Creating and Using 3D City Models

Abstract

City modelling is a topic which has been on the agenda for a long time. Today crucial questions concerning the creation of a city model are resolved. The vision of the automatic generation of the 3D geometry of a city out of high resolution digital aerial images is a reality now. These new developments decreased the cost for creating and maintaining a 3D city model of a complete city significantly. This paper wants to outline the “history” of 3D city models and show recent developments in this field. An overview about current applications and uses in this field in Austria and the implementation into daily work is shown with examples (Graz and Vienna city models). Additionally the new developments like Street View in Google Earth or Birdis Eye in Virtual earth are discussed in relation to their 3D “relatives”