Urban Built Environment Visual Features Modeling for 3D GeoSimulation Using USD Standard Specifications: Fid-Bau Portal

Urban Built Environment Visual Features Modeling for 3D GeoSimulation Using USD Standard Specifications

Agbossou, Igor

Standards and approaches for simulating 3D geographic environments are gaining prominence in city research. Urban built environments, complex systems of interconnected visual features, serve as vital resources for urban planners, architects, and engineers, necessitating accurate modeling. Visual features play a crucial role in the digital twin process, enabling the creation of realistic representations of the built environment. Achieving visually realistic and precise urban 3D models requires effective modeling of visual features, encompassing materials, textures, and lighting. To accomplish this, accurate and up-to-date data is paramount, obtainable through various sources such as photography, satellite imagery, or LiDAR data. The Universal Scene Description (USD) emerges as a potent tool for urban simulation, owing to its capability to represent large-scale 3D models with high geometric and visual fidelity. Developed by Pixar Animation Studios, USD is an open-source technology that offers a standardized approach for representing and exchanging scalable 3D data. This paper explores the motivation of adoption and application of the USD framework for urban 3D simulation, highlighting its advantages and key considerations. It also elucidates the points of convergence between 3D geosimulation and virtual geographic environments, shedding light on the challenges associated with integrating USD with other geospatial data formats. Additionally, the article provides recommendations for optimizing USD workflows in the modeling process of urban 3D simulation. Overall, this article emphasizes the transformative potential of USD in revolutionizing urban digital twin processing. It offers valuable insights for researchers and practitioners interested in harnessing this technology for their own applications.