Approaches of National 3d Mapping: Research Results and Standardisation in Practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Over the past ten years technologies for generating, maintaining and using 3D geo-information have matured. For national mapping agencies one of the challenges is how to best extend 2D data into 3D data, making best use of research results and available technologies. Some mapping organisations are making serious progress. The question addressed in this paper is how research results achieved in the past ten years are applied in practice and what research problems remain. In addition, the paper explores the potentials of the OGC 3D standard (i.e. CityGML) for 3D national mapping and what developments are further required to make the standard better fit for this purpose. The main conclusions of the paper are that 3D data is more and more available but still suffers from a low level of usage (mainly visualisation) and standards and formats based on CityGML have been stabilised although software support is still in the early stage. Several recommendations are made to meet these problems, including the definition of European CityGML profiles (as the INSPIRE Building profile) to harmonise 3D needs and standardise 3D implementations at international level.

User Requirements Gathering for 3d Geographic Information in the United Kingdom

“…Despite this progress, 3D technologies are still not fully exploited in practice (Stoter et al, 2013). This may be due to a lack of awareness -while 2D GIS is used in a wide number of different applications, practitioners may not necessarily be aware of the potential or availability of 3D technologies.…”

“…It was assumed that in areas where 2D geospatial data is used, there was potential to extend the workflow into 3D since the world around us is three-dimensional. However, there may be applications where 3D does not improve an existing process, but makes new applications possible (Stoter et al 2013). These applications are unlikely to be captured using the current population sample.…”

“…Stoter et al (2013) examines the approaches and requirements of European national 3D mapping, concluding that 3D data, while more available, still suffers from low usage. Walter (2014) carried out surveys with 32 European institutions to examine the state of the art of 3D Geographical Information Systems, the future requirements as well as existing problems.…”

“…There have been many recent studies exploring the different aspects of requirements for 3D (Stoter et al 2013;Walter 2014;Sargent et al, 2015;Biljecki et al, 2015;Stoter et al, 2016a;Stoter et al, 2016b). Stoter et al (2013) examines the approaches and requirements of European national 3D mapping, concluding that 3D data, while more available, still suffers from low usage.…”

“…This may be due to a lack of awareness -while 2D GIS is used in a wide number of different applications, practitioners may not necessarily be aware of the potential or availability of 3D technologies. In addition, another barrier to uptake is the lack of understanding of who the users of 3D will be and what the user requirements are (Stoter et al, 2013).…”