7 – 8 August, The Legend Hotel,

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

By

Assoc Professor Dr Alias Abdul Rahman,

Chair, 3DGeoinfo’06

Department of Geoinformatics,

Faculty of Geoinformation Science and Engineering,

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

 
The 1^st. International Workshop on 3D Geoinformation 2006 was officiated by Y. Bhg. Datuk Professor Ir Dr Mohd Zulkifli b. Tan Sri Mohd Ghazali, Vice Chancellor, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. It was hosted by the Department of Geoinformatics, Faculty of Geoinformation Science and Engineering in collaboration with the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS); Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands;

Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, Germany; Land Surveyors Board of Peninsular Malaysia, and Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (JUPEM). The event is also supported by Autodesk (platinum sponsor), a multinational software vendor. A total of 58 technical papers and 6 posters were presented at the workshop. Four keynote papers highlighted the new developments on 3D Geoinformation. The presentations were divided into 12 parallel sessions which represent major aspects in 3D GIS, namely, 3D spatial data acquisition –LIDAR and digital photogrammetry;  3D spatial data modeling and representation (I) and (II); 3D GIS frameworks (I) and (II); 3D object reconstruction; 3D object reconstruction and mobile mapping; 3D city modeling; 3D mapping, cadastre, and utility; 3D visualization (I) and (II); and 3D terrain modeling and orthophoto generation. A total of 250 participants registered for the event including 70 overseas participants from 25 countries (USA, Canada, The Netherlands, Germany, U.K., Denmark, France, Sweden, Italy, Slovenia, Russia, Australia, Brazil, China, Iran, Jordan, Nigeria, Oman, UAE, India, Indonesia, Syria, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan) 

In the exhibition area, a total of 17 major exhibitors (local and international) in GIS, remote sensing, photogrammetry, GPS and surveying displayed their products and services. The Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysian (JUPEM) and the Malaysian Centre for Remote Sensing also participated.

Sessions

The 12 parallel sessions were focusing on 3D aspect of geoinfomation ranging from spatial data collection to visualization. Various problems, issues, and challenges were addressed by speakers and audience. Keynote 1 was presented by Prof Dr Sisi Zlatanova (from TU Delft, the Netherlands). She highlighted the issue of creating spatial databasing for 3D objects and several experiments were described. The other keynote paper (Keynote 2) by the Director General of Survey and Mapping Malaysia was presented by his Deputy. The paper revealed the new initiatives and vision of the JUPEM on the aspect of 3D geoinformation products and services. Keynote 3 was presented by Professor Dr Volker Coors from HfT Stuttgart, Germany. He described the new 3D web services also highlighting the emerging trend – smart urban environment. Keynote 4 was presented by Dr Geoff Zeiss from Autodesk Canada which dealt with 3D spatial data standard and initiatives from Open GIS Consortium (OGC) group.

The Book

All accepted papers were reviewed by the International Scientific Committee members. The technical papers have been published by Springer-Verlag based in Heidelberg, Germany as Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography series with the title – Innovations in 3D Geo Information Systems. The book is edited by Alias Abdul Rahman (UTM, Malaysia), Sisi Zlatanova (TU Delft, the Netherlands), and Volker Coors (HfT Stuttgart, Germany).

Post conference research meeting

The meeting was held at the Faculty of Geoinformation Science and Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor on 10 – 11 August, 2006. It was attended by several professors and research collaborators (local and international). The two day event was specially organized for 3D GIS research discussions. The topics discussed include 3D topology for 3D GIS, 3D Utility Mapping, 3D Cadastre and 3D Geoinformation based Smart Cybercity Environment. Professor Chris Gold, Professor Volker Coors, Professor Sisi Zlatanova, Professor Alexander Zipf, Professor Ben Gorte, Professor Lars Bodum and academic staff of the Department of Geoinformatics, UTM attended the post conference meeting.   

Concluding remarks   
  

The workshop clearly demonstrated how 3D geoinformation was increasingly becoming a pre-requisite tool for many users who are embarking on advanced GIS applications. A lot of efforts are needed from GIS scientists and researchers in realizing the 3D GIS software and solutions. The workshop has identified that in the aspect of 3D spatial data capturing and data management about 50% of the problems were addressed. As for data analysis about 10%, data visualization about 90% solved, and in the aspect of 3D interoperability about 40% have been solved. This First International Workshop on 3D Geoinformation has provided great opportunity for professionals, researchers, post graduate students, and users in their endeavour.