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How do we get from demonstration projects to a volume market for very low energy demand in advanced housing renovation? The contributors to this report have been working with this issue for many years. Some worked in both IEA SHC Task 28 Sustainable Housing (2000-2005) and in SHC Task 37 Advanced Housing Renovation with Solar and Conservation. This work resulted in the handbook Business Opportunities in Sustainable Housing (from Task 28) and in this booklet. Building stock analyses from Task 37 show that many countries have a huge theoretical potential for reducing the energy consumed in the existing building stock. The question is: How do we speed up the transition from demonstration projects to volume market? This report looks both at a traditional market development perspective and interventions by public actors. By doing this, the report aims to provide a better understanding of what drives advanced housing renovation, and provides a reference document designed to inform and recommend directions for policy makers and central decision makers. For successful market development, it is necessary that the right private and public actors cooperate, coordinate their measures and perform them at the right time. Those saying that the market is not ready for this are quite right if they mean the majority of the market. Any new product or service has to be adopted first by the innovators in the introduction phase and thereafter the early adopters in the growth phase before it can reach the early majority in the volume market. This applies to both the supply and demand side. This booklet investigates these three phases through four marketing perspectives: attractiveness, competitiveness, affordability and availability. Separate chapters highlight the driving forces, barriers and critical success factors that are recognised in each phase. This chapter is a short summary of the findings. To fully exploit the potential of this report it should serve as input for a strategic process carried out by public or private actors which consider taking an active part in developing the market for Advanced Housing Renovation.

Governments in many European countries have required social housing providers to become more market orientated and work more efficiently. As a result, the demarcation between the activities of social and private landlords seem to have become more blurred, which has presumably led to increased competitive pressures on both landlord groups. In an attempt to create a better understanding of the basic conditions of a competitive relationship between social and private renting providers, this paper sets out the idea of a market structure in rental housing and makes a comparison between the situations in England and the Netherlands. In economic theory, market structure is defined by the degree of supply concentration, existing barriers to entry and exit, and the extent of product differentiation. In the theoretical part of the paper it is discussed how those three components apply to rental housing and why some changes of the original concept of market structure seem to be inevitable. The refined theoretical concept is then applied to rented housing in England and the Netherlands. On the one hand, the comparative approach will show that market structures can differ significantly across countries and with them the conditions for the competitive behavior of rental housing providers. On the other hand, it will reveal the methodological challenges that are involved with the analysis of rented housing, particularly private renting.

Recently housing affordability has reached the agenda in Flanders and the Netherlands, giving a good reason to present a review of the concept of affordability and different definitions. The concept of short-term affordability, which is concerned with financial access to a dwelling and is based on cash flows, is combined with the concept of long-term affordability, which is about the costs of housing consumption. The use of these concepts is illustrated for Flanders and the Netherlands. They show that each concept has its own uses and that they are not interchangeable. However, both concepts indicate that in 2005 higher-income households, and especially homeowners (with a mortgage), were relatively better off than lower-income households, particularly renters. Homeowners' higher income levels on average more than compensate for their higher expenses in comparison with tenants; they also receive higher explicit subsidization and in times of rising prices they also receive expected returns on housing.

In civil engineering infrastructural projects, information exchange and (re-) use in and between involved parties is difficult. This is mainly caused by a lack of information harmonization. Various specialists are working together on the development of an infrastructural project and are all using their own specific software and definitions for the various information types. The variety of information types adds to the differences regarding the use and definition of thematic semantic information. Also the source of the information may vary from surveyed and interpreted to designed objects. This makes harmonization of geo-information extremely difficult. Realistic 3D models describing and integrating part of the earth already exist, but are generally neglecting the subsurface, and especially the aspects of geological and geotechnical information. This paper summarizes the first steps undertaken towards the extension of an existing integrated semantic information model to include (above and on) surface as well as subsurface objects and in particular, subsurface geological and geotechnical objects. Standards, exchange formats and existing models used as a basis for the development of a core geological model as part of an integrated 3D information model are described in this paper. Examples of definitions of subsurface geological objects and required attribute information (to be) included in the integrated 3D information model are given. Web-based visualisation tools are, too, investigated to be able to access and visualise the model also in an application-independent environment.

