Land Administration practices worldwide rely mainly on 2D-based systems to define legal and other spatial boundaries related to land interests. However, the built environment is increasingly becoming spatially complex. Land administrators are challenged by an unprecedented demand to utilise space above and below earth’s surface. The relationships between people and land in vertical space can no longer be unambiguously represented in 2D. In addition, the current societal demand for sustainability in a collaborative environment and a lifecycle-thinking, is driving the need to integrate independent systems with standalone databases and methodologies, associated with different aspects of the Spatial Development lifeCycle (SDC). Land Administration Systems (LASs) are an important component of the SDC. Today, a LAS is often mandated and managed as a domain in isolation. Interaction and data reuse with the other phases of the SDC is limited and far from optimal. It is expected that effective 3D data collaboration, sharing, and reuse across the sectors and disciplines in the lifecycle will enable new ways of data harmonisation and use in this complex environment; will improve efficiency of design and data acquisition, as well as data quality (in relation to specific regulations); and will minimise inconsistencies and data loss within information flows. Overall, a cross-sectoral approach is directed towards improving the current state of the Land Administration (LA) domain. This paper consists of two parts. In the first, a review of the current situation, with respect to LASs is presented, concluding the needs for improvement in terms of effectiveness and consistency. In the second part, the vision for the future of LASs is introduced in a wider context, and as an important phase in the SDC, with regards to legal, technical, and organisational aspects. In this part, the needs and considerations that result from the evolving environment and the emerging technological advances are addressed, with a view to discussing a cross-sector approach to collect, maintain, reuse, and share 3D data. In such a cross-sectoral approach, various interoperability issues appear, making it necessary to introduce and use standards. In this respect, the ISO 19152:2012 Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) in its current Edition I, as well as in Edition II (expected in 2022) may serve as the standardised core structure of a 3D LAS, with respect to its role as further presented in this paper. In parallel, the evolution of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the design and construction industry, as well as the fact that BIM plays a central role in the life cycle of development projects, are well recognized. Emphasis is given on feasible reuse of BIM/IFC (Industry Foundation Class) data in a 3D LAS. Those considerations are addressed through a web-based system architecture for a future 3D LAS, thereby attempting to integrate heterogeneous systems in the SDC.

Much work has already been done on how a 3D Cadastre should best be developed. An inclusive information model, the Land Administration Model (LADM ISO 19152) has been developed to provide an international framework for how this can best be done. This conceptual model does not prescribe the technical data format. One existing source from which data could be obtained is 3D Building Information Models (BIMs), or, more specifically in this context, BIMs in the form of one of buildingSMART’s open standards: the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC). The research followed a standard BIM methodology of first defining the requirements through the use of the Information Delivery Manual (IDM ISO29481) and then translating the process described in the IDM into technical requirements using a Model View Definition (MVD), a practice to coordinate upfront the multidisciplinary stakeholders of a construction project. The proposed process model illustrated how the time it takes to register 3D spatial units in a Land Registry could substantially be reduced compared to the first 3D registration in the Netherlands. The modelling of an MVD or a subset of the IFC data model helped enable the creation and exchange of boundary representations of topological objects capable of being combined into a 3D legal space overview map.

