City Information Modeling Research Articles

CIM And CIM Platform Practical Use in China Review

City Information Modelling (CIM) is becoming an important base model of Smart City and Digital Twin City, which can realise intelligent city design and management. Lately, CIM has become the focuses of urban planning and design studies. Under the influence of building information model (BIM), smart city and three-dimensional city simulation, city-level information modelling, CIM connects different BIM levels integrates the spatial expression effect of GIS. This review introduces CIM development from using generating procedures, such as rules and typological processes, to analyse urban scenarios to form the city full information scene through the integration of BIM, GIS, and IoT. The paper also overviews the technical path of construction with CIM implementation, problems existing in the current practice of CIM technology, including all information of digital and lightweight data, scene fast calls and data standard uniformity, etc. Following the latest CIM progress, the paper puts forward some ways to realise the effective use of CIM in urban planning and design. The further review focuses on big data security, publicity, urban design element and CIM platform practical use in China.

City Information Modeling: State of the Art

The concept of city information modeling (CIM) has become increasingly popular in recent years. A literature review of previous CIM studies is presented in this paper. First, a bibliometric analysis of the current global CIM research is described, revealing that CIM has become a significant research hotspot. Next, three main research areas of the current CIM technique, namely data collection, integration, and visualization, are summarized to describe the characteristics of CIM research. Furthermore, some widely used CIM platforms are compared, and typical application cases of the CIM technique at different stages of the city life cycle are summarized. Finally, the current issues in CIM research are discussed, and future development directions are proposed. The findings of this study are expected to help researchers understand the current state of CIM and identify future development directions, thereby promoting CIM research development.

CIM in the context of smart cities: how the interoperability between BIM and SIG can assist the development of smart cities.

Nowadays, Smart Cities are one of the most debated and discussed subjects related to urban development. Various technological and innovative processes are being integrated into society’s everyday life, aiming at fulfilling the new demands for a sustainable growth that is led by the citizens, by and large. In this context, the infrastructure sector figures as one of the most important points to reach that goal. This paper seeks to study the applicability of the Building Information Modeling (BIM), and of the Geographic Information System (GIS) to Smart Cities, highlighting the main potentialities and challenges of the utilization of these processes. The study will be realized through a literature review of the most relevant works, focusing on the integration of technologies and placing the concepts of City Information Modeling (CIM) in the discussion. It is our understanding that the adoption of CIM concepts by city managers, and by the entire construction sector, could be an important step in the development of Smart Cities around the world.

3D Tree Reconstruction in Support of Urban Microclimate Simulation: A Comprehensive Literature Review

The negative climate change induced by rapid urbanization has become a global environmental issue. Numerous studies have been devoted to microclimate regulation functions performed by urban vegetation. Digital city information modeling provides a powerful tool for various simulations and data analytics for the sustainable development of urban areas. However, the method reconstructing urban trees is still in its early stage compared to the relatively mature building modeling. Most prior studies on tree reconstruction focused on retrieving geometric features, while other factors related to urban microclimate simulation were rarely addressed. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review and in-depth analysis covering two distinct research directions in relation to urban microclimate simulation. The first one is set on the identification of key factors related to trees’ impact on urban microclimate. The second one is dedicated to approaches for three-dimensional (3D) tree reconstruction. Based on the findings, the paper identifies information including trees’ geometric, physiological characteristics and relation to the surroundings required for 3D tree reconstruction in the context of urban microclimate simulation, and further assesses the potential of the 3D tree reconstruction approaches to accommodate these pieces of information. An appropriate 3D tree reconstruction approach, which allows for the supply of the required information for urban microclimate simulation, is recommended.

