An interoperable perspective towards the distribution of 3D building data

Although web-based 3D geospatial data platforms have been very popular in recent years, most of the current progress has been focusing on only 3D geometric modeling and illustration. The lack of a comprehensive framework for attributes of 3D features restricts the possible applications of 3D data in GIS applications. The heterogeneous data formats also impede the successful distribution of 3D data across different application platforms. To correctly and effectively use 3D data acquired from other georesources, we argued that users should be able to interpret the 3D data in an interoperable way, so as to establish a correct understanding about the possible discrepancies between different datasets. This research proposes an object-based approach towards the creation, distribution and application of 3D building data, such that the costly 3D building data can be easily shared among the vast amount of users and organizations. To facilitate an open and interoperable distribution environment, the encoded 3D data is extended from CityGML to carry necessary information and allows interoperable parsing and processing at clients' applications. The different levels of data quality among acquired features are automatically analyzed and illustrated via developed modules to aid users' decision making. Compared with most of the current systems, the proposed approach successfully demonstrates its capability to differentiate the status of 3D data on the basis of individual features.