and resource use planning and management. Relief models allow stakeholders to get a first time factual perception of their location. For Collaborative Research Relief models facilitate selective pinpointing of resources, households and other features.