• (23rd of March 2010): A new sample dataset in LOD2 has been added to the dataset section. The dataset contains a GeoreferencedTexture element whose mapping function is provided by a separate World File.
• (21st of March 2010): There are two updates for CityGML software developers in the Software section. First, CodeSynthesis XSD is an open source, cross-platform XML data binding compiler for C++. It supports generation of the object model as well as parsing and serialization code from CityGML schemas. Second, a new release of the CityGML Java API citygml4j has been published. The latest version 1.0ea comes with a range of new features and functionalities.
• (6th of January 2010): The OGC seeks input on the next revision of CityGML (see official OGC press release). The public is invited to submit change requests, proposed additions as well as suggestions for the future development of CityGML. The deadline for submissions is February 26, 2010. The public OGC online form for change and feature requests as well as guidance for the submission is available at http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/cr. Please note that anyone (i.e., OGC members and non-members, organizations as well as individuals) can answer this call.

• (1st of December 2009): The Software section has been updated again: new versions of Aristoteles (1.3.01) and LandXPlorer (2009a) CityGML viewers are available. New, free viewers like FZKViewer 0.9, Ptolemy3D, CityVu and commercial viewers like BS Contact Geo 7.2, FME Data Inspector are referenced. References to a free CityGML Plugin for Sketchup and the Open Source BIM Server project were added.
• Work on the next versions of CityGML (1.1, 2.0) will be started by the reconstitution of the CityGML Standard Working Group on the next meeting of the Technical Committee of the Open Geospatial Consortium in Mountain View, California in December 2009. If you are an OGC member and want to contribute, please join the SWG!
• A nice new test dataset in LOD3 has been added to the dataset section.
• The Special Interest Group 3D (SIG 3D), who originally developed CityGML, has been working on a couple of thematic extensions for CityGML. Subsurface ADE, Bridge ADE, and Utility Networks ADE (under development) may be already included in the next version of CityGML (1.1). Some information on these ADEs and some more ADEs from third parties including the XML schema files can be found in the CityGML Wiki.
• (1st of February 2009): The Software sectionhas been updated: new versions of Aristoteles and LandXPlorer CityGML viewers are available. A new free and Open Source Java library, CityGML4j, and a 3D geo database have been added.
• New papers, presentations, and an e-learning module have been added to the Presentations section.

• (5th of December 2008): A new CityGML test dataset has been added. This dataset has an uncompressed size of 44 GB and is intended to be used for performance evaluations of visualization tools, GIS, and 3D geodatabases. Can you handle it?
• (29th of October 2008) The OGC has posted the official CityGML version 1.0.0 schemas to http://schemas.opengis.net/citygml/. These schemas shall be used for XML validation of CityGML 1.0.0 instance documents. For valid documents, please make sure to use the official XML namespace identifier and schemaLocations of the CityGML 1.0.0 modules. An overview of the XML namespaces and schemaLocations can be found in the CityGML Wiki.
• (1st of October 2008) A new CityGML Application Domain Extension for a web based 3D flood information system was developed within a Master Thesis at Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences.The project website provides further information and downloads (incl. the MSc thesis, the XML schema, and some sample data).
• (1st of September 2008): A new CityGML test dataset from the field of environmental simulation (noise immission mapping) has been made available! It employs the Noise Application Domain Extension explained in the CityGML specification document.

• All CityGML test datasets are now also available in version 1.0.0 and 0.4.0!
• The XML schema documents and UML diagrams for CityGML 1.0.0 can be downloaded from the resources section.

• The members of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) have adopted version 1.0.0 of CityGML as an official OGC Standard (official OGC press release). Over the last 9 months the CityGML SWG has done a lot of work on finally bringing CityGML to an adopted international standard. Many thanks go to the members of the CityGML SWG, to the members of the SIG 3D, and to the whole CityGML community for the support and effort in making this happen.
  The final CityGML version 1.0.0 Standard document can be obtained from the CityGML section of the OGC web presence (direct document link). The CityGML XML Schema definition files will be published shortly by the OGC.

• (24th of June 2008): The presentation slides from the OGC Interoperability Day on the 3rd of June 2008 are available in the corresponding resources section.

• The final vote on CityGML 1.0 for adoption as OGC International Standard has been launched within the OGC Technical Committee. The adaption vote coincides with a 60 day Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) consideration period, and thus is due by August 12, 2008.