The aim of this research is to investigate the combined use of IndoorGML and the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) to define the accessibility of the indoor spaces based on the ownership and/or the functional right for use. The users of the indoor spaces create a relationship with the space depending on the type of the building and the function of the spaces. The indoor spaces of each building have different usage functions and associated users. By defining the user types of the indoor spaces, LADM makes it possible to establish a relationship between the indoor spaces and the users. LADM assigns rights, restrictions, and responsibilities to each indoor space, which indicates the accessible spaces for each type of user. The three-dimensional (3D) geometry of the building will be impacted by assigning such functional rights, and will provide additional knowledge to path computation for an individual or a group of users. As a result, the navigation process will be more appropriate and simpler because the navigation path will avoid all of the non-accessible spaces based on the rights of the party. The combined use of IndoorGML and LADM covers a broad range of information classes: (indoor 3D) cell spaces, connectivity, spatial units/boundaries, (access/use) rights and restrictions, parties/persons/actors, and groups of them. The new specialized classes for individual students, individual staff members, groups of students, groups of staff members are able to represent cohorts of education programmes and the organizational structure (organogram: faculty, department, group). The model is capable to represent the access times to lecture rooms (based on education/teaching schedules), use rights of meeting rooms, opening hours of offices, etc. The two original standard models remain independent in our approach, we do not propose yet another model, but applications can fully benefit of the potential of the combined use, which is an important contribution of this paper. The main purpose of the combined use model is to support the indoor navigation, but could also support different applications, such as the maintenance and facility management work, by computing the cleaning cost based on the space floor area. The main contributions of this paper are: a solution for the combined use of IndoorGML-LADM model, a conceptual enhancement of LADM by the refinement of the LA_Party package with specialization for staff and student (groups), and the assessment of the model by converting sample data (from two complex university buildings) into the model, and conducting actual access-rights aware navigation, based on the populated model.

This systematic literature review critically examines the application of digital technologies in architectural heritage risk management from 2014 to 2024, focusing exclusively on English-language publications. As the significance of architectural heritage continues to be recognized globally, there is an increasing shift towards integrating digital solutions to ensure its preservation and management. This paper explores the evolution and application of digital technologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and advanced imaging techniques within the field. It highlights how these technologies have facilitated the non-destructive evaluation of heritage sites and enhanced accessibility and interaction through virtual and augmented reality applications. By synthesizing data from various case studies and scholarly articles, the review identifies current trends and the expanding scope of digital interventions in heritage conservation. It discusses the interplay between traditional conservation approaches and modern technological solutions, providing insights into their complementary roles. The analysis also addresses the challenges and limitations encountered in the digital preservation of architectural heritage, such as data integration, the compatibility of different technologies, and the need for more comprehensive frameworks to guide the implementation of digital tools in heritage conservation practices. Ultimately, this review underscores the transformative impact of digital technology in managing architectural heritage risks, suggesting directions for future research and the potential for innovative applications in the field.

Many solutions have been proposed for indoor pedestrian navigation. Some rely on pre-installed sensor networks, which offer good accuracy but are limited to areas that have been prepared for that purpose, thus requiring an expensive and possibly time-consuming process. Such methods are therefore inappropriate for navigation in emergency situations since the power supply may be disturbed. Other types of solutions track the user without requiring a prepared environment. However, they may have low accuracy. Offline tracking has been proposed to increase accuracy, however this prevents users from knowing their position in real time. This paper describes a real time indoor navigation system that does not require prepared building environments and provides tracking accuracy superior to previously described tracking methods. The system uses a combination of four techniques: foot-mounted IMU (Inertial Motion Unit), ultrasonic ranging, particle filtering and model-based navigation. The very purpose of the project is to combine these four well-known techniques in a novel way to provide better indoor tracking results for pedestrians.

The capability of acquiring accurate and dense three-dimensional geospatial information that covers large survey areas rapidly enables airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) has become a powerful technology in numerous fields of geospatial applications and analysis. LiDAR data filtering is the first and essential step for digital elevation model generation, land cover classification, and object reconstruction. The morphological filtering approaches have the advantages of simple concepts and easy implementation, which are able to filter non-ground points effectively. However, the filtering quality of morphological approaches is sensitive to the structuring elements that are the key factors for the filtering success of mathematical operations. Aiming to deal with the dependence on the selection of structuring elements, this paper proposes a novel filter of LiDAR point clouds based on geodesic transformations of mathematical morphology. In comparison to traditional morphological transformations, the geodesic transformations only use the elementary structuring element and converge after a finite number of iterations. Therefore, this algorithm makes it unnecessary to select different window sizes or determine the maximum window size, which can enhance the robustness and automation for unknown environments. Experimental results indicate that the new filtering method has promising and competitive performance for diverse landscapes, which can effectively preserve terrain details and filter non-ground points in various complicated environments.