3D Spatial Data Infrastructure Research Articles

SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE (SDI) IN OMAN AND QATAR – CURRENT STATUS AND PERSPECTIVES

Abstract. Urban infrastructure deals with various objects, such as multi-floor buildings, underground utilities, and other typical two-dimensional (2D) geographic information system (GIS) objects. Currently, Oman and Qatar authorities attempt to manage and handle all these spatial objects and features via spatial data infrastructure (SDI). Qatar has a long tradition of applying SDI, while Oman has made rapid progress in building SDI according to the current practices in this field. Governments in both countries work toward smart cities and e-government to meet the fourth industrial revolution requirements. Current literature, indicate that SDI could be considered a major building block for such smart initiatives in the near future. This paper describes the status and challenges of developing SDI (including 3D SDI) for Oman and Qatar. We anticipated these 2D and 3D SDI initiatives would eventually provide future direction for the smart city and e-government. The current status and challenges form major discussions of this paper. It also discusses 3D SDI development. This paper ends by describing a framework for implementing the 3D SDI. The outcomes could significantly improve the awareness for developing 3D SDI in Oman and Qatar.

TURNING 3D DATA SURVEYS OF INTERTIDAL ZONES INTO NEW MODES OF 3D VISUALIZATION, SIMULATION AND SPATIAL INTERFACE EXPERIENCES

Abstract. This paper reports on Intertidal – a collaborative project to demonstrate integrated workflows to 3D spatial data infrastructure (SDI), simulations and geovisual interfaces - as integrated approaches to support the 3D characterization of coastal morphology, intertidal dynamics, potential sea level rise, and mitigation responses to them. Specifically, this project emphasized the potential of emerging 3D data, new analytical visualization methods, and emerging 3D interface technologies as ingredients of emerging and future environmental data science and visualization practice of coastal/intertidal environments.

INTEGRATION BETWEEN SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE SPATIAL OBJECTS FOR DEVELOPING OMAN 3D SDI BASED ON THE CITYGML STANDARD

Abstract. The paper investigates the capability to integrate the surface and subsurface 3D spatial objects data structure within the 3D spatial data infrastructure (3D SDI) based on the CityGML standards. In fact, a number of countries around the world have started applying the 3D city models for their planning and infrastructure management. While others are still working toward 3D SDI by using CityGML standards. Moreover, most of these initiatives focus on the surface spatial objects with less interest to model subsurface spatial objects. However, dealing with 3D SDI requires both surface and subsurface spatial objects with clear consideration on the issues and challenges in terms of the data structure. On the other hand, the study has used geospatial tools and databases such as FME, PostgreSQL-PostGIS, and 3D City Database to generate the 3D model and to test the capability for integrating the surface and subsurface 3D spatial objects data structure within the 3D SDI. This paper concludes by describing a framework that aims to integrate surface and subsurface 3D geospatial objects data structure in Oman SDI. The authors believe that there are possible solutions based on CityGML standards for surface and subsurface 3D spatial objects. Moreover, solving the issues in data structure can establish a better vision and open new avenues for the 3D SDI.

DEVELOPMENT OF A FRAMEWORK FOR IMPLEMENTING 3D SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE IN OMAN – ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

Abstract. The paper reviews that there are several issues and challenges in order to implement full 2D and 3D Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) in Oman. The state of current 2D SDI and 3D geospatial data has been investigated. Currently, Oman has made noticeable progress in 2D SDI but not yet in 3D domain. To date, there are no serious efforts and initiatives by the authority to materialize the 3D SDI. This paper ends by describing a framework for implementing the 3D SDI. We expect, these issues and challenges of 3D SDI in Oman can prompt better services for several potential users.

3DCityDB - a 3D geodatabase solution for the management, analysis, and visualization of semantic 3D city models based on CityGML

Over the last decade, more and more cities and even countries worldwide are creating semantic 3D city models of their physical environment based on the international CityGML standard issued by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). CityGML is an open data model and XML-based data exchange format describing the most relevant urban and landscape objects along with their spatial and non-spatial attributes, relations, and their complex hierarchical structures in five levels of detail. 3D city models, which are structured according to CityGML, are often used for various complex GIS simulation and analysis tasks, which go far beyond pure 3D visualization. Due to the large size and complexity of the sometimes country-wide 3D geospatial data, the GIS software vendors and service providers face many challenges when building 3D spatial data infrastructures for realizing the efficient storage, analysis, management, interaction, and visualization of the 3D city models based on the CityGML standard. Hence, there has been strong demand for an open and comprehensive software solution that can provide full support of the aforementioned functionalities. The ‘3D City Database’ (3DCityDB) is a free 3D geo-database solution for CityGML-based 3D city models. 3DCityDB has been developed as an Open Source and platform-independent software suite to facilitate the development and deployment of 3D city model applications. The 3DCityDB software package consists of a database schema for spatially enhanced relational database management systems (ORACLE Spatial or PostgreSQL/PostGIS) with a set of database procedures and software tools allowing to import, manage, analyze, visualize, and export virtual 3D city models according to the CityGML standard. Within this paper, the software suite is illustrated and explained in detail with respect to the related technical implementations and the underlying conceptual software design. Moreover, the utilization of 3DCityDB in different projects and practical application fields are also presented in this paper.

