City Information Modeling Research Articles

Implementation of City Information Modeling (CIM) concepts in the process of management of the sewage system in Piumhi, Brazil

The municipality of Piumhi, Brazil, lives with sewage system problems. Currently the model used by the SAAE (local Water and Sewage Public Provider) only provides corrective actions. The combination of the concepts BIM and GIS will allow the movement towards the City Information Modeling, seen in a promising way for public management. The purpose of this research is to develop a management model for the sewage network that focus on preventive actions, allowing a decision-making process based on accurate information. Meetings were held with the municipal autarchy, enabling a diagnosis of the current situation and the determination of strategies for dices collect. 1731 wells were surveyed, with the following data collected: depths, geographic coordinates, diameter, pipe’s material and flow direction in each section. The wells in the sewage network were 1291 visible, 316 unseen and 64 non-precision coordinates. The wells in the sewage interceptors were 56 visible and 4 unseen wells. Due to the high percentage of unseen wells (18,5%) many alignments of the sewage network were no determined, what is recommended to be done as maintenance occurs in the existing infrastructure. A web management tool for QGis and tutorials will be, allowing SAAE to carry out the preventive management of the sewage network. The development of a reliable database will allow the identification of problems and the comparison of the conditions and characteristics of the existing networks, allowing the SAAE to define assertive actions to improve infrastructure performance and generate savings in financial resources, equipment and manpower.

A derivative-free optimization-based approach for detecting architectural symmetries from 3D point clouds

Symmetry is ubiquitous in architecture, across both time and place. Automated architectural symmetry detection (ASD) from a data source is not only an intriguing inquiry in its own right, but also a step towards creation of semantically rich building and city information models with applications in architectural design, construction management, heritage conservation, and smart city development. While recent advances in sensing technologies provide inexpensive yet high-quality architectural 3D point clouds, existing methods of ASD from these data sources suffer several weaknesses including noise sensitivity, inaccuracy, and high computational loads. This paper aims to develop a novel derivative-free optimization (DFO)-based approach for effective ASD. It does so by firstly transforming ASD into a nonlinear optimization problem involving architectural regularity and topology. An in-house ODAS (Optimization-based Detection of Architectural Symmetries) approach is then developed to solve the formulated problem using a set of state-of-the-art DFO algorithms. Efficiency, accuracy, and robustness of ODAS are gauged from the experimental results on nine sets of real-life architectural 3D point clouds, with the computational time for ASD from 1.4 million points only 3.7 s and increasing in a sheer logarithmic order against the number of points. The contributions of this paper are threefold. Firstly, formulating ASD as a nonlinear optimization problem constitutes a methodological innovation. Secondly, the provision of up-to-date, open source DFO algorithms allows benchmarking in the future development of free, fast, accurate, and robust approaches for ASD. Thirdly, the ODAS approach can be directly used to develop building and city information models for various value-added applications.

Automatic building information model reconstruction in high-density urban areas: Augmenting multi-source data with architectural knowledge

Abstract Many studies have been conducted to create building information models (BIMs) or city information models (CIMs) as the digital infrastructure to support various smart city programs. However, automatic generation of such models for high-density (HD) urban areas remains a challenge owing to (a) complex topographic conditions and noisy data irrelevant to the buildings, and (b) exponentially growing computational complexity when the task is reconstructing hundreds of buildings at an urban scale. This paper develops a method - multi-Source recTification of gEometric Primitives (mSTEP) - for automatic reconstruction of BIMs in HD urban areas. By retrieving building base, height, and footprint geodata from topographic maps, level of detail 1 (LoD1) BIMs representing buildings with flat roof configuration were first constructed. Geometric primitives were then detected from LiDAR point clouds and rectified using architectural knowledge about building geometries (e.g. a rooftop object would normally be in parallel with the outer edge of the roof). Finally, the rectified primitives were used to refine the LoD1 BIMs to LoD2, which show detailed geometric features of roofs and rooftop objects. A total of 1361 buildings located in a four square kilometer area of Hong Kong Island were selected as the subjects for this study. The evaluation results show that mSTEP is an efficient BIM reconstruction method that can significantly improve the level of automation and decrease the computation time. mSTEP is also well applicable to point clouds of various densities. The research is thus of profound significance; other cities and districts around the world can easily adopt mSTEP to reconstruct their own BIMs/CIMs to support their smart city programs.

Generic grammars for design domains

AbstractShape grammars have been developed to codify a specific type of artifact – Queen Anne houses, Buffalo bungalows – or the style of a particular designer – Andrea Palladio, Frank Lloyd Wright, or Álvaro Siza Vieira. However, these specific grammars fail to encode recurrent design moves or features that are above the particularities of a specific design style or the idiosyncrasies of a specific designer and, therefore, are common to a larger category of designs and maybe reutilized and incorporated in the definition of new, specific design languages. To overcome these limitations, the notion of generic grammars for defining design domains is introduced. Its application to the urban design domain is illustrated by showing a generic grammar implementation resulting in a City Information Modeling platform composed of a parametric design interface connected to a geographic database.

