Reviewing the versioning in 3D city model to track building history and progress

Abstract Managing information regarding building history and progress poses significant challenges, particularly in contexts such as construction, renovation, or demolition within urban environments. This study reviews the importance and application of versioning as a solution to address these challenges. Versioning offers a systematic approach to documenting changes over time, facilitating the tracking of building evolution. In the context of 3D city models, versioning provides advantages such as enhanced visualization and analysis capabilities, enabling stakeholders to better understand the development trajectory of urban landscapes. Versioning serves multiple crucial functions within the realm of 3D city models. Firstly, it enables the depiction of temporal information, aligning with the model’s time dimension and delineating key events such as generation, modification, or destruction. Additionally, versioning acts as a vital backup and recovery mechanism, affording users the ability to revert to primary iterations should issues arise. Moreover, it plays a pivotal role in ensuring rigorous quality control, necessitating thorough examination and approval of each model iteration before progression. This study aims to delve into the significance and practicality of versioning within the context of 3D city models, employing CityGML and CityJSON formats for comparative analysis. By scrutinizing the benefits and limitations of versioning across these data models, the research sheds light on its nuanced implications. Furthermore, it surveys prior research endeavors utilizing versioning and temporal data in 3D city model applications, offering insights into existing methodologies and their efficacy. Ultimately, the investigation reveals the complexities associated with implementing versioning, particularly within the CityGML framework, attributed to its intricate schema.