3-D visualization of urban environmental quality indicators: using the city GML standard

Abstract

In October 2005, a survey to several potential end-users (surveyors, architects, urban planners, environmental and energy specialists, among others) of the City of Geneva (Switzerland) howed a strong interest for the integration of the third dimension in the available GIS data of the City of Geneva, mainly by the integration of new layers of information, here referred to as 3-D urban indicators [1]. In order to extract this type of indicators, different geo-referenced data of excellent quality, such as 2-D cadastral data, aerial images, LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) data and a 3-D vector model were used. A main focus was given to the construction of innovative 3-D Urban Environmental Quality (UEQ) indicators, which are highlighted through the 3-D visualization displays proposed here. A simple example is the exploration of the solar potential of building facades and roofs. In this case, the purpose is to evaluate the potential of buildings for the installation of solar panels (photovoltaic and thermal).