8. Changelog¶

This appendix provides an overview of the most important changes in version 4.0 of the 3D City Database and version 4.1 of the Importer/Exporter compared to the previous release version 3.3.0.

8.1. 3D City Database relational schema¶

8.1.1. General changes¶

New metadata tables ADE, SCHEMA, SCHEMA_REFERENCING and SCHEMA_TO_OBJECTCLASS for registering CityGML ADEs
Added OBJECTCLASS_ID column to all feature tables to distinguish objects from CityGML ADEs. Also extended OBJECTCLASS table by more feature-specific details and inserted new entries for feature properties such as geometry, generic attributes etc.
Added NOT NULL constraints on each OBJECTCLASS_ID column
New prefilled metadata table AGGREGATION_INFO that supports the automatic generation of DELETE and ENVELOPE scripts
Changed delete rule of one foreign key in link tables to ON DELETE CASCADE to produce better delete scripts

8.2. 3D City Database scripts¶

Moved interactive prompts from SQL to batch/shell scripts for better setup automation
Provide batch (Windows) and shell scripts (UNIX, macOS) for both PostgreSQL and Oracle DBMS
Re-added scripts to create a read-only user (UTIL folder), called GRANT_ACCESS and REVOKE_ACCESS (removed in v3.x). Also includes a read-write option.
New MIGRATION scripts to upgrade from a 3DCityDB v2.1.0 or v3.3.2 to v4.0.0.
Tidier folder and script structure:
- Removed folders PL_SQL (Oracle) and PL_pgSQL (PostgreSQL) to make CITYDB_PKG a top-level directory under the SQLScripts folder
- Moved OBJECTCLASS_INSTANCES script to SCHEMA/OBJECTCLASS folder
- PostgreSQL: New SCHEMAS directory in UTIL folder
- Oracle: One instead of two CREATE_DB scripts
- Oracle: Moved versioning scripts to its own directory in the UTIL folder
- Oracle: Renamed CREATE_DB folder in UTIL directory to HINTS
Oracle: Better treatment if SDO_GEORASTER support is missing
Oracle: Defining spatial metadata on all geometry columns with new function set_schema_sdo_metadata in CITYDB_CONSTRAINT package instead of a hard-coded part in SPATIAL_INDEX.sql script

8.3. 3D City Database stored procedures¶

8.3.1. General changes¶

New packages: CITYDB_CONSTRAINT and CITYDB_OBJCLASS
Removed parts with dynamic SQL where possible. Required renaming of some function arguments to avoid conflicts with column names in querys
PostgreSQL: Added volatility categories for better query planning

8.3.2. UTIL package¶

Updated version numbers in citydb_version function
Moved update_schema_constraints and update_table_constraint procedures into new CITYDB_CONSTRAINT package and renamed them to set_schema_fkey_delete_rule and set_fkey_delete_rule. Change data type for on_delete_param to CHAR as only one letter is needed to set a new delete rule: ‘a’ for ON DELETE NO ACTION , ‘n’for ON DELETE SET NULL (‘n’), ‘c’ for ON DELETE CASCADE or (PostgreSQL-only) ‘r’ for ON DELETE RESTRICT
Moved objectclass_id_to_table_name function to new CITYDB_OBJCLASS package.
Added schema_name parameter to functions db_metadata and db_info
Removed schema_name parameter from get_seq_values function
Oracle: Removed schema_name parameter from construct_solid function

8.3.3. IDX package¶

Oracle: Added schema_name parameter to get_index function
Oracle: Dropping spatial indexes will not delete spatial metadata anymore

8.3.4. SRS package¶

Added schema_name parameter to is_db_ref_sys_3d function
Oracle: Added schema_name parameter to get_dim function
Oracle: Do not delete spatial metadata when spatial index is not valid

8.3.5. STAT package¶

Exclude new metadata tables from database report

8.3.6. DELETE package¶

Aligned API of Oracle version with PostgreSQL (no more _pre and _post methods)
Two delete endpoints are provided for each feature class: Delete by single ID value or delete by a set of IDs
All 1:n references are deleted right away. Replaced all explicit cleanup scripts (except for cleanup_appearances) with one generic cleanup function
New prefix del_ instead of delete_
The DELETE scripts have been generated automatically by the ADE Manager Plugin of the Importer/Exporter. This process shall be repeated when introducing ADE extensions to the database schema.

