The promotion of the data re-usability was the main motivation behind the conception of linked data. Spatial data can also be expressed as linked data. This thesis explores different approaches to utilize spatial data in linked data format, in order to determine if the technologies have matured enough to assist solving spatial problems. More precisely, it attempts to select a position to build a new shopping center in Delft, Netherlands by using relational data and linked data. Five different Linked-data implementations are identified and examined; two of them, a Geographic SPARQL Protocol and Resource Description Framework (RDF) Query Language (a recursive acronym for GeoSPARQL) (GeoSPARQL) endpoint and an API, are offered from Publieke Dienstverlening Op de Kaart (PDOK). The other three approaches are designed using Oracle Spatial and Graph. From the latter three, one approach utilizes linked data stored in a local database while the rest utilize relational data mapped into linked-data. All five approaches are assessed for GeoSPARQL compliance and are compared to a QGIS solution. From the aforementioned approaches, only the two mapping ones have achieved the desired solution. However, none of them fully complies with GeoSPARQL specification hence, further research is necessary.

The publicly funded ESA Copernicus and NASA Landsat earth observation programs are publishing their data as open data in the promise of 30 billion euro of financial benefit for the EU as well as 50.000 new jobs, both by 2023. The move by these two space agencies fits in a larger pattern of ‘new space’, in which the launch and exploitation of satellites are moved from national agencies to private commercial stakeholders. The data offered by ESA and NASA are published as open data intended for reuse with the objective to create viable value-adding earth observation services, i.e. services which use big and open earth observation as a resource for analytics and provide incentives for all participants, including the client and user, to continue the service provision. Furthermore, the earth observation data are big data, as it satisfies the criteria of high volume, variety and velocity increasing the effort required for handling the data. Even though the market for value-adding earth observation services is growing and has the potential to become the most important market in the whole earth observation value chain from rocket to service, the initial promises of the release of the data are not going to be accomplished at the current pace. Within searched academic literature and during conversations with practitioners, the lack of a structured approach to creating these viable value-adding services has been observed. Furthermore, the research articles on this topic are very much technology-oriented, with only very few articles invoking the interests of stakeholders to make a service design viable. And none of these followed a method for creating the service. This thesis addresses the lack of such a method for the creation of viable services using big and open earth observation data as a resource. Specifically, four knowledge gaps are identified: The first and second knowledge gaps concerned the lack of viable services which used a structured method for their design in the academic literature of respectively the narrow focus area of big and open earth observation data as well as in the larger area of earth observations which includes the previous narrow focus area. The third knowledge gap concerns the lack of factors of big and open earth observation data which influence the viability of a service design within the searched academic literature and the fourth concerns the actual lack of a structured method to guide the design of viable services which use big and open earth observation data as a resource. Together, these knowledge gaps lead to the formulation of the following research objective: “to design a method targeted at service providers for the creation of viable services which use big and open earth observation data as a resource.” The artefact which is developed is a method which guides a service designer through the process of creating a viable service. Following the method results in creating a service design which is both feasible, i.e. technologically possible, and viable, i.e. provides sufficient incentives for all stakeholders involved to carry on its provision. The approach for structuring the creation of the method is the design science research approach for information systems. The demarcation of the problem is the first activity within this approach, and it uses a structured literature review as well unstructured explorative interviews. This is followed by a literature review on influencing factors, using only a structured literature review as a research method. The requirements gathering activity employs a case study method, in which participant-observations and interviews are used for information gathering within three cases. Then, creative methods are used in the design activity to create the artefact. For the following demonstration of the artefact, a case study is again used. Finally, for the evaluation of the artefact a survey based on the combined UTAUT-ECT theory and observations are used to evaluate whether the artefact attains its objectives, and improvements are suggested based on the evaluation and the demonstration. During this research, the author was a research intern at CGI Netherlands in the Space, Defence and Intelligence department, which allowed for rich observations and access to cases. The result is the SIMEO-STOF method consisting of five phases. It combines the Service Innovation Method for Earth Observation (SIMEO) with the STOF model tailored for the earth observation domain. The first phase guides a designer through the process of finding together with a client a new service idea based on the current capabilities of earth observation analytics and the business processes of the client. Linking the earth observation capabilities to the limitations of current earth observation data supply allows for the rapid exclusion of unfeasible or unviable ideas. Any ideas that pass this initial set of limitations can proceed to the second phase. In this service domain, essential aspects of the value proposition are defined. This is followed by the technology phase, where principles of security and big data computing are set as well as a first architecture of the IT systems. Then, acquisition of external resources and inter-organizational relations are discussed in the organizational phase. Finally, the amount and form of value retained by the service provider are discussed in the financial phase. As a demonstration, the artefact is applied to the case of a crude and refined oil transhipment provider in the harbour of Rotterdam. The result of the application is a service design which is most likely to be viable, considering some issues still need resolving. Whilst not being definitively viable, the identification of issues which require resolution to achieve viability is an outcome which gets as close as possible to a viable design. The artefact is evaluated for internal and external validity, respectively whether it fulfils the quality requirements and whether it fulfils its objective. Both were included in a survey held amongst employees of a service providing company interested in the use of the SIMEO-STOF method. Whilst the limited number of responses did not allow for any statistical analysis, the descriptive statistics and observations allowed for the concussion of a generally positive evaluation. Measured by the attitude towards using the SIMEO-STOF method, the method fulfils its objective of facilitating the creation of viable services which use big and open earth observation data as a resource. Whilst there is a mixed response to the quality requirements, observations indicate that part of these can be explained by different levels of expectation. Some participants thought of a future use for the artefact and judged the quality requirement based on this instead of the actual objective. In terms of academic contributions, this research contributes to all four identified knowledge gaps. Foremost, it provides a viable service design method in form of the SIMEO-STOF method. This extends the service design literature to the application domain of earth observations, which has not previously been viewed from this perspective. Furthermore, factors of big and open earth observation data that contribute to the understanding of its effects on viable service design have been identified, in direct response to a further knowledge gap. Ultimately, the result of the SIMEO-STOF method demonstration is a viable service design created with a structured method, which is a contribution to the first and second knowledge gaps. In terms of societal contributions, the SIEMO-STOF method may accelerate growth in the ‘value-added EO services’ market, not only allowing service providers to more efficiently and effectively design viable service and create value, it may also lead to increased market growth on the suppliers side and an argument for open data publishers for the value of their activities. Though the use of the SIMEO-STOF method, EO service providers may be able to achieve the expected breakthrough of EO services within the broader society, which is one of the objectives of the ESA open data portal. One of the principal limitations of this research comes from the choice of case study as the main research method, which limits the generality of the results. This is valid for the environment form which requirements are gathered, the type of data used and the design perspective of a service provider which is taken. The author suggests further research to include cases which cover aspects previously not included, for example, a business to consumer service, non-satellite earth observation data, and the inclusion of cases from different service providers. Another important limitation concerns the novel application of the UTAUT-ECT theory in a novel wats, including to an information system which is not a practical implementation of a technology but a method. Combined with the reduced number of respondents in the survey, the UTAUT-ECT-model adapted from theory for this research could not be tested statistically. Future research could focus on repeating the novel application of the theory with sufficient respondents to allow for validation of its application. The objective of this research is the design of a method targeted at service providers for the creation of viable services which use big and open earth observation data as a resource. Considering the successful demonstration, and the generally positive evaluation of the SIMEO-STOF method, the author considers this objective to be attained.