3D STREAMING PROTOCOLS FOR SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE: A BRIEF REVIEW

Abstract. Web services utilizations in Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) have been well established and standardized by Open Geospatial 3D graphics rendering has been a topic of interest among scientific domain from both computer science and geospatial science. Different methods were proposed and discussed in these researches for different domains and applications. Each method provides advantages and trade-offs. Some methods proposed image based rendering for 3D graphics and ultimately. This paper attempts to discuss several techniques from past researches and attempts to propose another method inspired from these techniques, customized for 3D SDI its data workflow use cases.

A 3D spatial data infrastructure for Mapping the Via Appia

The use of 3D technologies in archaeology and architectural history has grown enormously. Nowadays, 3D technologies are used to record, present, analyse and reconstruct archaeological sites. Since the used tools mostly originate from other domains, the developments are characterised as technology-driven rather than methodology-driven. The recent trend of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and the technological improvements of digital infrastructures are changing this.This article presents the development of a 3D Spatial Data Infrastructure (3D SDI) that allows archaeology and historical architecture researchers to analyse complex sites. For the development of the 3D SDI, IT literacy levels of the users, reusability of the tooling and the advantages of using FOSS are taken into account. The 3D SDI was developed for Mapping the Via Appia. An interdisciplinary team of archaeology experts and engineers have developed tailor-made 3D solutions to enhance the analysis and exploration of the Via Appia.

PROPOSAL FOR A WEB ENCODING SERVICE (WES) FOR SPATIAL DATA TRANSACTIO

Abstract. Web services utilizations in Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) have been well established and standardized by Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Similar web services for 3D SDI are also being established in recent years, with extended capabilities to handle 3D spatial data. The increasing popularity of using City Geographic Markup Language (CityGML) for 3D city modelling applications leads to the needs for large spatial data handling for data delivery. This paper revisits the available web services in OGC Web Services (OWS), and propose the background concepts and requirements for encoding spatial data via Web Encoding Service (WES). Furthermore, the paper discusses the data flow of the encoder within web service, e.g. possible integration with Web Processing Service (WPS) or Web 3D Services (W3DS). The integration with available web service could be extended to other available web services for efficient handling of spatial data, especially 3D spatial data.

Application of schema-aware encoder-decoder in 3D city inventory management

The use cases of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) had been extensively discussed in various researches from disaster management, city inventory management and etc. The realization of spatial data sharing within national agencies and stakeholders is due to the formation of data standardizations for interoperability, and service oriented architecture (SOA). Extension of such technology could nevertheless be applied in three-dimensional (3D) spatial data sharing. However, certain issues need to be addressed and solved, such as visualization pipeline and analysis pipeline for 3D spatial data in SOA. This paper discusses existing 3D SDI frameworks, and how an efficient encoder-decoder coupling method could be one solution for analysis pipeline in which both geometric and semantic information should be present. The framework is then integrated into building inventory management and 3D bu0ildings are presented at client side for property tax appraisal exercise.

An Application Domain Extension to CityGML for immovable property taxation: A Turkish case study

It is generally acknowledged that immovable property taxes are one of the main revenue sources for local government. The literature emphasizes that the administration of property taxes needs well-developed inventories or registers that provide complete and accurate records of the taxed properties and their legal-economic attributes. This requirement is generally fulfilled by Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) in which the coordinate exchange and sharing of geo-spatial data is provided by separate registers/information systems such as: cadastral systems, building and address registers. Recently, the Open Geospatial Consortium presented a core component of a 3D SDI in the form of an international domain standard for representing, storing and exchanging 3D city models. The CityGML allows the semantic and 3D geometrical representation of physical objects but does not deal with the legal and administrative aspects of the city objects which are required for the process of property taxation. This paper outlines the development of an Application Domain Extension (ADE) for the immovable property taxation domain that expands the CityGML data model with the legal and administrative concepts defined in Turkish Law. The study shows that this ADE could be a 3D national data model for municipal information systems and facilitate a more efficient taxation process, as well as providing data for urban planning, facility management and other municipal services.

