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3D Data Management in Urban Areas

Results of the EuroSDR Survey: 3D Data Management in

European National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies

Volker Walter and Dieter Fritsch

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ifp Contents

EuroSDR

Motivation

Questionnaire

Participants

(Selected) Questions and Answers

Discussion of the Results

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ifp EuroSDR

The EuroSDR (European Spatial Data Research Network) is a

non-profit organisation linking national mapping and cadastral

agencies (NMCAs) with research institutes and universities for

the purpose of applied research in spatial data provision,

management and delivery.

Currently about 50 institutions from 17 countries throughout

Europe are represented.

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ifp Motivation

In the last years, substantial technological progress in managing

3D geospatial data could be observed.

New technologies for the collection of 3D data (in particular airborne

and terrestrial laser scanning) as well as an increasing performance

of CPUs and GPUs allow for 3D data collection and handling on

standard PCs.

However, 3D Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are often

not fully capable to handle the requirements of managing 3D data.

3D data management and 3D analysis are in a state where 2D GIS

was 10 to 15 years ago.

In order to investigate this situation in more detail, we conducted a

survey to identify the state-of-the-art of 3D data management in

Europe.

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ifp Participants

Our main target group of this survey were NMCAs. However, we

decided to open the survey also to other public and private

institutions in order to get a full overview of the situation.

32 institutions participated in the survey

10 NMCAs

8 Regional Mapping and Cadastral Agencies

7 City Surveying Offices

7 Private Companies

The answers of public institutions (25) were not much different to

the answers of private companies (7)

Significant different answers:

Working Areas (public institutions: data acquisition; private

companies: data processing)

Data Management (public institutions: less complex data models

but more complex software systems; private companies: more

complex data models but less complex software systems).

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The questionnaire consisted of two parts:

The first part contained fourteen questions about the market and the

state-of-art of 3D data management.

These questions could be answered by selecting one or more

predefined answers.

Optionally it was possible to add free-text for additional information

or comments.

The second part provided six general questions about 3D data

management.

These questions could be answered with free-text.

…

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3D GIS is often named a key technology. To

which of the following statement do you agree?

It is expected that 3D GIS will be an important key technology in the

near future. However, existing problems have first to be solved.

Some participants selected two answers. Therefore, the sum is

higher than 100%.

21.9

84.4

0.0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

3D GIS is already a key technology

3D GIS has the potential to become a key technology

3D GIS will never be a key technology

Percent

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How will the 3D geospatial market (for hardware,

data, software and services) develop?

3,1

6,3

34,4

31,3

25,0

0 10 20 30 40 50

shrink

stagnate

grow slowly

grow medium

grow fast

Percent

Hardware: The market will ...

0,0

0,0

18,8

46,9

34,4

0 10 20 30 40 50

shrink

stagnate

grow slowly

grow medium

grow fast

Percent

Services: The market will ...

0,0

3,1

15,6

46,9

34,4

0 10 20 30 40 50

shrink

stagnate

grow slowly

grow medium

grow fast

Percent

Data: The market will ...

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How will the 3D geospatial market (for hardware,

data, software and services) develop?

All market segments are expected to grow

Hardware is the market segment with the lowest growth expectation

The segments Data and Services are seen as the strongest segments

3,1

6,3

34,4

31,3

25,0

0 10 20 30 40 50

shrink

stagnate

grow slowly

grow medium

grow fast

Percent

Hardware: The market will ...

0,0

0,0

18,8

46,9

34,4

0 10 20 30 40 50

shrink

stagnate

grow slowly

grow medium

grow fast

Percent

Services: The market will ...

0,0

3,1

15,6

46,9

34,4

0 10 20 30 40 50

shrink

stagnate

grow slowly

grow medium

grow fast

Percent

Data: The market will ...

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What are your major customers of

3D geospatial data?

The main customers are public institutions. Many public institutions

have a legal mandate to collect, process and provide 3D data.

Private companies represent at the moment only a small market

segment, but it is expected that this segment will grow in the future.

Private persons are at the moment and presumably in the near

future not an important clientele.

34,4

37,5

37,5

6,3

96,9

0 20 40 60 80 100

Small Companies

Medium Companies

Large Companies

Private Persons

Public Institutions

Percent

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Are your customers aware

of the potential of 3D data?

The main answer to this question could be: “some are aware and

some are not”.

Some participants selected both “Yes” and “No”. Therefore, the sum

of both answers is higher than 100%.

It is necessary to invest more in marketing processes

53,1

56,3

0 20 40 60 80 100

Yes

No

Percent

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Which software systems do you use

for the work with 3D data?

0 5 10 15 20 25

ArcGIS 3D Analyst (ESRI)

Microstation Bentley

LandXplorer

nova FACTORY 3D

Autodesk Map 3D

Global Mapper

GeoMedia Terrain (Intergraph)

inpho Software

Imagine Virtual GIS (Erdas)

SketchUp

SupportGIS 3D (CPA)

TerraExplorerPro (Skyline)

EspaSystem

3D Studio Max

CityGRID

Autodesk

Smallworld GIS

Tridicon 3D

own developments

Trimble DTMaster

Number

0 1 2

Trimble DTMaster

City Grid

QGIS

Geomedia Professional

Geomedia Grid

ACAD

TeklaGIS

VirtualCitySystems

Blender

3D WIN

Terrasolid

BAE Systems SOCET-SET

CityServer 3D

Stereo Analyst

1Spatial Radius Vision

Materialise

Autodesc Revit

Flaeder mouse

MicroDem

Novapoint Virtual Map

Rhinceros/Rhinoterrain

Number

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Which software systems do you use

for the work with 3D data?