In the Dutch government attempting to become fully circular 2050, VMRG, a Dutch Metal Façade Association, has initiated several pilot projects. Two of the most prominent ones are Cirlinq, an asset management platform for documenting building facades, and FaSA (Façade Service Applicate), a collective of stakeholders aiming to use drones and image recognition technology predict the maintenance requirement of facades. There are also attempts to extend the producers' responsibility by developing new business models in collaboration with TU Delft, resulting in developing a Façade Leasing Business model. However, despite these several initiatives and the emergence of new technology to facilitate them, there was still a lack of clarity on how they can be integrated to collect, organize and use façade information to enable decision-making at its End of service. The first steps of the research involved conducting a literature review on the current state of the art in Circularity, the façade industry, and digital technology in the lifecycle of a façade. A preliminary framework was generated that conceptually maps out the information generated in the lifecycle of a façade, a data structure to store this information, and a conceptual framework for a façade product passport. Based on this preliminary framework, several hypotheses were tested and validated or refuted using surveys and interviews, which helped develop a more detailed framework. This contains detailed process maps of stakeholder roles in the supply chain of the façade, the digital methods used, and information exchanged in the process. Several criteria are identified by referring to additional literature that can influence the End of Service (EoS) scenario of a façade and are categorized and arranged into decision trees, which eventually can form a framework for a computational tool. These are then grouped into modules which, when processed together, results in a decision. The criteria were then co-related to the information currently exchanged by the stakeholders to determine what is most crucial to making a decision. During this process, it was found that most information required to make a decision is un-processable by computational methods; firstly, they are in unstructured data formats such as documents, and secondly, the necessary criteria to make a decision are subjective and still need human interpretation. Therefore, the decision-making framework can either be used to evaluate existing facades scheduled for demolition or determine the crucial information to be entered in the passport for facades that are not yet constructed. The entire framework from information capture, organization, and end-of-life decision-making is then demonstrated with information received of the CiTG Façade in the TU Delft campus as part of the Façade Leasing project TU Delft. During this evaluation, it was found that several essential information about the façade not available, and hence the façade was evaluated by assuming industry-standard processes and references to external databases such as the Granta Edu Pack. Information that is available and information generated is noted, which indicates the most crucial information required for EoS Decision making. During the EoS assessment process, while the façade can be disassembled and reused, it can be done early to design a new building, as it had fixed non-modular dimensions. Many conditions have to be considered, mainly regarding sizing, geometry, positioning, and structural system of the façade while designing the building for the CiTG façade to be reused. It was also found that recycling and energy recovery of the façade is only possible if the separation between the aluminum profiles and the thermal barrier is achieved. Although specific modules such as the condition assessment and the performance assessment could not be thoroughly carried out, a table with results of the assessments is generated and therefore acts as a starting point of how this framework can eventually be used and adapted to assess different facades. This framework can be eventually be developed in an iterative manner which can expand it to cater to multiple façade typologies and eventually forming a basis for an EoS assessment tool. All the research questions are answered at the end, acting as a summary of findings. As this research is just a starting point for further in-depth research, conclusions are made regarding recommendations to the Dutch Metal Façade industry and the following possible research stages.