• The OGC has announced the next OGC Interoperability Days to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 3 and 4, 2008, in Potsdam, Germany (official OGC press release). CityGML will be an agenda highlight for the Technical Interoperability Day on Tuesday. The SIG 3D has been granted a considerable time slot for presentations and real world examples on CityGML. The OGC Interoperability Days are open both for OGC members and non OGC members. On both days, attendance is free and attendees will have opportunities to attend company and project presentations. Detailed program and registration information are available at www.opengeospatial.org/event/080603techinterop and www.opengeospatial.org/event/080604interop. Please note, that registration is free, but attendees must register separately for each day. The event will be held at GFZ Potsdam, Telegrafenberg 326, 14473 Potsdam, www.gfz-potsdam.de

• The OGC has opened the 30-days public comment phase on the candidate CityGML version 1.0 Encoding Standard (official OGC press release). The public is thereby requested to submit comments on the draft CityGML version 1.0 specification to the OGC. The corresponding Request for Comment (RFC) can be downloaded from www.opengeospatial.org/standards/requests/47. Comments are due by March 20, 2008.
• A new report of the working group on "City model updating and continuation" of the SIG 3D is available (in German, download)
• The CityGML Standards Working Group (CityGML SWG) was launched in December 2007 within OGC. The aim of the SWG is to advance the best practice document to an adopted OGC standard. The next step is the preparation of the RFC process which is scheduled for February 2008.

• A range of CityGML tutorials and courses will be given in 2008:
  • EuroSDR EduServ6 with an introductory meeting in Stuttgart, Germany, on March 6th-7th and two weeks of distance E-learning course in May 19th-30th (further information)
  • 3rd ISPRS Summer School on June 29th in Nanjing, China (further information)
  • Runder Tisch GIS on February, 26th in Munich, Germany (in German; further information)
  • Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photogrammetrie und Fernerkundung on April 23th in Oldenburg, Germany (in German; further information)

• Since July 2007, CityGML is an OGC adopted Best Practice Paper! At the July meeting in Paris the OGC Technical Committee approved the CityGML Specification version 0.4.0 as an OGC Best Practice Paper. Therefore, CityGML is an official position of the OGC membership on 3D city modelling. The Specification document (OGC Document No. 07-062, PDF 9.8 MB) can be freely downloaded from the Best Practices Paper section of the Open Geospatial Consortium website. CityGML is discussed both in SIG 3D and the OGC 3DIM working group (formerly known as the CAD/GIS Interoperability WG).
• The XML application schema for version 0.4.0 is available for download.
• A Change Document tracking the changes from the previous CityGML version 0.3.0 to CityGML version 0.4.0 is available.
• A new CityGML Wiki (www.citygmlwiki.org) has been launched. The Wiki is a community documentation and communication platform. Research projects & institutes, commercial & free implementations, and much more can be found there - and added by anybody. Please provide information about your CityGML related projects, publications, and products, too!
• An online documentation of the CityGML 0.4.0 XML schema document is available. Also the current UML diagrams are available for download.
• The CityGML specification 0.3.0 is the most downloaded OGC Discussion Paper so far! (Information from Carl Reed, OGC)
• CityGML was extensively used and evaluated in the OGC Web Services Testbed No. 4 (OWS-4). Results of OWS-4 are documented in a 12 minute video and interactive demo. Experiences and findings of the CAD/GIS/BIM thread within OWS-4 have been documented in an OGC discussion paper (OGC Document No. 07-023r2, PDF 1.2 MB). An OGC press release about the results of the CAD/GIS/BIM thread was published on 2007-06-25.
• Two OGC Web Feature Services (one WFS using Snowflake GoPublisher, one WFS-T using the deegree framework) serving CityGML datasets are online and publicly accessible. Use these WFS to test web services based access to 3D city models! The Aristoteles GML3 viewer provides a WFS interface (see here). Also the company Onuma provides CityGML WFS access to some of their building designs in the US.
• A CityGML tutorial was held in Urumqi, China, beforehand the ISPRS Workshop on "Updating Geo-spatial Databases with Imagery". The presentation (about 100 slides) is available for download below. It contains also a discussion about the relation of CityGML, KML, COLLADA, X3D, and IFC.