Planar partitions—full tessellations of the plane into non-overlapping polygons—are frequently used in GIS to model concepts such as land cover, cadastral parcels or administrative boundaries. Since in practice planar partitions are often stored as a set of individual objects (polygons) to which attributes are attached (e.g. stored with a shapefile), and since different errors/mistakes can be introduced during their construction, manipulation or exchange, several inconsistencies will often arise in practice. The inconsistencies are for instance overlapping polygons, gaps and unconnected polygons. We present in this paper a novel algorithm to validate such planar partitions. It uses a constrained triangulation as a support for the validation, and permits us to avoid different problems that arise with existing solutions based on the construction of a planar graph. We describe in the paper the details of our algorithm, our implementation, how inconsistencies can be detected, and the experiments we have made with real-world data (the CORINE2000 dataset).

Automated evaluation of generalization output relies to a large extent on that requirements (e.g. specifications, constraints) being formalized in machine-readable formats. Previous studies suggest that the formalization and automated evaluation are relatively easier for legibility constraints (improve the readability of maps) than for preservation constraints (preserving important real-world phenomena). Three major difficulties, i.e., pattern classification and characterization, pattern matching, and constraint formalization, in the automated evaluation of building pattern preservation constraint are analyzed in this paper. A classification of available building patterns is reviewed based on a previous work. In addition, the transition events describing allowed changes for building patterns to preserve during generalization are obtained through the study of existing maps series (from 1:10k to 1:100k). Based on the obtained knowledge on pattern types and acceptable transition events, an approach to automatically match corresponding building patterns at different scales is presented. The methodology proposed is validated by applying it to the interactively generalized data. The result shows promising results and also further improvement in order to apply the method in an overall evaluation to indicate acceptable generalization solutions.

Building patterns are important features in applications like automated generalization and spatial data mining. Many previous work has however focused on a few specific patterns (i.e. collinear pattern), while many others are less discussed. This paper proposes a comprehensive typology of available building patterns through the study of existing maps, and discusses their characteristics. This typology includes collinear, curvilinear, align-along-road, grid-like and unstructured patterns. Two algorithms are presented to detect align-along-road and unstructured building patterns, which are tested against a topographic dataset of the Netherlands.

In theorie reageren vragers en aanbieders direct op nieuwe marktontwikkelingen, met als gevolg dat marktontwikkelingen, met als gevolg dat de prijs verandert. In de praktijk is echter geen sprake van een dergelijke efficient functionerende woningmarkt. Bouwers en ontwikkelaars kunnen immers niet direct woningen op de markt brengen of terugtrekken. Hoe zijn woningprijzen dan goed te meten en te verklaren?

City infrastructures are sensitive to disasters. To aid rescue workers and citizens, a system is needed which determines the shortest route to a certain location, taking the damages of the infrastructure into account. The biggest disadvantage of current navigation systems is that they are “closed” i.e. they are built on top of commercial software packages and as such are only usable by rescue organizations which own licenses for these software packages. Modern web-technologies provide tools to ease information collection and to facilitate the dissemination of data. Recent successes of crowdsourced platforms such as OpenStreetMap, Ushahidi and Wikipedia, suggest the deployment of the crowdsourcing phenomenon to disaster management. The idea is to let the “crowd” in a disaster area collect information about the state of the infrastructure. People on the street form a highly dispersed network of sensors which is able to provide information in real-time at no cost to the rescue workers. This paper proposes and implements a method for performing shortest path calculations taking crowdsourced information, in the form of constraints and obstacles, into account. The method is built on top of Google Maps (GM) and uses its routing service to calculate the shortest distance between two locations. Users provide the constraints and obstacles in the form of polygons which identify impassable areas in the real world. The A* pathfinding algorithm is used to guide Google's Directions Service around obstacles.

De woningmarkt zit in de lift. Maar hoe realistisch is een WOZ-waarde eigenlijk?

While CityGML permits us to represent 3D city models, its use for applications where spatial analysis and/or real-time modifications are required is limited since at this moment the possibility to store topological relationships between the elements is rather limited and often not exploited. We present in this paper a new topological data structure, the dual half-edge (DHE), which permits us to represent the topology of 3D buildings (including their interiors) and of the surrounding terrain. It is based on the idea of simultaneously storing a graph in 3D space and its dual graph, and to link the two. We propose Euler-type operators for incrementally constructing 3D models (for adding individual edges, faces and volumes to the model while updating the dual structure simultaneously), and we also propose navigation operators to move from a given point to all the connected planes or polyhedra for example. The DHE also permits us to store attributes to any element. We have implemented the DHE and have tested it with different CityGML models. Our technique allows us to handle important query-types, for example finding the nearest exterior exit to a given room, as in disaster management planning. As the structure is locally modifiable the model may be adapted whenever a particular pathway is no longer available. The proposed DHE structure adds significant analytic value to the increasingly popular CityGML model.

