ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences (Sep 2013)

ENHANCED LOD CONCEPTS FOR VIRTUAL 3D CITY MODELS

  • J. Benner,
  • A. Geiger,
  • G. Gröger,
  • K.-H. Häfele,
  • M.-O. Löwner

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/isprsannals-II-2-W1-51-2013
Journal volume & issue
Vol. II-2/W1
pp. 51 – 61

Abstract

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Virtual 3D city models contain digital three dimensional representations of city objects like buildings, streets or technical infrastructure. Because size and complexity of these models continuously grow, a Level of Detail (LoD) concept effectively supporting the partitioning of a complete model into alternative models of different complexity and providing metadata, addressing informational content, complexity and quality of each alternative model is indispensable. After a short overview on various LoD concepts, this paper discusses the existing LoD concept of the CityGML standard for 3D city models and identifies a number of deficits. Based on this analysis, an alternative concept is developed and illustrated with several examples. It differentiates between first, a Geometric Level of Detail (GLoD) and a Semantic Level of Detail (SLoD), and second between the interior building and its exterior shell. Finally, a possible implementation of the new concept is demonstrated by means of an UML model.