Selecting Optimal Combination of Data Channels for Semantic Segmentation in City Information Modelling (CIM)

Over the last decade, a 3D reconstruction technique has been developed to present the latest as-is information for various objects and build the city information models. Meanwhile, deep learning based approaches are employed to add semantic information to the models. Studies have proved that the accuracy of the model could be improved by combining multiple data channels (e.g., XYZ, Intensity, D, and RGB). Nevertheless, the redundant data channels in large-scale datasets may cause high computation cost and time during data processing. Few researchers have addressed the question of which combination of channels is optimal in terms of overall accuracy (OA) and mean intersection over union (mIoU). Therefore, a framework is proposed to explore an efficient data fusion approach for semantic segmentation by selecting an optimal combination of data channels. In the framework, a total of 13 channel combinations are investigated to pre-process data and the encoder-to-decoder structure is utilized for network permutations. A case study is carried out to investigate the efficiency of the proposed approach by adopting a city-level benchmark dataset and applying nine networks. It is found that the combination of IRGB channels provide the best OA performance, while IRGBD channels provide the best mIoU performance.

3D Variables Requirements for Property Valuation Modeling Based on the Integration of BIM and CIM

The growing rate of urbanization and vertical urban development has aroused the significance of geo-related variables for property units disposed vertically within the same building. Among these, 3D indoor physical and outdoor environmental variables are impacting the property value for each building unit. However, in the literature, the identified 3D variables, by using hedonic pricing models (HPM) for property valuation, are mainly restricted to 3D visualization. Their use in 3D simulation for an accurate evaluation of the property value is still limited. Furthermore, their value is often defined for a specific valuation purpose (e.g., taxation). This paper aims to investigate 3D variables with a significant impact on property value, to combine them with 3D technical requirements and to be integrated in a future valuation model. Moreover, their 3D spatial and non-spatial elements are analyzed to identify which variables can be provided from 3D city models and building scale elements. To accomplish this, the potential of 3D building information modeling (BIM) and city information modeling (CIM) in property valuation is examined. From indoors; BIM/IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) models are the main data sources for structural and living quality variables. While from outdoors, environmental variables and the surrounding building’s information are provided from 3D city models (CityGML).

Research on the Construction of City Information Modelling Basic Platform Based on Multi-source Data

The construction of city information modelling (CIM) is of great significance for the formation of a new smart city. In this paper, on account of UAV tilt photography, BIM model, Internet of things traffic data, to build a CIM platform under multi-source data, a pilot study was carried out in Tiexi New City. The development platform of Terraexplorer Pro based on the Skyline system is combined with the main technical support of BIM, GIS, and IOT to construct CIM. Its purpose is to achieve static and dynamic, ground and underground, indoor and outdoor integration, and provide prospects for future urban evolution. This study can contribute a reference for other CIM planning, and equip an effective scheme for smart city system planning and urban governance.

Compacting the city centre: densification in two Newcastles

The compact city and the associated process of densification have attained almost hegemonic status as a sustainable urban form. Seeking to counteract the negative impacts of sprawl, urban densification has usually focused on areas beyond the city centre. However, a renewed attraction of the urban core is altering patterns at a time when other trends, including the decline of retailing and commercial activity, are also changing demands for space in the city centre. This paper investigates different approaches to the use of urban densification as part of strategies for the regeneration of the city centre. Drawing on two case studies—Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK and Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia—it considers the different mechanisms by which city authorities and their development partners are seeking to densify the city centre, and examines the tensions created by the process in these two contexts. In addition to document analysis, data are derived from symposia based in both cities as part of the future of the city centre project led by the authors. Contributors included representatives from local government, non-government organisations, business and community groups. The outcome is an appraisal of contrasting approaches to the densification of city centres. Policy relevance Coherence of city form and consistency throughout the city centre are important objectives, and great differences in density disturb this unity. The city centre is not a project, but a continuous process. Thus, it benefits from fine grain developments on the principle of a rich built environment being generated through small contributions by numbers of people over time. A concept is proposed that densification has positive outcomes up to a point at which negative effects begin to occur. Density is readily measured, but the question remains where the balance point is for each city. There is also a notion that negative impacts may occur before a stipulated density is realised. Support is needed to develop a virtual city model for all cities, and funding to advance city information modelling for all aspects of sustainability, to encourage optimum levels of densification to be achieved.