Building Materials, Ionizing Radiation and HBIM: A Case Study from Pompei (Italy)

This paper presents a different point of view on the conservation of the built heritage, adding ionizing radiation to the most well-known digital documentation dataset. Igneous building materials characterize most of the built heritage in the Campania region, and in a large part of southern Italy. The ionizing radiations proceeding from these materials can produce stochastic biological effects on the exposed living beings. The research team designed and tested a technical-scientific protocol to survey and analyse this natural phenomenon in association with the use of geological material for building purposes. Geographical Information Systems (GISs), City Information Modelling (CIM), and Building Information Modelling (BIM) are the digital tools used to manage the construction entities and their characteristics, and then to represent the thematic data as false-colour images. The emission spectra of fair-faced or plastered materials as a fingerprint of their nature is proposed as a non-invasive method. Due to both the huge presence of historical buildings and an intense touristic flow, the main square of Pompei has been selected as a study area.

Planners in the Future City: Using City Information Modelling to Support Planners as Market Actors

Recently, Adams and Tiesdell (2010), Tewdwr-Jones (2012) and Batty (2013) have outlined the importance of information and intelligence in relation to the mediation and management of land, property and urban consumers in the future city. Traditionally, the challenge for urban planners was the generation of meaningful and timely information. Today, the urban planners’ challenge is no longer the timely generation of urban data, rather, it is in relation to how so much information can be exploited and integrated successfully into contemporary spatial planning and governance. The paper investigates this challenge through a commentary on two City Information Modelling (CIM) case studies at Northumbria University, UK. This commentary is grouped around four key themes, <em>Accessibility and availability of data, accuracy and consistency of data, manageability of data </em>and<em> integration of data. </em>It is also designed to provoke discussion in relation to the exploitation and improvement of data modelling and visualisation in the urban planning discipline and to contribute to the literature in related fields. The paper concludes that the production of information, its use and modelling, can empower urban planners as they mediate and contest state-market relations in the city. However, its use should be circumspect as data alone does not guarantee delivery of a sustainable urban future, rather, emphasis and future research should be placed upon interpretation and use of data.

Greasing the wheels, or a spanner in the works? Permitting the adaptive re-use of redundant office buildings into residential use in England

This paper explores the challenges involved in planning the adaptation of the urban built environment. It approaches this subject by appraising a recently introduced national planning policy (the permission to convert office buildings into residential use without planning permission) in England. Drawing on interviews conducted with planning practitioners, it is possible to unravel the impact of this policy instrument at the coal face of the discipline. The office-to-residential conversion policy has removed the long-established process of local planning discretion in England in favour of a developer led planning policy. Consequently, there has been a tactical manipulation of additional planning tools, originally designed for other use, to re-exert influence at the local level by local planning authorities. Rather than greasing the wheels of office-to-residential conversion, the new policy has thrown a spanner in the works of a unique local planning process that was originally developed to manage urban change. The paper concludes by calling for local planners to reformulate their role in planning urban adaptation by reasserting their role as “market actors” through the development of city information models, the exploitation of professional communication networks and the transference of their own tacit knowledge.

DISCUTINDO CITY INFORMATION MODELING (CIM) E CONCEITOS CORRELATOS

<p>Este artigo discute o paradigma <em>City Information Modeling</em> (CIM) a partir de uma abordagem ampla, considerando um viés teórico e conceitual deste e de outros termos relacionados. O CIM tem sido apontado por alguns autores como uma extensão do conceito de BIM para o espaço urbano. Contudo, face às características da cidade em relação à edificação isolada<em> </em>e à profusão de conceitos ora em uso, algumas questões precisam ser aprofundadas. Estes conceitos estão intimamente relacionados, apresentando algum tipo de sobreposição, e talvez por isto, sejam confundidos. Assim, pretende-se ampliar a discussão sobre esses conceitos, contribuindo para a utilização dos mesmos e avançando no estabelecimento de uma conceituação e terminologias que facilitem o desenvolvimento das aplicações e a adoção das tecnologias nas práticas relativas ao planejamento, à gestão e ao monitoramento da cidade. Não e tem a pretensão de esgotar o tema, seja pela vastidão das questões envolvidas, seja ainda pelo reduzido espaço a para discussão das mesmas, mas principalmente, porque estas questões estão “em aberto”, sendo objeto de discussões e controvérsias. </p>

Generation of Open City Information Model for Disaster Prevention

Abstract Clear understanding and related information management of geography and city facilities are the fundamental approach to prevent city disaster. In order to accomplish the service to prevent city disaster effectively, there needs to be a consistent framework for data collection, to build models, and to manage information. In this study, the authors proposed standardized city information modeling process and application concept to use information model for service of preventing city disaster in information management standpoint. The study was conducted on the process of classification and necessary attributes to manage city facilities effectively considering disaster related information. Additionally, the study suggested the methods for building an open city information model based on an integrated data schema, CityGML. Finally, through the implementation of sample model, the study confirmed city information modeling methodology and applicability for service of disaster prevention.

A Land Use Planning Ontology: LBCS

Urban planning has a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and on the quality of life of their populations. Efficiency at this level has been hampered by the lack of integrated tools to adequately describe urban space in order to formulate appropriate design solutions. This paper describes an ontology called LBCS-OWL2 specifically developed to overcome this flaw, based on the Land Based Classification Standards (LBCS), a comprehensive and detailed land use standard to describe the different dimensions of urban space. The goal is to provide semantic and computer-readable land use descriptions of geo-referenced spatial data. This will help to make programming strategies available to those involved in the urban development process. There are several advantages to transferring a land use standard to an OWL2 land use ontology: it is modular, it can be shared and reused, it can be extended and data consistency maintained, and it is ready for integration, thereby supporting the interoperability of different urban planning applications. This standard is used as a basic structure for the “City Information Modelling” (CIM) model developed within a larger research project called City Induction, which aims to develop a tool for urban planning and design.