• A two page flyer about CityGML is available for download.
• We have included a new, specific mechanism to support the extension of CityGML by third parties, the so-called Application Domain Extensions (ADE). ADEs define domain specific extensions to CityGML by augmenting existing CityGML feature types with further spatial and non-spatial properties. Above, new feature types based on CityGML feature types can be derived. ADEs are specified with their own namespaces and using XML schema. This preserves the possibiliy for XML validation even of extended CityGML files.
• CityGML was extensively used and evaluated in the OGC Web Services Testbed No. 4 (OWS-4). Results of OWS-4 will be published on the OGC homepage and on this website soon.
• CityGML is employed in the implementation of the European Commission's Environmental Noise Directive within the state North-Rhine Westphalia in Germany. A Noise ADE has been developed, which can be downloaded below. Also some recent papers about the usage of CityGML for noise mapping are available here.
• We have now a logo for CityGML. Our special thanks go to the designer Maria Iqbal!
• Recent presentations of CityGML at Ordnance Survey (18th of January 2007), Southampton, and on the GITA / OGC Emerging Technologies Summit in Washington (21-23th of March 2007). The slides are available here.

• The OGC Technical Committee has approved the CityGML specification as an OGC Discussion Paper on their meeting in Edinburgh. The specification document (OGC 06-057r1, PDF 3.3 MB) can be freely downloaded from the discussion papers section of the Open Geospatial Consortium homepage. The XML schema files and test datasets can be found here. Within OGC, CityGML is discussed and further developed within the CAD/GIS Interoperability Working Group.

• CityGML has become a working item in the running OGC Web Services Testbed No. 4 (OWS-4). One of the working items is a synchronization / harmonization with the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), an ISO standard for Building Information Models issued by the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI). It is intended to jointly produce a specification that defines the mapping between CityGML and IFC.

• Comments and change requests can be entered in the future immediately on the upcoming CityGML pages on OGC Network.

• We are starting to collect and maintain a list of CityGML (also partial) implementations. If your commercial or Open Source product is capable of handling CityGML, please send us a short abstract of no more than 200 words and two hyperlinks: one directly pointing to the product, and possibly a second one pointing to the company or institution homepage.

• A new article on CityGML jointly penned by SIG 3D and OGC appeared in Directions Magazine.

• New test datasets and a new version of the Aristoteles viewer (incl. a rough WFS interface, texture editing & rectification capabilities) are available. All datasets are adapted to the latest CityGML XML schema.

• The CityGML Implementation Specification document has been finalised and was submitted to the Open Geospatial Consortium on 2nd of June, 2006. OGC members can download it from the pending documents list (OGC Doc. No. 06-057). CityGML will be discussed within the CAD/GIS Interoperability Working Group on the TC meeting in June 2006 in Edinburgh. If CityGML will be approved as an official Discussion Paper, it will become freely downloadable in July. However, the XML schema, UML diagrams, and test datasets can already be found here.

• The version number was changed from 1.0 beta down to 0.3.0 in order to synchronize with the version number of the OGC CityGML Implementation Specification proposal. The current version 0.3.0 reflects the state of CityGML that has been prepared by the SIG 3D under the internal version number 1.0 beta.

• Recent updates to CityGML 0.3.0 (important for implementors):

• The CityGML namespace was changed to the URL http://www.citygml.org/citygml/1/0/0
• At many places in the XML schema the surface geometries from thematic feature types were changed from gml:_Surface to gml:MultiSurface in order to allow for the representation of unconnected surface patches.
• Addresses now are represented as features. Address details have to be specified using the Extendible Address Language xAL 2.0 from the OASIS consortium.
• Most thematic features (subclasses of _CityObject) now have the attributes class, function, and usage. Class can be used for nearer classification, function denotes the object's purpose(s) and usage its possible and actual usages.
• Implicit geometries (using prototypical shapes) can now be used by thematic features of the types BuildingFurniture, SolitaryVegetationObject, CityFurniture, and GenericCityObject.
• The suffixes '...Property' and '...Geometry' were removed from the names of the corresponding property elements.
• Surfaces can now have more than one material / texture per side.
• For most of the enumerative attributes corresponding external code lists have been specified (see file CityGML_ExternalCodeLists.xml in the CityGML schema archive below). These values should be regarded as a suggestion of the SIG 3D. They may be completely redefined by other information communities or in other countries.

• A first version of the CityGML specification document has been distributed to the members of EuroSDR in order to gather comments and corrections for the OGC proposal submission.

• CityGML 1.0 has been finished! The beta version of the UML diagrams and XML schemas can be downloaded.

• CityGML is used in conjunction with a transactional Web Feature Service (WFS-T) for the administration, continuation and usage of the official virtual 3D city model of Berlin. The components are currently being adapted for the 3D city model of Bonn.

• British Ordnance Survey has joined the modeling working group in summer 2005

• Starting in January 2006, the application and adaption of CityGML in the European Community is investigated and promoted in an EuroSDR project (European Spatial Data Research, formerly known as OEEPE)

Created and maintained by Thomas H. Kolbe
Last update: 2012-04-24