Semantic enrichment of building and city information models: A ten-year review

Building Information Models (BIMs) and City Information Models (CIMs) have flourished in building and urban studies independently over the past decade. Semantic enrichment is an indispensable process that adds new semantics such as geometric, non-geometric, and topological information into existing BIMs or CIMs to enable multidisciplinary applications in fields such as construction management, geoinformatics, and urban planning. These two paths are now coming to a juncture for integration and juxtaposition. However, a critical review of the semantic enrichment of BIM and CIM is missing in the literature. This research aims to probe into semantic enrichment by comparing its similarities and differences between BIM and CIM over a ten-year time span. The research methods include establishing a uniform conceptual model, and sourcing and analyzing 44 pertinent cases in the literature. The findings plot the terminologies, methods, scopes, and trends for the semantic enrichment approaches in the two domains. With the increasing availability of data sources, algorithms, and computing power, they cross the border to enter each other’s domain. Future research will likely gain new momentums from the demands of value-added applications, development of remote sensing devices, intelligent data processing algorithms, interoperability between BIM and CIM software platforms, and emerging technologies such as big data analytics.

Цифровая параметрическая градостроительная документация

Research in the field of digital technologies in the context of an open relationship with the enveloping society has attracted significant attention. An exploratory study into creating and developing a paramet-ric online model of urban planning documentation is presented. It includes a general urban plan, rules for land use and development, area planning with the possibility to assess the impact of new site de-velopment on life in the city and the structure of the urban environment. The research technique in-cluded an analysis of the existing methods for introducing new technologies to urban planning and ur-ban studies, which allowed extensive analytical data on the use of the territory and the major technical and economic performance of site development to be obtained. An assessment of existing materials in the city information modelling and the possibility of introducing innovations in urban planning is ad-dressed. We determined the major problems of existing programmes and documents regulating rela-tions between developers and people participating in the city life and creating the urban environment. The research findings include the theory of establishing a platform to regulate the development and related algorithms that utilise parameters embedded in the online model to forecast alternative organi-sation of a city in terms of urban planning documentation. The relevance of the parametric online mod-el for urban planning documentation lies in its versatility. The transparency of all processes related to establishing an urban environment will provide a new background for designers, management struc-tures and the city as a whole.

Structure of CIM methodology for information modeling of the urban environment based on the integration of BIM and GIS technologies

The article considers a solution of the problem of information modeling urban environment. The structure of the components of the CIM (City Information Modeling) methodology is proposed. The model of integration of BIM (Building Information Modeling) and GIS (Geographic Information System) technologies for development of the unified CIM standard which should become a basis of the integrated information platform of the commom data for modeling of the urban environment is presented. Figs.: 5. Refs.: 15 titles.Keywords: CIM; BIM; GIS; integrated information platform; modeling of the urban environment.

Viewpoint: City Information Modelling (CIM) and Digitizing Urban Design Practices

New developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital ubiquity bring revelations of emerging smart cities. However, urban designers are particularly reluctant to become digital and use software that automatically generates cities. Instead, they return to traditional design skills such as creating scale models, sketching, notations and drafting. There is an increasing advocacy for design to a human scale, placemaking and liveable cities. This viewpoint asks questions about the application of AI and generative algorithms in digitizing urban design practices. It reflects on the possibilities of conjoining urban morphology and design theory into City Information Modelling (CIM) as a new digital tool for urban designers and reveals challenges in the ongoing development of new CIM software. Urban designers work within intricate design worlds with toolboxes that consist of customized design elements and symbologies. The design worlds consist of elements, rules and patterns and they act as holding environments for their unique diagrammatic design knowledge. CIM and AI should understand design worlds with customized toolboxes and provide help to automate repetitive behaviour patterns while designing.

