Component based 3D GIS software design for the urban planning

An increasing number of users of GISs have been asking for 3D extensions for years. One popular approach for modeling 3D geo-features is to create 3D CAD model manually. In particular, manual 3D geo-feature modeling approach provides a high quality of visualization for 3D GIS features. However, this approach can be time consuming to generate 3D models being created manually and requires high costs.. The design philosophies of our proposed 3D GIS software components are interoperability, standardization, reusability, adaptability and performance. We introduce a novel-modeling concept; so-called, Rule-based modeling (RBD) that can model 3D geo-features using 2D profiles and 3D feature attributes. By using rule-based engine and model library, we are able to create 3D geo-features automatically. RBD component combines a synthetic modeler with efficient LOD (level-of-detail) control for real-time rendering. In addition to, describing the details of our component, we present the comparison result between manual modeling and proposed rule-based modeling in terms of the following criteria: input data domain, interoperability, reusability and modeling cost.