Advancing Open 3D Modelling Standards in National Spatial Information Policy

Abstract

Individuals and organisations around the world - facing extraordinary challenges and new opportunities - are together engaged in numerous projects, involving natural and built environments. Spatial information policy is at the heart of these projects. The information technologies available enable individuals to observe, measure, describe, map and portray these environments with increasing ease, flexibility and precision. In our time, individuals create digital geographic objects that reflect the ones of the real world, so that we can better understand it, sharing our understandings and managing our diverse activities. National Spatial Data Infrastructures (NSDIs) provide public information about survey points, elevation, roads, political boundaries and water bodies. Basic aerial images are widely useful, as are data about land use and land cover. The purpose of this paper is to help policy makers understand the role of policy in advancing standards that support the goals of INSPIRE, the overarching European SDI effort, and SDIs in general. To illustrate the role of policy in SDI formation, the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) executive committee in the Netherlands called Geonovum, will be examined. It has been working on behalf of the Dutch Kadaster, the Netherlands Geodetic Commission and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment towards the establishment of a national 3D standard that aligns both the existing national 2D standards and the International OGC standard for 3D geo-information, CityGML (OGC, 2012). The Netherlands’ CityGML-based national 3D standard is an important step towards the inclusion of comprehensive 3D information about the built and natural environment within the Dutch SDI.