In this thesis, a proof of concept is developed that describes a complete data processing chain for registering new apartment rights in 3D. This chain starts by defining and adding legal space to Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) Building Information Model (BIM) models. Once the IFC BIMs are enriched with legal space, the 3D parcels are automatically extracted. The legal space is checked and validated, and stored in a Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) compliant database. Finally, the legal space is visualised on a desktop and browser-based client. Currently, there is no functional 3D Cadastral system functional in the Netherlands. A pilot study has been conducted to register 3D rights on the railway station in the city of Delft. This complex area contained many stacked objects such as a tunnel, offices, shops, etc. [Stoter et al., 2017]. However, the 3D drawings of the area were stored in a PDF document, which only serves as a visualisation tool in a separate document in the Public Registers. As a result, it is not possible to check for overlap with other 3D Cadastral objects. This research focuses on registering apartment rights for a 3D cadastre by using IFC BIM models as source data. Apartment rights are one of the most common rights found in apartment complexes. The IFC file format is chosen because it is the most widely used open data format for the exchange of BIM. In the Netherlands, submitting a IFC BIM file is mandatory for obtaining a construction permit for buildings with a value of 10 million euro or higher. IFC BIM files contain a lot of information, including 3D geometries of the indoor spaces, constructions and building infrastructure. However, there is no explicit information defining the individual apartments (property units). Therefore, the IFC is enriched with legal space in order to enable fully automatic extraction of the 3D spaces that belong to one apartment. This enrichment is based on analysing the current way of registering apartment rights using annotated 2D floorplans as part of a notarial deed [Kadaster, 2014, 2019c], analysing the Dutch legal system related to apartment rights, and based on this knowledge make a proposal for enriched IFC IFC files. To reach practical suggestions for the IFC enrichment, that can be used in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, stakeholders such as notaries, the Dutch cadastre, BIM experts and other parties are involved. Also, current guidelines and practices in the Netherlands on IFC usage have been taken carefully into consideration, such as specification documents of the National Government and the National BIM Platform. The conclusions of this research are that it is possible to enrich IFC BIM model with legal space in such a way that it fits current IFC BIM practices and legal system as much as possible. This is demonstrated with two use cases that describe the registration process of a (fictional) new apartment building, and sub splitting apartment rights of a (fictional) existing building. It is also concluded that there is still many future work to be done, such as improving the definition of legal space in IFC, further researching cadastral administration systems, and the changes to the current in the legal system that are required to facilitate 3D registration of property units.

