Mapping agency to support city state in developing model for 3D data to support collaboration between government agencies
National mapping agency Ordnance Survey has been signed up to support the Singapore Government in its project to develop an open standardised data model to store digital 3D images of cities and landscapes.
The agency will work with the Government and the National University of Singapore in developing the methodology and algorithms for an automated conversion of IFC-BIM construction industry data into the CityGML format.
The conversion is expected to reduce costs in creating and updating semantically enriched 3D city models.
James Crawford, Ordnance Survey’s technical product manager, will be based in Singapore to work on the project. He said the development of digital standards would help to increase collaboration between government agencies in the city state.
“Standards play an important piece of this puzzle, because they are an effective means to removing barriers – i.e. they enable and support a common understanding across domain groups, industry sectors and organisations,” he said.
“Without first establishing a common set of tools, language and technologies, the actors in these different systems cannot collaborate or at least to a level that will be necessary in order to achieve this vision.”
Skills factor
Patrick Janssen, associate professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Department of Architecture, said Ordnance Survey was chosen for its experience and skills in data processing, and access to a development community.
The agency has been pushing its expertise in overseas market over recent years, and claims to have begun pulling in some deals with much of the response coming from Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
A spokesperson said some overseas authorities are attracted by its ability to develop location data to support planning for the implementation of new technologies such as the internet of things and 5G.
Image by Bernard Spragg, public domain through flickr
