Towards a 3D Collaborative GIS
RAFIKA HAJJI | 2013
Summary
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) handling the third dimension are needed in many sectors. However, constraints around 3D are multiple and commercial 3D GIS solutions still have gaps in management of 3D data. On the other hand, acquisition and updating of 3D geographic reference data raise constraints of cost and interoperability that often exceed the capabilities of a single organization. In this context, collaboration is sought to address these constraints through a 3D GIS solution, designed and implemented within a collaborative framework between several partners, based on sharing costs, resources and experiences, solution that is designed by 3D collaborative GIS. The literature adopts the concept of collaborative GIS as a tool for collaborative working associated with communication techniques for collective spatial decision-making. We assigned a new vision for collaborative GIS which is considered as a product of collaboration between several partners to address several conceptual, technical and organizational challenges.
Our thesis work focuses on collaborative 3D GIS and considers two main aspects governing their implementation: a conceptual framework for an approach to design these systems and a technical framework dealing with the main issues of integration of multiple data sources from different partners in a 3D collaborative database. According to the conceptual aspect, we proposed a design approach that offers a flexible methodological framework to support the development of collaborative 3D GIS. We particularly studied a main component of the system that deals with the design of a collaborative 3D model for the building object, based on the CityGML standard and the recommendations of the European INSPIRE directive about 3D models interoperability. The technical component of collaborative 3D GIS focuses on the process of integrating databases of different partners to supply a centralized database based on the collaborative 3D model. In this context, we proposed a complete integration process based on geometric and semantic matching of different databases for an extraction of semantic information and updating of geometric data. The database schema resulting from the information fusion is then translated according to the specifications of CityGML schema, to be imported into the collaborative database.