Scene Graph Based Approach for Interoperable Virtual Globes

In this paper, a concept for developing and setting up virtual globes is discussed, which is based on principles of interoperable 3D spatial data infrastructures. Open geospatial industry standards for data and web services are merged with computer graphics technology to create a global coherent framework for accessing and displaying 3D assets. The author discusses how the scene graph concept can be used in a Geoweb environment. The Web 3D Service (W3DS) interface is used for streaming data in a distributed web architecture. Using scene graph data structures for encoding, transmitting, and displaying city- and landscape models imposes new requirements to geospatial analysis. The support of transformations between coordinate reference systems is essential in this context. Scene graph transformations are described in detail including matrix calculations. X3D is discussed as potential exchange format. Experiments were conducted using freely available data of OpenStreetMap and SRTM.

점군집 데이터에 의한 3차원 객체도화의 자동화와 정확도

최근 공간정보 기술은 정확도와 효율성 측면에서 큰 발전을 이루어 왔다. 특히, 항공 레이저 스캐너로부터 획득한 점군집 데이터를 이용하여 3차원 공간정보를 획득할 수 있게 되었다. 다양한 3차원 공간 데이터 구축에 대한 연구는 국내외의 관심 분야이며, 객체 모델링은 가장 중요한 과정이다. 본 연구의 목적은 건물 모델링의 자동화 알고리즘 개발과 이를 검증할 수 있는 시뮬레이션 데이터의 생성이다. 시뮬레이션 데이터는 건물의 다양성을 고려하여 경사형, 피라미드형, 돔형, 복합 다각형과 같은 여러 복잡한 형태의 지붕으로 구성된 객체이다. 이 논문에서는 면교차점(Model key point) 결정을 통한 자동 건물 모델링을 위하여 지붕면 패치를 기하학적 특징을 기반으로 분할하였다. 실험 결과로부터 분할된 면들은 최적의 수학적 함수에 의해 모델링 되며, 객체를 구성하는 면교차점들을 추출할 수 있었고, 인공지물에 대한 수치도화 제작을 위한3차원 도화가 가능하였다. Recent spatial information technology has brought innovative improvement in both efficiency and accuracy. Especially, airborne LiDAR system(ALS) is one of the practical sensors to obtain 3D spatial information. Constructing reliable 3D spatial data infrastructure is world wide issue and most of the significant tasks involved with modeling manmade objects. This study aims to create a test data set for developing automatic building modeling methods by simulating point cloud data. The data simulates various roof types including gable, pyramid, dome, and combined polyhedron shapes. In this study, a robust bottom-up method to segment surface patches was proposed for generating building models automatically by determining model key points of the objects. The results show that building roofs composed of the segmented patches could be modeled by appropriate mathematical functions and the model key points. Thus, 3D digitizing man made objects could be automated for digital mapping purpose.

Towards a National 3D Spatial Data Infrastructure: Case of The Netherlands

comers. Much relevant knowledge is only available at data providers and software vendors level which make it difficult to get an independent advice. On the other hand, the demand is not always clear which makes it hard for data providers and software vendors to offer demand-oriented products and services. Despite the slow progress of 3D in practice, it is clear that 3D applications are important and will become even more important in the near future. The world is 3D and consequently a 3D approach has better potentials for managing and planning public spaces (for example

Generating web-based 3D City Models from OpenStreetMap: The current situation in Germany

This paper investigates the prospects for the generation of interactive 3D City Models based on free geo-data available from the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project and public domain height information provided by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. In particular, the suitability and quality of the OpenStreetMap data for 3D visualizations of traffic infrastructure, buildings and points of interest (POIs) is reviewed. The diversity and quantity of the points of interest provide new opportunities and challenges in creating customized and detailed visualization of cities. Specialized web services were implemented to filter and display the data in an acceptable manner. All applied web services of the 3D spatial data infrastructure are based on standards and draft specifications of the open geospatial consortium (OGC). The service is available online at www.osm-3d.org.

Extending the OGC OpenLS Route Service to 3D for an interoperable realisation of 3D focus maps with landmarks

Landmarks and focus maps can play an important role by supporting users in route finding and navigation. This article shows one possible solution for generating focus-based maps with landmarks by only using OGC® web service standards. The aim is to increase technical interoperability of implementation of location-based services or navigation applications. The techniques for choosing specific landmarks and generating the focus maps are shortly presented and their functionality is explained. For this we explain the concepts of both landmarks and focus maps. Also the relevant technologies from 3D spatial data infrastructures, (3D-) symbol encoding (SE) for representing visualisation rules in 2D and 3D and the OGC OpenLS specifications are introduced briefly. The OpenLS core services implemented by ourselves and the first applications of these are discussed. The integration of the landmarks to the route instructions of the OpenLS Route Service happens during the route calculating algorithm without adding extra attributes or new elements to the standardised service interface. The generation of the focus-based maps is realised in similar ways for 2D and 3D using the (extended) SE. In 2D the realisation is based on our implementation of an OpenLS Presentation Service. In 3D our Web3D Service has been extended accordingly. The article ends with an outlook on ideas for future deployment and research.