The Ubiquitous Computing and the Internet-of-Things concepts are gathering more attention day-by-day. In the near future networks of interconnected sensors that are monitoring the environment around us will start to generate enormous amounts of data. This newly emerging paradigm can be named as „Sensors Everywhere”. This new paradigm will lead -the focus of information management in disaster response- to shift from acquisition and storage of information to abstracting, analysing and consuming information. Furthermore, the value of semantic information will increase, as real-time information provided by sensors would become more meaningful when integrated with semantic information. Recent research have shown that semantically rich digital models of buildings can be transferred into and represented in geoinformation systems, which are used to support most analysis and monitoring activities in emergency response and disaster management. Furthermore, recent geo-visualisation tools such as virtual globes provide an environment for combing the information provided by sensors and representations of digital building models. This paper presents a framework for, acquiring information from multiple sensors located in a building, presenting this information as web services and later evaluates how this information can be consumed and used within the geospatial environment together with digital building models. The paper concludes with an opportunity analysis in the context of the framework.

The purpose of the paper is to describe the main functional elements with defects in illegal residential buildings. Three research questions are addressed: What are the main functional elements with defects in buildings and in dwellings? What are the main defects found? In which way these defects affect the use of buildings? The defects were identified during a survey to the building stock of the Cova da Moura District (Amadora, Portugal), carried out in 2008. This district is made of illegal constructions, occupies an area of 16.5 ha and has approximately 5,000 inhabitants. During the survey 833 buildings and 1884 units were inspected. The main results are: a) only 13% of these building presented defects in the building structure; b) about 60% of the buildings have defects in the roofing systems (e.g., damp and mould, infiltrations); c) more than 84% of the dwellings have defects in the technical installation such as gas or electrical installations most of them classified as severe defects. The main conclusion is that most of the defects detected configure serious risk scenarios, particularly in terms of the minimum habitability conditions and fire safety. However, defects related to structural stability were not as serious as expected for this kind of construction.

One of the simplest methods to construct a 3D city model is to extrude building footprints to obtain \block-shaped" polyhedra representing buildings. While the method is well-known and easy to implement, if the 2D topological relationships between the footprints are not taken into account, the resulting 3D city models will not necessarily be topologically consistent (i.e. primitives shared by 3D buildings will be duplicated and/or intersect each others). As a result, the model will be of little use for most applications, besides visualisation that is. In this paper, we present a new extrusion procedure to construct topologically correct 3D city models. It is based on the use of a constrained triangulation, is conceptually simple, and offers great exibility to create city models in different formats (e.g. CityGML or a surface-based representation). We have implemented the procedure, tested it with real-world datasets, and validated it.

The paper presents the on-going project on 3D cadastre modelling in Russia. The aim of this project is to provide guidance in the development of a prototype and to create favourable legal and institutional conditions for the introduction of 3D cadastre modelling in Russia based on experience of the Netherlands and other countries. Among the planned results are: 1. 3D cadastral model for data generation, storage and distribution of information about 3D properties; 2. Prototype (and access portal) 3. Evaluation of the prototype for objects of a pilot region; 4. Strategy and action plan for proper institutional embedding. This includes the preparation of legal and organizational guidelines for the long-term development of 3D cadastre in Russia. The project runs from May 2010 until May 2012. It is a Government to Government cooperation with Russian and Dutch partners: Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Mapping (Rosreestr), Federal Cadastre Centre (FCC) "Zemlya" and the Netherlands’ Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency (Kadaster) in consortium with Delft University of Technology (TUD), Grontmij Nederland B.V., and Royal Haskoning B.V. There is a strong vision and drive in the Russian Federation towards a 3D cadastre. This is a realistic vision insofar that 3D will be used where needed: complex buildings, or other types of constructions, and subsurface networks (e.g., cables and pipelines). The cadastre law in the Russian Federation is quite generic concerning 3D situations: it neither explicitly mentions 3D, nor does it prohibit 3D volumetric parcels for registration. Nizhegorodskaya Oblast has been selected as pilot region in this project. The territorial division of Rosreestr of Nizhegorodskaya Oblast is actively involved in the project, as well as the Nizhny Novgorod City Administration (with 1,9 million inhabitants). Specialists of Rosreestr and Land Cadastre Chamber in Nizhegorodskaya Oblast provide the local data needed for the pilot. In this FIG WW paper the mid-term results are presented, including selected cases and initial 3D cadastral model that has been selected.

