v1.0.0
This is the first release of the TestADE extension for the Importer/Exporter and WFS tools of the 3D City Database.
The new major version 4.0 of the 3D City Database brings support for CityGML Application Domain Extensions (ADEs). The ADE mechanism is a built-in feature of CityGML that allows users to extend the CityGML data model with additional types, attributes and relations, which carry information required for specific applications and which are integrated with the predefined 3D city objects. ADEs are becoming more and more popular, and are defined for various application fields such as energy assessment and simulation (Energy ADE) or modelling of utility networks (UtilityNetwork ADE). A non-exhaustive list of further ADE developments is available here.
The 3DCityDB database schema can be dynamically extended by arbitrary ADEs. We have developed a transform method that reads the XML Schema definition of an ADE and automatically derives a relational schema that seamlessly integrates with the 3DCityDB core schema. This method is presented in detail here, and has been implemented in the newly available ADE Manager Plugin for our Importer/Exporter tool. The plugin allows users to register one or more ADEs with an existing 3DCityDB instance and automatically generates SQL scripts to work with the ADE data (e.g. for the performant deletion of ADE objects from the database). The Importer/Exporter tool itself has been extended with an ADE API. So, if you want to use this tool to import and export ADE data, then you have to implement this API.
The TestADE extension is an example implementation of the new ADE API. The TestADE itself is an artifical ADE and has been designed to cover the most common modelling elements that occur in real-world ADEs. Therefore, the source code in this repository may serve as template for implementing other ADEs.
To test the TestADE, simply download the ZIP archive provided with this release and unzip it into the ade-extensions
folder within the installation directory of the Importer/Exporter (or WFS). Afterwards, use the ADE Manager Plugin to register the ADE with an existing 3DCityDB. This repository also contains test datasets that you can use for imports and exports. Have fun :-)
Note that version 1.0 of the TestADE extension is meant to be used with version 4.0 of the Importer/Exporter and WFS.