Three-Dimensional (3D) Parametric Modeling and Organization for Web-Based Visualization of City-Scale Pipe Network

Abstract

Underground pipe network is a critical city infrastructure, which plays an important role in smart city management. As the detailed three-dimensional (3D) scene of underground pipe networks is difficult to construct, and massive numbers of pipe points and segments are difficult to manage, a 3D pipe network modeling and organization method is explored in this study. First, the modeling parameters were parsed from the pipe network survey data. Then, the 3D pipe segment and point models were built based on parametric modeling algorithms. Finally, a heterogeneous data structure for the 3D pipe network was established through loose quadtree data organization. The proposed data structure was suitable for 3D Tiles, which was adopted by Cesium (a web-based 3D virtual globe); hence, a multitude of pipe networks can be viewed in the browser. The proposed method was validated by generating and organizing a large-scale 3D pipe network scene of Beijing. The experimental results indicate that the 3D pipe network models formed by this method can satisfy the visual effect and render the efficiency required for smart urban management.

Keywords

• underground pipeline
• parametric modeling
• visualization
• Cesium