v5.0.0

This is a major release which comes with new features, improvements and bugfixes. The main reason for bumping the major version is that we are following SemVer and introduced non-backwards compatible changes to some APIs and the source code of the Importer/Exporter.

Notable new features and additions

• Added Docker files to build your own images for the Importer/Exporter command-line interface. Pre-built Docker images are available from Docker Hub at https://hub.docker.com/r/3dcitydb/impexp. #209
• Added an import list filter to the import operation for both the GUI and the CLI that allows a user to provide a CSV file containing identifiers of features that shall be imported or skipped. #202
• Enhanced feature version filter to support searching for terminated features. #192, #185
• Added a Plugins section to the preferences tab of the Importer/Exporter GUI that lists all installed and available plugins and lets a user dynamically enable and disable plugins. #194
• Added the FeatureImportExtension plugin extension that lets you hook your code into the import operation. #195
• MetadataProvider is now a plugin extension in its own right and can be used without FeatureExportExtension.
• Affine transformations are now also available for the CityGML/CityJSON export operation. #196
• Added support for importing gml:MultiGeometry objects in case they only contain points or curves.
• Added support for providing database connection details via environment variables when running the Importer/Exporter on the command line. #212
• CityJSON output now uses the latest CityJSON version 1.0.3.

Please note that starting from this release, the installer of the Importer/Exporter is no longer provided here but can be downloaded from the 3dcitydb-suite repository. Click here to get the installer for this release.

See the change log for the complete list of changes.

v4.3.0

This is a minor release which comes with exciting new features, improvements and bugfixes.

Notable new features and additions

• Completely redesigned command-line interface (CLI) to be able to invoke default import, export and delete operations
  without the need for passing an XML config file. #147
• CityJSON 1.0 import and export. #88, #92, #89, #166
• Improved CityGML export performance (up tp 10-15 times faster in case the Importer/Exporter is not running on
  the same machine or in the same local network as the database server). #126, #136, #137
• Implemented a more modern GUI look & feel that scales better on HiDPI displays. #149
• Extended ADE export API to support the export of ADE data in KML/COLLADA/glTF. #124
• Enhanced LoD export filter with the option to only export the minimum or maximum LoD of a city object. #133
• Added a feature version filter to be able to query city objects that have been terminated in the database.
• Added more filter options to the KML/COLLADA/glTF export and substantially reworked the preference settings. A
  bounding box filter is not mandatory for KML/COLLADA/glTF exports anymore.
• Added support for exporting binary glTF and Draco compression in KML/COLLADA/glTF exports. #142
• Starting from this version, all 3DCityDB Maven artifacts are maintained in the JFrog Artifactory Cloud using the new repository link https://citydb.jfrog.io/artifactory/maven. #183
• Completely updated user manual at https://3dcitydb-docs.readthedocs.io/en/release-v4.3.0/
• General tweaks, bugfixes, and code refactoring

See the change log for the complete list of changes.

4.3.0-rc1

We are happy to announce the first release candidate for the upcoming Importer/Exporter version 4.3. It will bring new features, improvements and bugfixes. The version is ready for testing and we are looking forward to your feedback. Please report back any issues you may find using the issue tracker. There is still some work to do, especially on updating the user manual, so stay tuned.

• Completely redesigned command-line interface (CLI) to be able to invoke default import, export and delete operations
  without the need for passing an XML config file. #147
• CityJSON import. #88, #92
• CityJSON export. #89, #166
• Added extension mechanism to KML/COLLADA/glTF exporter to support CityGML ADEs. #124
• Improved CityGML export performance (as much as 10-15 times faster in case the Importer/Exporter is not running on
  the same machine or in the same local network as the database server). #126, #136, #137
• Implemented a more modern GUI look&feel that scales better on HiDPI displays. #149
• Added explicit CLI script in addition to the start script for simplifying the use of Importer/Exporter CLI mode. #123
• Added support for importing and exporting arbitrary surfaces as exterior of solids. #130
• Enhanced LoD export filter with the option to only export the minimum or maximum LoD from the list of selected LoDs. #133
• Added support for exporting binary glTF and Draco compression in KML/COLLADA/glTF exports. #142
• Fixed bug in SQL query builder. #122
• Updated the Spreadsheet Exporter Plugin and the ADE Manager Plugin.
• Java 11 or higher is now mandatory to run the Importer/Exporter.
• General tweaks, bugfixes, and code refactoring

v4.2.3

This is a minor maintenance and bug fix release. See the change log for the complete list of changes.

v4.2.2

This is a minor maintenance and bug fix release. See the change log for the complete list of changes.

v4.2.1

This is a minor maintenance and bug fix release.

