UML‐Based Approach to Developing a CityGML Application Domain Extension

Recently a national 3D standard was established in the Netherlands as a CityGML Application Domain Extension (called IMGeo). In line with the Dutch practice of modeling geo‐information, the ADE is developed using a model driven approach. The classes are designed in UML and automatically mapped to GML schema. The current OGC CityGML specification does not provide rules or guidance on correctly modeling an ADE in UML. This article fills this gap by studying how CityGML can be extended for specific applications starting from the UML diagrams. Six alternatives for modeling ADEs in UML are introduced and compared. The optimal alternative is selected and applied to obtain the national 3D standard. The approach was extensively discussed with international experts, who were members of both SIG3D and other working groups. As a consequence the approach was adopted by the SIG3D, the Special Interest Group 3D which, among other things, work on the 3D standard CityGML in cooperation with OGC. Therefore the approach contains many issues that can be generalized and reused by future domain extensions of CityGML. To further support this, the article formulates a model‐driven framework to model CityGML ADEs. Open issues are described in the conclusions.     

Advancing New Testament interpretation through spatio‐temporal analysis: Demonstrated by case studies

This article explores, via three case studies, how spatio‐temporal analysis can advance New Testament text interpretation. Acts 2, verse 9 to 11 is the text of study. Case study 1 applies network analysis to data representing the Roman road network constrained by parameters valid for ancient times. This analysis provided new information on the background of people attending a festival in Jerusalem. Case study 2 located geographical entities from the text in a cartographic visualization and provided supportive information to compare contemporary textual resources. For the disciplines of textual and conjectural criticism (case study 3), spatio‐temporal analysis opens a new window to study what would be the most probable variant of the original text. The case study puts emendations that have been proposed over centuries in a 3D spatial context and provides in this way a sophisticated tool to relate different alternative variants of a specific text. From the case studies, it can be concluded that spatializing, visualizing, and spatially analyzing geographical concepts from the texts in Acts 2 contributes to the field of New Testament interpretation. Further work will elaborate on the findings.     

Solutions for 4D cadastre – with a case study on utility networks

The increasing complexity and flexibility of modern land use requires that cadastres need to manage information on the third and temporal (fourth) dimension. This article considers the registration of legal space of utility networks in cadastre in this 3D + time (=4D) context. A requirement analysis in three countries that have methods to register utility networks complying with their legal, organizational and technical structure (Turkey, the Netherlands and Queensland, Australia) is the basis for three alternatives for 4D cadastre to register utility networks. The three alternatives are analysed with respect to legal, organizational and technical cadastral requirements. This article presents a case study and a prototype from the Netherlands. In this country by law utilities are considered to be real estate objects with obligatory registration of ownership and geometry. This study shows that the 3D space and separate temporal attributes approach (state-based model) is a very promising solution to maintain temporal changes of utility networks and that this approach is to be preferred above the current practice, where the 3D and temporal aspects are not considered when registering a network.     

Stakeholder analysis of the governance framework of a national SDI dataset – whose needs are met in the buildings and address register of the Netherlands?

ABSTRACT

National spatial data infrastructures are key to achieving the Digital Earth vision. In many cases, national datasets are integrated from local datasets created and maintained by municipalities. Examples are address, building and topographic information. Integration of local datasets may result in a dataset satisfying the needs of users of national datasets, but is it productive for those who create and maintain the data? This article presents a stakeholder analysis of the Basisregistratie Adressen en Gebouwen (BAG), a collection of base information about addresses and buildings in the Netherlands. The information is captured and maintained by municipalities and integrated into a national base register by Kadaster, the Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency of the Netherlands. The stakeholder analysis identifies organisations involved in the BAG governance framework, describes their interests, rights, ownerships and responsibilities in the BAG, and maps the relationships between them. Analysis results indicate that Kadaster and the municipalities have the highest relative importance in the governance framework of the BAG. The study reveals challenges of setting up a governance framework that maintains the delicate balance between the interests of all stakeholders. The results provide guidance for SDI role players setting up governance frameworks for national or global datasets.     

Construction of 3D Volumetric Objects for a 3D Cadastral System

This article presents a new method to illustrate the feasibility of 3D topology creation. We base the 3D construction process on testing real cases of implementation of 3D parcels construction in a 3D cadastral system. With the utilization and development of dense urban space, true 3D geometric volume primitives are needed to represent 3D parcels with the adjacency and incidence relationship. We present an effective straightforward approach to identifying and constructing the valid volumetric cadastral object from the given faces, and build the topological relationships among 3D cadastral objects on‐the‐fly, based on input consisting of loose boundary 3D faces made by surveyors. This is drastically different from most existing methods, which focus on the validation of single volumetric objects after the assumption of the object's creation. Existing methods do not support the needed types of geometry/topology (e.g. non 2‐manifold, singularities) and how to create and maintain valid 3D parcels is still a challenge in practice. We will show that the method does not change the faces themselves and faces in a given input are independently specified. Various volumetric objects, including non‐manifold 3D cadastral objects (legal spaces), can be constructed correctly by this method, as will be shown from the results.     