8.3.7. DELETE_BY_LINEAGE package¶

The package and included stored procedures have been removed
New function del_delete_cityobjects_by_lineage in DELETE package

8.3.8. ENVELOPE package¶

New prefix env_ instead of get_envelope_ (except for get_envelope_cityobjects function)
The ENVELOPE scripts have been generated automatically by the ADE Manager Plugin of the Importer/Exporter. This process shall be repeated when introducing ADE extensions to the database schema.

8.4. 3D City Database Importer/Exporter¶

The new version 4.1 of the Importer/Exporter contains many bug fixes as well as stability and performance improvements. A full list of fixes and changes is available from the GitHub repository at https://github.com/3dcitydb/importer-exporter.

8.4.1. General changes¶

Java 8 is required since version 3.3.0.
The Importer/Exporter can now connect to both Oracle and PostgreSQL.
Temporary information required during data imports and exports (e.g., for resolving of XLink references) can now optionally be stored to a local file-based database instead of using temporary tables in the 3D City Database instance.
3.1: Importer/Exporter now checks the version of the 3DCityDB before connecting
3.1: Re-Added user dialog to control GMLID_CODESPACE during import
3.1: Added user dialog to calculate the ENVELOPE of city objects in the database
3.3: The location of the main config file (‘project.xml’) has been changed to %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%3dcitydbimporter-exporterconfig (Windows 7 and higher) respectively $HOME/3dcitydb/importer-exporter/config (UNIX/Linux, Mac OS families). Old config files can still be loaded manually (note: was ../importer-exporter-3.0/.. in versions 3.0 to 3.2)
4.1: OSM Nominatim is now used as default geocoder for the map window. Google Map API services can still be used for the map window and for KML/COLLADA exports but require an API key.
4.2: Reworked Plugin API to support non-GUI plugins.

8.4.2. CityGML import¶

4.2: Fixed broken feature type filter for CityGML imports.
4.2: Added possibility to define a gml:id prefix for the UUIDs that are created during CityGML imports.
4.1: Added support for importing CityGML data from (G)ZIP files.
CityGML import now supports CityGML versions 2.0, 1.0 and 0.4.
A new import log optionally tracks all successfully imported top-level city objects in a separate CSV file. In case an import process aborts abnormally, this file can be used to understand which city objects have been processed and stored in the database before termination.
The import process now follows a fail-on-first-error strategy, i.e. the import terminates upon the first error thrown instead of trying to continue.
Improved import of texture atlases. Each texture atlas is only stored once in the database (new table ‘tex_image’) even if it is referenced by more than one city object.
Local appearance information is now resolved in main memory to reduce import times instead of using temporary database tables.
Texture metadata is imported even if texture images are chosen to be not imported
3.1: Changed the way global appearances are imported
3.1: Fixed bug in BRIDGE importer preventing import of bridges with thematic surfaces

8.4.3. CityGML export¶

4.2: Property projections can now also be defined for abstract feature types.
4.1: Added support for using SQL and XML queries for CityGML exports to be able express more flexible and complex filter conditions.
4.1: Added support for exporting CityGML content to (G)ZIP files.
Database content can now be exported to CityGML 2.0 or 1.0. When exporting to CityGML 1.0, feature types only available in CityGML 2.0 such as bridges and tunnels are omitted.
City object group members can now be exported as-reference (using XLink references) instead of as-value to reduce export times. However, note that filter criteria are not applied in this case, which might result in CityGML files containing non-resolvable XLink references.
When exporting city objects with textures, the texture image files can now be organized into subfolders. This reduces the number of files per folder.

8.4.4. KML/COLLADA/glTF export¶

Support for glTF version 2.0 in addition to version 1.0. New COLLADA2glTF binaries (version 2.1.3) for Windows, Linux and MacOS.
Solved bugs that might prevent exporting LandUse 3D models from functioning correctly.

8.5. Web Feature Service¶

Since 3.0: Added a basic Web Feature Service interface for the 3D City Database
Fixed a SQL Injection vulnerability with version 3.3.0. It is strongly recommended to update to this version.

8.6. 3D Web Map Client¶

Introduced geolocation-based features such as the first-person view on mobile devices.
Support for glTF 2.0.
Support for Cesium 3D Tiles.