City Information Modelling: A Conceptual Framework for Research and Practice in Digital Urban Planning

The digitalization of the urban development process is driven by the need for informed, evidence-based, collaborative and participative urban planning and decision-making, epitomized in the concept of Smart Cities. This digital transformation is enabled by information technology developments in fields such as 3D city models, Digital Twins, Urban Analytics and Informatics, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Planning Support Systems (PSS). In this context, City Information Modelling (CIM) has recently emerged as a concept related to these various technological driving forces. In this article, we review the state of the art of CIM (definitions and applications) in the academic literature and propose a definition and a general conceptual framework. By highlighting how the different disciplines are related to each other within this conceptual framework, we offer a context for transdisciplinary work, and focus on integration challenges, for research and development, both in academia and industry. This will contribute to moving forward the debate on digitalization of the built environment development process in the field of Smart Cities.

City Information Modeling – an expedient tool for developing sustainable, responsive and resilient cities?

When initiating a property development project, an extensive amount of information has to be collected and evaluated to derive a development concept that can meet the needs, requirements and demands prevailing in the given urban context. This data is commonly gathered via desktop research and is usually not comprehensive enough to depict the whole picture. The same is true for information on development restrictions, design principles to encourage sustainable behavior of city dwellers, and information on the surrounding built environment to foster local synergies. On the building level, Building Information Modeling (BIM) has proven to be a useful tool to overcome these problems of incomplete and disjointed information and requirements. In recent years, an effort has been made to apply the principles of BIM to the city level and establish City Information Modeling (CIM) as a crucial analysis and planning tool for the sustainable cities of tomorrow. The research questions are thus: Which data sets should be included for CIM to become an expedient tool for urban development? What requirements must CIM meet? And what added value can CIM offer to all involved parties? First results indicate that CIM can contribute to the development of responsive and resilient cities, covering numerous sustainability goals.

City Information Modeling (CIM) concepts applied to the management of the sewage network

To solve challenges in management of sewage infrastructure in cities with the same features of Piumhi, Brazil, this research seeks to study a method of work for the management sewage system that aims, based on accurate information, to act in a preventive way and increase the quality of the decision making as the city growths and new projects areas are occupied and to prioritize investments. Strategies for the field survey for the diagnosis of the collectors and interceptors and for wells’ information collect were stablished through meetings with the local autarchy SAAE (Water and Sewage Public Provider). A computational tool, based on Python codes, was developed to facilitate the input of georeferenced data into the QGis software. Tutorials of preventive management and contracting and supervision of future projects to the sewage network were also developed. The information obtained from the survey of the wells showed several barriers arising from the corrective management model adopted previously by SAAE and from ignorance of the population about the operation of the sewage network. During the network mapping, several stretches missing were found, some of them were corrected based on the analysis of the topography and of the wells upstream and downstream. The tool developed allows that any server of the autarchy gets access to the information about the operation of the system. Besides it allows the identification of problems and compares them to the conditions and features of the existing network, enables the definition of strategies of preventive actions and improvement of infrastructure from a historical assessment. The registration of the sewage network allowed match GIS tools and the BIM concepts, innovating the management process, improving the attendance to the population, increasing the quality of life and seeking a sustainable model that might be used by other public managers, walking towards the concept City Information Modeling.

A Novel HDF‐Based Data Compression and Integration Approach to Support BIM‐GIS Practical Applications

Constructing a fully mapped virtual world is the premise of establishing the digital twin system; thus, the integration of BIM (Building Information Modeling) and GIS (Geographic Information System) constitutes a fundamental part of the mature digital twin. Although quite a few theoretical unified data models of BIM and GIS integration have been presented in precedent research, the practical web‐based applications and software support for real‐world city information modeling are still difficult to achieve. One of the challenges is storage inefficiency. It thence leads to burdens in exchange and analysis, which hugely impede the realization of virtual‐real fusion. To address that issue, in this research, we contribute to exploring an HDF‐ (Hierarchical Data Format‐) based, innovative, and synthesized scheme with three significant technical processes. First, data reorganization trims the original data with efficient redundancy elimination and reordering for IFC‐SPF (IFC STEP Physical File) and XML‐encoded CityGML (City Geography Markup Language). Next, bidirectional transformation methods for BIM and GIS modeling data, images, and analytical data into HDF are proposed. They retain the entities and relationships in modeling data and can further improve the compactness and accessibility by ultimately 60%–80% which saves 497,612 KB from 565,152 KB in the test of ZhongChun transformation substation. Finally, data aggregation enhances the bond of the integrated model and heterogeneous data resources from the transformed HDF files. The case studies show that the approach proposed in this paper could reach high efficiency for practicability of the BIM + GIS integration model. This light‐weight integration method can further improve the front‐end service responsiveness in digital twin applications.