The 32 participants use 43 different software systems

The 10 NMCAs use 21 different software systems

The software market for processing 3D geospatial data is at the

moment very heterogeneous.

Many different software products are in use and very often one

specific product is only used by one or two institutions.

This leads to problems, because the different systems are often not

interoperable.

Problem: Interoperability

0 5 10 15 20 25

ArcGIS 3D Analyst (ESRI)

Microstation Bentley

LandXplorer

nova FACTORY 3D

Autodesk Map 3D

Global Mapper

GeoMedia Terrain (Intergraph)

inpho Software

Imagine Virtual GIS (Erdas)

SketchUp

SupportGIS 3D (CPA)

TerraExplorerPro (Skyline)

EspaSystem

3D Studio Max

CityGRID

Autodesk

Smallworld GIS

Tridicon 3D

own developments

Trimble DTMaster

Number

0 1 2

Trimble DTMaster

City Grid

QGIS

Geomedia Professional

Geomedia Grid

ACAD

TeklaGIS

VirtualCitySystems

Blender

3D WIN

Terrasolid

BAE Systems SOCET-SET

CityServer 3D

Stereo Analyst

1Spatial Radius Vision

Materialise

Autodesc Revit

Flaeder mouse

MicroDem

Novapoint Virtual Map

Rhinceros/Rhinoterrain

Number

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Which 3D data standards do you use for

managing 3D geospatial data in your

organization?

23

22

19

14

10

9

8

8

3

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

0 5 10 15 20 25

3D-Shapefile

(3D) DXF

CityGML

KML/KMZ

3D PDF

3DS (3D Studio)

GML3

VRML

DGN

other: ASCII (XYZ)

GeoVRML

X3D

GDB

las

1Spatial GFO

XML

MaagisXL

fbi (Terrasolid)

CityGrid XML

RVT

DWG

OBJ

EsriGrid

ESRI Multipatch

skp

C4D

Number

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Which 3D data standards do you use for

managing 3D geospatial data in your

organization?

The 32 participants use 27 different standards

The 10 NMCAs use 13 different standards

Situation similar to Software Systems

3D GIS is a “young” technology

23

22

19

14

10

9

8

8

3

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

0 5 10 15 20 25

3D-Shapefile

(3D) DXF

CityGML

KML/KMZ

3D PDF

3DS (3D Studio)

GML3

VRML

DGN

other: ASCII (XYZ)

GeoVRML

X3D

GDB

las

1Spatial GFO

XML

MaagisXL

fbi (Terrasolid)

CityGrid XML

RVT

DWG

OBJ

EsriGrid

ESRI Multipatch

skp

C4D

Number

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Which 3D data models do you use for managing

3D geospatial data in your organization?

31,3

71,9

93,8

68,8

3,1

6,3

81,3

0,0

0,0

0,0

0,0

0,0

3,1

28,1

12,5

0,0

12,5

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

2D Vector Data plus Height Lines

2.5D Vector Data

2.5D GRID

2.5D TIN

2.5D Hexagon

2.5D Voronoi

3D Pont Clouds

Parametric Instancing

Cell Decomposition

Voxel

Octtree

Tetrahedon

Polyhedron

Boundary Representation (BREP)

Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG)

Sweep Representations

Freeform Shapes

Percent

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Which 3D data models do you use for managing

3D geospatial data in your organization?

2.5D hexagon

BREP

cell decomposition

CSG

2.5D grid point clouds

voxel

sweep rep.

2.5D TIN

octree

(x, y, z, α)

parametr. inst.

freeform shapes

3D TIN 2D + 1D 2.5D 2.5D Voronoi

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Nearly all areas, where 2D geospatial data are used, are also potential

working areas of 3D geospatial data.

The simple reason for that is that our world is three-dimensional and

therefore people want to work with three-dimensional representations.

Word Cloud with 52 possible application areas of 3D data:

Which will be the main application areas of

3D geospatial data?

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What are your major problems in the field of

3D data handling?

The most often named problems in the field of 3D data handling are:

Interoperability: Many different software systems are needed which are

often not interoperable.

Standardisation: Missing or inconsistent standards for 3D data.

Software: Existing software solutions are not efficient enough. The tools

and algorithms are not mature enough. The programs are difficult and

can be used only by experts.

Amount of data: The handling of large 3D datasets is difficult.

Integration: The fusion and handling of existing 2D data with new 3D

data is problematic.

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ifp Discussion

3D data modeling and data handling is much more complex

compared to 2D data

The software market for processing 3D geospatial data is at the

moment very heterogeneous

This leads to problems, because the different systems are often not

interoperable. The same situation holds true for the standardization of

3D geospatial data

It is expected that 3D GIS will be an important key technology in the

near future. However, existing problems have first to be solved.

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ifp Future Work

Research: there are still problems in the 3D world which are not

fully solved. For example:

2D data and 3D data integration

Integration of different 3D models

Parallelization on GPUs or multi-core CPUs

Handling of very large datasets

…

Development: Software manufacturers have to develop more

powerful software systems:

More functionality

Easier to use

Integrated workflows (Input, Management, Analysis and Presentation)

…

Standardization: Consistent standards and services are needed to

exchange and access 3D data

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ifp Report

All results will be published in an official EuroSDR report

If you want a draft version, contact me:

Volker.Walter@ifp.uni-stuttgart.de