A GML shape grammar for semantically enriched 3D building models

The creation of building and facility models is a tedious and complicated task. Existing CAD models are typically not well suited since they contain too much or not enough detail; the manual modeling approach does not scale; different views on the same model are needed, and different levels of detail and abstraction; and finally, conventional modeling tools are inappropriate for models with many internal parameter dependencies. As a solution to this problem we propose a combination of a procedural approach with shape grammars. The model is created in a top-down manner; high-level changeability and re-usability are much less of a problem; and it can be interactively evaluated to provide different views at runtime. We present some insights on the relation between imperative and declarative grammar descriptions, and show a detailed case study with facility surveillance as a practical application.