City Information Modeling: The System Approach for Formation Requirement in Spatial Development

Abstract The article discusses a systematic approach to modeling the requirements of citizens to the urban environment. An approach based on the traditional methodology of systems analysis in the subject area of ​​urban environment management, adapted for human. Modern approaches to creating a comfortable urban environment involve the needs of citizens. At the same time, in the absence of a methodological basis for determining the conditions of different social groups’ representatives and people in different life situations, there is often discrimination. The reasons of it in the urban environment lie in the orientation towards the most frequently used social groups of the citizen. This is the lack of a developed methodological base for modeling and identifying the requirements of citizen. It forces city managers, designers, and architects to focus on the subjective opinion about the quality of the urban environment. The proposed model of the citizens’ requirements in the urban environment is a framework for describing the values, services and functions of the city in a systematic way. Subsequently it makes possible to simplify the pre-project studies of the territory on the one hand and more accurately assess the quality of the urban environment on the other. For clarity, the description of a systematic approach to the decomposition of urban territory and the formation of requirements for its development are carried out on the example of a specific territory in St. Petersburg.

Monte Carlo based Algorithm for Scoring Grid Systems

We evaluate Monte Carlo based algorithm for scoring grid systems. The former were used to describe features of the area under study. This was done to select suitable features for City Information Modelling. These algorithms measures path of shortest distance. However, shortest distance does not always ensures shortest time. The algorithm works by pairing multiple iterations of two random numbers in a polygon. The mean of shortest path between these points is calculated. Thus grid systems with shorter paths will return a lower value as compared to grid systems with longer paths. This was applied to GIS systems in urban planning to rate the feasibility of different grid systems. It is a heuristic algorithm that tells us to about the nature of grid system. Instead of measuring the geometry of every path in a grid it eases the workflow of an urban planner by automation.

Modelagem de Informação da Cidade (CIM) e suas potencialidades para gestão da manutenção urbana de Curitiba

Tecnologias de maior eficiência para planejamento e gestão urbana são de grande interesse para instituições e órgãos públicos. Diante desta tendência a Modelagem de Informação da Cidade (CIM) surge como sofisticada plataforma de trabalho, permitindo que profissionais colaborem em projetos e informações da cidade atraves de um modelo 3D paramétrico. Neste conceito definiu-se por uma pesquisa bibliográfica qualitativa, visando explorar a ferramenta, suas especificidades e os inovadores conceitos de parametrização, com foco nas potencialidades de aplicação no planejamento e gestão urbana de Curitiba. Verificou-se o potencial prático do CIM, através da estruturação de um modelo tridimensional organizado, alimentado em camadas e de forma colaborativa podendo se tornar agente centralizador de informações. O artigo contribui para o entendimento da tecnologia e suas possibilidades, que poderiam agregar ao planejamento de ações de intervenção urbana, o acesso a informações técnicas auxiliandoem melhores análises quanto a potencialidadese interferências.

The Importance of City Information Modeling (CIM) for Cities’ Sustainability

The urban population growth has caused an increase of infrastructure systems’ complexity and consequences of human activity to the environment. Therefore, it is essential that sustainability concepts are implemented in urban development. This paper presents a study of how City Information Modeling (CIM) can contribute to improve public services and the quality of life of citizens. In order to reach these goals, the authors analyzed the International Standard ISO 37120 (Sustainable development of communities – Indicators for city services and quality of life) and evaluated how data from Building Information Modeling (BIM) and CIM can be used to obtain data for the indicators of the ISO. The study concludes that BIM and CIM models can provide data for 53 of 100 existing indicators in a simpler and more accurate way. This approach can assist the city’s managers to take assertive decisions and contribute to improve the evaluation of public services performance.