OGC invites developers to participate in the CityGML Hackathon

29 April 2019: The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) invites interested developers to the OGC CityGML Hackathon, to be held in London on 11-12 June, 2019.

CityGML is a well-established and implemented OGC standard, first issued in 2008. In this hackathon, participants will experiment with and validate the current draft conceptual model for the upcoming version 3.0 of CityGML.

The Hackathon will build upon the outcomes of the OGC's CityGML Standard Working Group as well as provide Hackathon participants with detailed insights into the Working Group’s plans for the future of CityGML.

Following a detailed explanation of the current draft conceptual model, participants will have the opportunity to experiment with parts of the specification and to develop CityGML datasets. Source data, such as CityGML 2 files, mesh models and Building Information Models, will be made available by Ordnance Survey and other data sponsors, but participants are welcome, and encouraged, to bring their own data to the Hackathon, too.

An OGC Hackathon is a collaborative and inclusive event designed to support the development of new applications and open standards. OGC Hackathons are driven by innovative and rapid programming with minimum process and organisation constraints.

Ordnance Survey (OS) will host the event at the Geovation Hub in London, UK, across two days on June 11-12, 2019. OS will provide a wealth of 3D city model source data to be transformed into CityGML 3.0. This will include 3D data created for the CityVerve project in Manchester.

“Ordnance Survey has been involved in the development of CityGML since 2005 and, as a Strategic Member of OGC, we are hoping to increase the use of open 3D standards in the smart cities field,” said Carsten Rönsdorf, Strategic Product Manager at Ordnance Survey. “The development of CityGML 3.0 has reached a key stage at which a comprehensive draft model needs to be tested against pragmatic requirements to create CityGML datasets. The outcomes of the Hackathon are expected to influence how the upcoming CityGML 3.0 standard will be structured and published, and is seen as a key activity by the OGC CityGML Standard Working Group.”

There will be opportunity for joint discussion with all participants on the goals and objectives of the event, as well as a final briefing of findings and opinions of the participants. However, the majority of the time will be spent in collaboration between participants in active coding and working with datasets.

For more information on the Hackathon, including venue information, registration requirements, and expected skill sets, visit the OGC CityGML Hackathon event page on OGC’s website, or register on Eventbrite. Registrations close Tuesday, 4 June, 2019. The Hackathon is open to anyone: OGC membership is not a requirement.