- SIG 3D is a special interest group in Europe focused on modeling of cities and urban landscapes.
- Some of their members have also been elected to the EU’s SDI INSPIRE working groups.
- They are promoting the use of CityGML as the 3D data standard. The US needs to organize a similar effort.
As it is a slow day for laser scanning industry news, this might be a good time to identify SIG 3D, since this special interest group is promoting the use of 3D modeling for cities and urban landscapes. The members are mostly from Germany – the worldwide leader in 3D digital cities, but other European citizens are invited to join.
The European Union has mandated the use of a common spatial data infrastructure known as INSPIRE. The SIG 3D group has placed some of their members on the INSPIRE expert working groups where it was recently announced that they will be promoting the use of the OGC CityGML standard.
This is the kind of positive effect that standards and forward looking organizations can have in the marketplace. The US and other regions of the world would benefit from a similar effort, as would the laser scanning industry. I think we are missing the opportunity to create long term demand for our products and services.
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