Notable new features and additions

• Added the -pid-file command-line argument to create a file storing the process ID of the Importer/Exporter at the provided path. This can be useful to check whether the Importer/Exporter is running or to issue a kill command to end it.
• Updated Spreadsheet Plugin to version 3.1.2.
• Updated ADE Manager Plugin to version 1.1.2.
• Updated 3DCityDB-Web-Map to version 1.7.1.
• Minor fixes and improvements.

See the change log for the complete list of changes.

v4.2.0

This is a maintenance and bug fix release.

Notable new features and additions

• Reworked Plugin API to support non-GUI plugins. #78
  Previous versions of the Plugin API focused on plugins with a GUI. But there is also benefit in having plugins that are just hooked into internal processes such as CityGML imports and exports. This version brings first support for such non-GUI plugins. A new CityGMLExportExtension has been added as a first extension point for non-GUI plugins. Using this extension, a plugin receives and can process all CityGML features before they are written to the output file. Besides using XSLT stylesheets for CityGML exports, this adds another way of having full control over the output. Note: Due to the changes to the Plugin API, make sure to only use plugins built for this version.
• Property projections can now also be defined for abstract feature types.
• Fixed broken feature type filter for CityGML imports. #75
• Fixed NPE in GeometryConverter when using affine transformations during CityGML imports. #77

See the change log for the complete list of changes.

v4.1.0

This is a maintenance and bug fix release.

Notable new features and additions

• Added support for using SQL queries and XML-based filter expressions in CityGML exports. Please refer to the documentation to learn more about the new filter capabilities.
• Added support for importing CityGML data from ZIP/GZIP files and for exporting CityGML content to ZIP/GZIP files. #62, #63
• The map window now uses OSM Nominatim as the default geocoding service. Google Maps services can still be used but require a Google API key. #61

See the change log for the complete list of changes.

v4.0.0

We are happy to announce the new major version 4.0 of the Importer/Exporter. During the past year, we have worked hard to implement support for CityGML Application Domain Extensions (ADEs). The ADE mechanism is a built-in feature of CityGML that allows users to extend the CityGML data model with additional types, attributes and relations, which carry information required for specific applications and which are integrated with the predefined 3D city objects. ADEs are becoming more and more popular, and are defined for various application fields such as energy assessment and simulation (Energy ADE) or modelling of utility networks (UtilityNetwork ADE). A non-exhaustive list of further ADE developments is available here.

With this release, the 3DCityDB database schema can be dynamically extended by arbitrary ADEs. We have developed a transform method that reads the XML Schema definition of an ADE and automatically derives a relational schema that seamlessly integrates with the 3DCityDB core schema. This method is presented in detail here, and has been implemented in the newly available ADE Manager Plugin for our Importer/Exporter tool. The plugin allows users to register one or more ADEs with an existing 3DCityDB instance and automatically generates SQL scripts to work with the ADE data (e.g. for the performant deletion of ADE objects from the database). The Importer/Exporter tool itself has been extended with an ADE API. So, if you want to use this tool to import and export ADE data, then you have to implement this API. An example for an ADE implementation is available here.

Notable new features and additions

• Added new extension mechanism to support arbitrary CityGML ADEs.
• Added new ADE manager plugin to dynamically extend a 3DCityDB instance with support for a given CityGML ADE.
• Added support for connecting to different database schemas with the same user.
• Added support for XSL transformations on CityGML imports and exports.
• Added support for importing CityGML files with flat hierarchies.
• Added support for importing gml:MultiGeometry objects consisting only of surfaces.
• New LoD filter for CityGML exports.
• Source code has been split into modules that are available as Maven artifacts from Bintray.
• Switched from Ant to Gradle as build system.

See the change log for the complete list of changes.

v3.3.2

This is a maintenance and bug fix release.

Notable changes to the importer/exporter tool:

• Resolved potential memory leaks in CityGML exporter
• Fixed KML/COLLADA/glTF export bug in handling of surface geometries with multiple surface data for different appearance themes (#25)
• BBOX filtering during exports is now always performed on the database and not at the client side
• Fixed issues in CityGML SAX writer which mainly caused invalid WFS responses
• Fixed backslash issue when importing world files
• Fixed bug that caused the CityGML import to fail due to empty geometries
• Fixed invalid Railway example dataset
• Minor fixes and improvements

The importer/exporter is shipped with the latest version 1.4 of the 3DCityDB-Web-Map-Client, which features Cesium version 1.35 as well as better support for mobile devices, such as optimized user interface and the "first-person view" mode that utilizes real-time GPS information.

Update of database schema and procedures:
The 3D City Database schema and procedures have been updated to version 3.3.1 with this release. Please check the release notes for an overview of the changes.

Due to a bug in the creation of spatial indexes on PostgreSQL/PostGIS, it is strongly recommended to upgrade your existing 3DCityDB instance to version 3.3.1.