Extending 3D geometric file formats for geospatial applications

This study addresses the representation and exchange of geospatial geometric 3D models, which is a common requirement in various applications like outdoor mixed reality, urban planning, and disaster risk management. Over the years, multiple file formats have been developed to cater to diverse needs, offering a wide range of supported features and target areas of application. However, classic exchange formats like the JavaScript Object Notation and the Extensible Markup Language have been predominantly favored as a basis for exchanging geospatial information, leaving out common geometric information exchange formats such as Wavefront’s OBJ, Stanford’s PLY, and OFF. To bridge this gap, our research proposes three novel extensions for the mentioned geometric file formats, with a primary focus on minimizing storage requirements while effectively representing geospatial data and also allowing to store semantic meta-information. The extensions, named GeoOBJ, GeoOFF, and GeoPLY, offer significant reductions in storage needs, ranging from 14 to 823% less compared to standard file formats, while retaining support for an adequate number of semantic features. Through extensive evaluations, we demonstrate the suitability of these proposed extensions for geospatial information representation, showcasing their efficacy in delivering low storage overheads and seamless incorporation of critical semantic features. The findings underscore the potential of GeoOBJ, GeoOFF, and GeoPLY as viable solutions for efficient geospatial data representation, empowering various applications to operate optimally with minimal storage constraints.