Varying levels of urban canopy parameterizations are frequently employed in atmospheric transport and dispersion codes in order to better account for the urban effect on the meteorology and diffusion. Many of these urban parameterizations need building-related parameters as input. Derivation of these building parameters has often relied on in situ 'measurements', a time-consuming and expensive process. Recently, 3D building databases have become more common for major cities worldwide and provide the hope of a more efficient route to obtaining building statistics. In this paper, we give an overview of computations we have performed for obtaining building morphological characteristics from 3D building databases for several southwestern US cities, including Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Phoenix