This paper presents a comparative analysis of methods used in European countries to assess buildings’ condition. The following methods were compared: a Portuguese method to assess buildings condition, an English housing health and safety rating system, a French method to assess buildings that may be declared inhabitable, a Dutch standard about buildings condition assessment and the assessment methods developed within the European projects EPIQR & TOBUS. The comparative analysis included three tasks. First, each of the methods was described separately. Then, the main features of the methods were compared. Finally, some guidelines to improve the Portuguese method were drawn. The main differences of the methods are the objectives and scope of the assessment, the disaggregation level of the global assessment, the calculation formula used to aggregate partial assessments, the type final results obtained and the tools developed for their implementation. The main similarities are that the assessment is carried out mainly by visual inspection, the condition of the building is assessed by a systematic analysis of the entire building divided into functional elements, the severity of defects is the assessment criterion used, weighting coefficients are used to determine the importance of each partial assessment in the final result and surveyors need specific training. The recommendations about the Portuguese method are to maintain the present assessment model, to carry out the training courses of surveyors, to create a complementary tool for the diagnosis of the causes of defects and to develop a computer program to support surveyors during inspections.

“Of droughts and flooding rains” (Dorothea Mackellar 1885-1968, “My Country”). The recent flooding in Queensland affected rural areas, mines, towns and cities including the state capital. Tracking such an event on a day-by day basis raises practical and theoretical issues. While this year’s floods captured world headlines, there is a major flooding event in Queensland about every second year. There are obvious costs resulting from serious flooding, and some can be reduced significantly if the public are reliably informed (whether to evacuate, what property to save, where to evacuate to, what route to take, where to store property). There are also indirect costs to be reduced by the dissemination of reliable information. For example, losses to the tourist industry caused by exaggerated reporting. The paper explores strategies to provide advice to the public by presenting: available raw imagery leaving users to make an interpretation, processed data with information for probable inundation, processed data overlaid with a quality mask indicating reliability, corrected data using a variety of sources, or combination of existing numerical flood models with topographic information to predict flood extent. The paper addresses various sensor products that can be used, their combination with flood modelling techniques, a historical record of inundations, direct measurements (river gauges, rainfall measurements, sensor webs etc.) and more diffuse inputs (crowd sourcing) to supply the best possible decision support information to the public.

In this paper, the background, set-up, and a preliminary analysis of the survey conducted by the FIG joint commission 3 and 7 working group on 3D-Cadastre, 2010-2014 is presented. The purpose of the survey is to make a world-wide inventory of the status of 3D-Cadastres at this moment (November 2010) and the plans/expectations for the near future (2014). Sharing this information improves cooperation and exchange of experiences and supports future developments in different countries and cadastral jurisdictions. The FIG working group will repeat the survey in four years time to evaluate the actual progress. In the questionnaire the concept of 3D-Cadastres with 3D parcels is intended in the broadest possible sense. At the moment of writing, 36 completed questionnaires have been received. Another detailed questionnaire survey is being conducted among the eight cadastral jurisdictions of Australia, and the results from these are also presented and compared to the international situation. At the moment of writing, all completed Australian questionnaires have been received.

Indoor navigation is gaining an increasing interest among researchers in many domains. In many cases users need to orient quickly in complex environments, which is not always the target of current routing algorithms. The paper reviews current indoor path-finding approaches and discusses some of the limitations. In order to support a natural movement in buildings, typically for emergencies, we purpose a new indoor path-finding approach, that is, the “door-to-door” approach. We present an algorithm, which is applied to 2D floor plan of buildings with complex indoor structure. The algorithm consists of two-level routing: one is to get coarse route between rooms, and the other one is applied to single rooms to acquire the detailed route. Ultimately, several instances are given to illustrate advantages and feasibility of the door-to-door approach. From the test results it is evident this algorithm runs well even on quite complex floor plans. The paper concludes with a discussion of future work, which is to extend the routing approach into 3D, i.e. considering the vertical direction, indoor obstacles and path-finding in 3D scenarios.