ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences (Sep 2020)
CITYJSON + WEB = NINJA
Abstract
As web applications become more popular, 3D city models would greatly benefit from a proper web-based solution to visualise and manage them. CityJSON was introduced as a JSON encoding of the CityGML data model and promises, among several benefits, the ability to be integrated with modern web technologies. In order to provide an implementation of a web application for CityJSON data, that can be used as a reference for other applications, we developed ninja. It is a web application that allows the user to easily load and investigate a CityJSON model through a web browser. In addition, it offers support for a complex feature of CityJSON: the experimental versioning mechanism. In this paper, we describe the motivation, requirements, technical aspects and achieved functionality of ninja. We believe that such a web application can facilitate the adoption of 3D city models by more practitioners and decision makers.