A multiple representation data structure for dynamic visualisation of generalised 3D city models

In this paper, a novel multiple representation data structure for dynamic visualisation of 3D city models, called CityTree, is proposed. To create a CityTree, the ground plans of the buildings are generated and simplified. Then, the buildings are divided into clusters by the road network and one CityTree is created for each cluster. The leaf nodes of the CityTree represent the original 3D objects of each building, and the intermediate nodes represent groups of close buildings. By utilising CityTree, it is possible to have dynamic zoom functionality in real time. The CityTree methodology is implemented in a framework where the original city model is stored in CityGML and the CityTree is stored as X3D scenes. A case study confirms the applicability of the CityTree for dynamic visualisation of 3D city models.