We are now gradually entering the era of big data - maybe a bit too much of a buzzword, but it is not lied. Technology is evolving fast, enabling faster and more efficient data acquisition, storage, retrieval and processing. Point cloud datasets are such a type which relies on large files and lots of processing power. The rather fast evolutions in technology enable the shared idea between Delft University of Technology and Fugro of an ‘Open Point Cloud Map’. This Open Point Cloud Map aims at making point cloud datasets easily available to the public, even letting them performsimple analysis. Both Fugro and TU Delft want to take lead in development of such an environment; three student teams from TU Delft thus form a partnership with Fugro to kick-off three in-depth researches which would result in one step closer to the vision of OPCM. The ChronoCity team will focus on the time-component (Figure 1.1) in the acquainted point clouds, while the other two teams focus on location-dependency and different scales and granularities of the datasets. The Chronocity-team strives to create an online interactive tool which gives the user the ability to view, explore and analyze massive point cloud datasets on-the-fly. Since the limited timespan in which the project should take place this would not yield a fully optimized application, but at least the general principles are defined and evaluated on for a more defined future in the development of the OPCM. A large portion of the efforts will go into making the data and analyses available to the public - in an interactive and user-friendly way; because without this availability, the underlying principles are not brought to the public also. Regarding these underlying principles the most important one is change detection. During the project a suitable algorithm is designed and evaluated for detecting new, removed and changed geometric points.

The declining availability of practical hours for medical anatomical education has prompted Enatom to develop a digital anatomical platform, utilizing the open-source WebGL-based point cloud renderer Potree. This platform, which employs detailed point cloud scans of anatomical structures, aims to offer a dynamic and interactive educational experience. Although Enatom's focus is not directly on geomatics, the techniques employed in this project have strong parallels with those used in geomatics, thereby enabling a symbiotic exchange of expertise. This interdisciplinary approach enhances the development of Enatom’s digital platform, with the potential to contribute to the field of geomatics. To address existing user experience challenges, this project has added a lasso-selection tool tailored for Potree, advanced annotation capabilities, and methods for sensitive data anonymization within the point cloud. The project's outcomes will be available in an open-source format at https://github.com/GEO1101-Synthesis-Group4/Selection-Annotation-Repo. This project exemplifies the versatile application of geomatics expertise beyond its traditional scope, demonstrating its potential in enhancing diverse domains such as medical education.

This research focuses on a smooth rendering of continuous 2D map based on a smooth 3D vario-scale geographical data structure. A Space Scale Cube (SSC) offers non-redundant geometric data for the different level of details. SSC model represents geographic data as a closed polyhedron, to generate a 2D map; SSC is intersected with the projection plane; resulting in a set of 2D polygons. However, problems emerge when creating maps with a large sized SSC dataset under web environment due to limited bandwidth and decoding speed. Repetitively transmitting data from the server to the client can be time and bandwidth consuming. A preprocess should be applied to a source that allows the follow-up development of an online traffic and time-efficient prototype. After preprocessing, large sized data will be subdivided based on octree algorithm to minimize transmission time from server to the client; moreover, accessible to WebGL. A prototype has been developed which enables smooth and timely vario-scale map rendering against heavy user actions such as fast zooming and panning in a short period. Modified prototype program allows query of only relevant data chunks by current viewport position; it prevents repeated loading of same chunks; what is more, repeated transmission of data from outside to GPU is eliminated. A tree structure is embedded at the client side that facilitates retrieve time. Rendering happens every frame; hence the prototype responses to heavy user actions timely. Also, it can obtain coordinates in RD coordinate system by double clicking. After testing the modified program with a 9km by 9km dataset online, exceptional performance is indicated by a high average frame rate (57 fps) and low main memory occupation (with a network speed at 9MB/s). The prototype performance is significant affected by the client network condition; low network speed can decrease the frame rate. For instance, the web service achieved a frame rate of 47 fps at a network speed at 6MB/s.

This paper has its focus on the accessibility, interoperability and quality of different point cloud datasets. The main objective of the project is to research the process of harmonizing point cloud datasets of different origins and to incorporate the integrated datasets in a web viewer that allows for visualization and analysis. As a case study, the Three-Country Point (TCP) where Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands share a border is evaluated.