Level of Detail (LoD) is a well known concept in 3D city models, used to designate different geometric detail that can be used in different applications. Nevertheless, multi-LoD datasets are hard to maintain and manage because of their intrinsic complexity. Versioning is a solution that aids in the storage and management of big and complex dataset, with its main goal being to facilitate the tracking of changes and collaboration. In this paper, we investigate the effects of utilising versioning and, more specifically, the concept of branches as a way to manage the evolution of multi-LoD datasets. We propose a framework according to which every LoD is stored in its own branch and can be extracted and updated independently. We tested this framework on a tile from 3D BAG, a dataset of 3D buildings for the whole of the Netherlands containing four LoDs (namely, LoD0, LoD1.2, LoD1.3 and LoD2.2). Our results suggest that there are certain benefits from this solution, such as the efficient tracking of changes for individual LoDs and the ability to extract and update the model using one LoD at a time. Nevertheless, there is a lot of complexity added to the process as a set of rules needs to be enforced when managing the model.

In this paper, we present our workflow to automatically reconstruct three-dimensional (3D) building models based on two-dimensional building polygons and a lidar point cloud. The workflow generates models at different levels of detail (LoDs) to support data require-ments of different applications from one consistent source. Specific attention has been paid to make the workflow robust to quickly run a new iteration in case of improvements in an algorithm or in case new input data become available. The quality of the reconstructed data highly depends on the quality of the input data and is monitored in several steps of the process. A 3D viewer has been developed to view and download the openly available 3D data at different LoDs in different formats. The workflow has been applied to all 10 million buildings of the Netherlands. The 3D ser-vice will be updated after new input data becomes available.

Roads are important for many urban planning applications, such as traffic modelling and delivery vehicle routing. At present, most available datasets represent roads only as centrelines. This is particularily true for OpenStreetMap which provides, among many features, road networks at worldwide coverage. Furthermore, most approaches for creating more detailed networks, such as carriageways or lanes, focus on doing so from sources that are not easy to acquire, such as satellite imagery or LiDAR scans. In this paper we present a methodology to create carriageways based on OpenStreetMap's centrelines and open access areal representations (i.e. polygons) to determine which roads should be represented as two individual carriageways. We applied our methodology in five areas across four different countries with different built environments. We analysed the outcome in a delivery routing problem to evaluate the validity of our results. Our results suggest that this method can be effectively applied to create carriageways anywhere in the world, as long as there is sufficient coverage by OpenStreetMap and an areal representation dataset of roads.

Climate change and urbanization rates are transforming urban environments, making the use of 3D city models in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) a fundamental ingredient to evaluate urban layouts before construction. However, current geometries used in CFD simulations tend to be built by CFD experts to test specific cases, most of the times oversimplifying their designs due to lack of information or in order to reduce complexity. In this work we explore what are the effects of oversimplifying geometries by comparing wind simulations of different level of detail geometries. We use semantic 3D city models automatically built and adjust them to their suitable use in CFD. For the first test, we explore wind simulations within a troublesome section of the TUDelft campus, the passage next to the EWI building (the tallest building in our domain), where the use of 3D city model variants show how differences in geometry and surface properties affect local wind conditions. Finally we analyze what these differences in velocity magnitude could mean for practitioners in terms of pedestrian wind comfort.

Fully automated reconstruction of high-detail building models on a national scale is challenging. It raises a set of problems that are seldom found when processing smaller areas, single cities. Often there is no reference, ground truth available to evaluate the quality of the reconstructed models. Therefore, only relative quality metrics are computed, comparing the models to the source data sets. In the paper we present a set of relative quality metrics that we use for assessing the quality of 3D building models, that were reconstructed in a fully automated process, in Levels of Detail 1.2, 1.3, 2.2 for the whole of the Netherlands. The source data sets for the reconstruction are the Dutch Building and Address Register (BAG) and the National Height Model (AHN). The quality assessment is done by comparing the building models to these two data sources. The work presented in this paper lays the foundation for future research on the quality control and management of automated building reconstruction. Additionally, it serves as an important step in our ongoing effort for a fully automated building reconstruction method of high-detail, high-quality models.

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 <code>ninja</code>. 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 <code>ninja</code>. We believe that such a web application can facilitate the adoption of 3D city models by more practitioners and decision makers.

OGC CityGML is an open standard for 3D city models intended to foster interoperability and support various applications. However, through our practical experience and discussions with practitioners, we have noticed several problems related to the implementation of the standard and the use of standardized data. Nevertheless, a systematic investigation of these issues has never been carried out, and there is thus insufficient evidence for tackling the problems. The GeoBIM benchmark project is aimed at finding such evidence by involving external volunteers, reporting on various aspects of the behavior of tools (geometry, semantics, georeferencing, functionalities), analyzed and described in this article. This study explicitly pointed out the critical points embedded in the format as an evidence base for future development. A companion article (Part I) describes the results of the benchmark related to IFC, the counterpart of CityGML within building information modeling.