The effect of acquisition error and level of detail on the accuracy of spatial analyses

There has been a great deal of research about errors in geographic information and how they affect spatial analyses. A typical GIS process introduces various types of errors at different stages, and such errors usually propagate into errors in the result of a spatial analysis. However, most studies consider only a single error type thus preventing the understanding of the interaction and relative contributions of different types of errors. We focus on the level of detail (LOD) and positional error, and perform a multiple error propagation analysis combining both types of error. We experiment with three spatial analyses (computing gross volume, envelope area, and solar irradiation of buildings) performed with procedurally generated 3D city models to decouple and demonstrate the magnitude of the two types of error, and to show how they individually and jointly propagate to the output of the employed spatial analysis. The most notable result is that in the considered spatial analyses the positional error has a much higher impact than the LOD. As a consequence, we suggest that it is pointless to acquire geoinformation of a fine LOD if the acquisition method is not accurate, and instead we advise focusing on the accuracy of the data.     

Automated evaluation of building alignments in generalized maps

Evaluation is a key step to examine the quality of generalized maps with respect to map requirements. Map generalization facilitates the recognition of pattern generating processes by preserving and highlighting the patterns at smaller scales. This article focuses specifically on the evaluation of building patterns in topographic maps that are generalized from large to mid scales. Currently, there is a lack of knowledge and functionality on automatically evaluating how these patterns are generalized. The issues of the evaluation range from missing formal map requirements on building alignments to missing automated evaluation techniques. This article firstly analyses the requirements (constraints) related to the generalization of building alignments. Then, it focuses on three more specific constraints, i.e. on existence, orientation of alignments and spatial distribution of composing buildings. Later, a three-step approach is proposed to (1) recognize and (2) match alignments from source and generalized datasets and (3) evaluate building alignments in generalized datasets. Besides, many-to-many and partial matching between initial and target alignments is a side effect of generalization, which reduces the reliability of the evaluation results. This article introduces a confidence indicator to document the reliability and to inform intended users (e.g. cartographers) and/or systems about the reliability of evaluation decisions. The effectiveness of our approach is demonstrated by evaluating the alignments in both interactively (manually) generalized maps and automated generalized maps. Finally, we discuss how our approach can be used to control automated generalization and identify further improvements.     

A dimension-independent extrusion algorithm using generalised maps

One solution to the integration of additional characteristics, for example, time and scale, into GIS data sets is to model them as extra geometric dimensions perpendicular to the spatial ones, creating a higher-dimensional model. While this approach has been previously described and advocated, it is scarcely used in practice because of a lack of high-level construction algorithms and accompanying implementations. We present in this paper a dimension-independent extrusion algorithm permitting us to construct from any (n–1)-dimensional linear cell complex represented as a generalised map, an n-dimensional one by assigning to each (n–1)-cell one or more intervals where it exists along the nth dimension. We have implemented the algorithm in C++11 using CGAL, made the source code publicly available and tested it in experiments using real-world 2D GIS data sets which were extruded to construct up to 5D models.     

3D noise mapping in urban areas

Noise mapping is the process of determining and visualizing noise impact on the environment in order to support environmental policies. Currently most noise impact studies are based on a 2D approach. The 3D output of noise simulation software is processed and visualized in 2D and combined with 2D topographical and other data, such as population distribution, to quantify the effects. The research described in this paper aims at improving visualization and assessment of noise impact on the environment by generating a 3D noise map in cases where 3D effects are relevant. Based on the specific demand, an approach is presented to generate a 3D noise map as a basis for noise impact studies. The proposed concept is proofed by applying it to a sample noise impact study. From experiences with the sample, it can be concluded that the 3D noise map offers significant insight in situations where 3D noise effects are relevant, i.e. in urban areas. Here, current 2D noise maps have limitations. In addition, more accurate assessment of noise impact is possible in particular when different floors of a building close to the noise source and/or behind noise barriers are considered. This paper also elaborates on accuracy aspects in all phases of noise modelling, including a presentation of initial experiments of 3D noise interpolation.     

Propagation of positional error in 3D GIS: estimation of the solar irradiation of building roofs

While error propagation in GIS is a topic that has received a lot of attention, it has not been researched with 3D GIS data. We extend error propagation to 3D city models using a Monte Carlo simulation on a use case of annual solar irradiation estimation of building rooftops for assessing the efficiency of installing solar panels. Besides investigating the extension of the theory of error propagation in GIS from 2D to 3D, this paper presents the following contributions. We (1) introduce varying XY/Z accuracy levels of the geometry to reflect actual acquisition outcomes; (2) run experiments on multiple accuracy classes (121 in total); (3) implement an uncertainty engine for simulating acquisition positional errors to procedurally modelled (synthetic) buildings; (4) perform the uncertainty propagation analysis on multiple levels of detail (LODs); and (5) implement Solar3Dcity – a CityGML-compliant software for estimating the solar irradiation of roofs, which we use in our experiments. The results show that in the case of the city of Delft in the Netherlands, a 0.3/0.6 m positional uncertainty yields an error of 68 kWh/m²/year (10%) in solar irradiation estimation. Furthermore, the results indicate that the planar and vertical uncertainties have a different influence on the estimations, and that the results are comparable between LODs. In the experiments we use procedural models, implying that analyses are carried out in a controlled environment where results can be validated. Our uncertainty propagation method and the framework are applicable to other 3D GIS operations and/or use cases. We released Solar3Dcity as open-source software to support related research efforts in the future.