Cesium in 2015 - Kickoff

[Patrick Cozzi]

Folks,

Following up from 2014 review, let's talk about what is on the roadmap for 2015.  The AGI team is looking at these broad areas:

• High-level Entity API
• KML
• Polygon, polylines, billboards, and labels clamped to terrain
• Streaming 3D buildings
• Streaming point clouds
• Streaming vector tiles
• WebGL 2
• More tutorials and demos.  More outreach in general.  Google Summer of Code.

Of these, what do you need most?  Besides these, what else is important to you?

Patrick

--

twitter.com/pjcozzi

[Guillaume Beraudo]

Hello,

In order of importance, I would say:
- Polygon, polylines, billboards, and labels clamped to terrain
- Streaming vector tiles
- Streaming 3D buildings

Regards,


--
Guillaume Beraudo
Camptocamp Engineer

[Mark Erikson]

Based on the deprecation of GE and the various discussions on here, I'd say KML support and clamp-to-terrain ought to be top priorities.

[da...@ferg.co]

I'd really like...
- Better CZML documentation
- A built-in split view in Cesium

[Hyper Sonic]

3D buildings would be fantastic. I hope to pair Cesium with Google Streetview splitscreen style like I did with Google Earth and Google Streetview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI6X620cPS0&index=6&list=PLu7ubzox5Ny6kv29oIUaD1387aacPpZIG

Without 3D buildings it becomes difficult to navigate this way. Would the buildings be manually created, or through automated methods such as photogrammetry?

Height above terrain would be nice, for proper movement scaling. I've tried scene.globe.getHeight with no luck so far.

[Evan Ward]

+1 for Better CZML Documentation

Regards,
Evan

[denver...@gmail.com]

KML support and terrain clamping are probably at the top of my list of needs.

Between better tutorials and high level entity api/implicit properties, I'd say that implicit properties is probably higher priority, since it would invalidate a lot of older demos anyway.

On Wednesday, January 7, 2015 9:11:20 AM UTC-6, Patrick Cozzi wrote:
> Folks,
>
>
> Following up from 2014 review, let's talk about what is on the roadmap for 2015.  The AGI team is looking at these broad areas:

> High-level Entity APIKMLPolygon, polylines, billboards, and labels clamped to terrainStreaming 3D buildingsStreaming point cloudsStreaming vector tilesWebGL 2More tutorials and demos.  More outreach in general.  Google Summer of Code.

[e hellstedt]

I'll echo the calls for Clamped to Ground (and add models to the list) and outreach and add WebGL 2. Regardless, I'll continue to enjoy the solutions the Cesium community develops here. Best New Year to all... Erik

[Dennis Wegewijs]

KML support and Clamped to Ground are as well the most important for me.

KML support will make things easier and faster to quickly display content on the cesium globe.

Dennis 

[gilles....@ign.fr]

Hi Patrick,

of these, in order of importance :

* KML,
* Streaming 3D buildings
* Streaming point clouds
* Streaming vector tiles
* Polygon, polylines, billboards, and labels clamped to terrain


Regards,

--
Gilles Cébélieu
French Mapping Agency

[Geo DrinX]

Patrick,


Clamp-to-terrain and KML support  are the priorities, for me.


Roberto

[Patrick Cozzi]

Wow, thanks for all the feedback.  Keep it coming!

I'm glad to see the interest in KML and terrain clamping as I think these will be the first major new features we see in Cesium in 2015!  We'll start separate threads for the details.

@HyperSonic: awesome video, would love to see that in Cesium.  AGI is talking to partners about supplying 3D building data so the details of the data acquisition method are TBA.

More feedback is welcome!

Patrick

[Narco]

Hi Patrick,

The important areas for me are ordered as:

Streaming 3D buildings (or large number of 3D objects?)

Polygon, polylines, billboards, and labels clamped to terrain

More tutorials and demos. (Personally found converting collada to gltf are tricky)

Just wanna ask, sorry if wrong place, if it's possible to streaming large number of 3D buildings, like a city, in Cesium now? Possible to use  quantized-mesh terrain? (like to stream 3D buidling meshes instead of terrian)

Thank you.

Regards,

Narco

a Cesium newbie.

[he...@toursprung.com]

I'd like to add:

- Reduced library footprint
- Reduced initial startup time

Note: I'm just a newbie.

On Wednesday, January 7, 2015 4:11:20 PM UTC+1, Patrick Cozzi wrote:
> Folks,
>
>
> Following up from 2014 review, let's talk about what is on the roadmap for 2015.  The AGI team is looking at these broad areas:

> High-level Entity APIKMLPolygon, polylines, billboards, and labels clamped to terrainStreaming 3D buildingsStreaming point cloudsStreaming vector tilesWebGL 2More tutorials and demos.  More outreach in general.  Google Summer of Code.

[Matthew Amato]

helge,

Out of curiosity, do you have specific concerns regarding footprint and start up time? For example, in my opinion, the deployed Viewer reference app is pretty compact and starts up instantly, even, with an empty cache: http://cesiumjs.org/Cesium/Build/Apps/CesiumViewer/index.html

Also, are you using the AMD modules?  While using the combined Cesium.js file is the easiest thing to do, using Cesium as a set of AMD modules via requireJS or browserify will reduce the footprint to only the features you actually use.  This, combined with minification works really well most of the time.

Obviously there's always room for improvement, which is why I was curious as to the specifics.

Thanks

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "cesium-dev" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cesium-dev+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Guillaume Beraudo]

Hi Matthew,


I also have some feedback about this.


Maybe Helge is speaking about resources footprint?
Cesium default main loop renders also when there is nothing to do,
leading to high CPU/GPU consumption. Especially for smartphones, it
would lead to a better user experience if only necessary renderings
where done. I recently talked with Patrick about this and it is not easy
stuff.


Loading time may feel 'long' when the camera starts positioned closed to
the terrain: Cesium loads all the imageries and terrain tiles above.
It may be very long if you have many layers.
I wrote a small patch to use a local, transparent, image for smaller
zoom levels. It significantly speeds up loading with several slow layers.
See https://github.com/gberaudo/cesium/tree/transparent_low_zoom


In ol3-cesium, there is code to 'warmup' Cesium when the ol3 map shows
up. Then when the user switches to 3D, the transition is much shorter.
See
https://github.com/gberaudo/ol3-cesium/commit/a08d72d1757a53f35a0837df4f846decd9c50a87



Regards,

[Hyper Sonic]

Thanks Patrick! I do plan to do this for Cesium, for now without 3D buildings I could instead rise the camera many meters over the street and look at the imagery of the street side buildings with a 45deg tilt. All I have to do is a 45deg offset between the 2 view tilts. I'll do a mockup video in GE for now to see how it works in practice.

One cool thing about Google Streetview is the ability to dynamically change FOV_zoom. You can't dynamically change FOV_zoom in GE, but you can in Cesium. So once Cesium gets 3Dbuildings this splitscreen setup will be even better than it is now! (I say FOV_zoom since 'zoom' has become ambiguous: longitudinal translation or FOV camera zoom.)

I suppose using methods such as photogrammetry and LIDAR one is basically obtaining high resolution terrain data. One could view buildings simply as boxy mountains with very steep slopes! I suppose 3Dbuildings is a misnomer if that is their source. Everything is captured this way, be it trees, hills, vehicles, ships, bridges.

[devit...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, January 7, 2015 at 7:11:20 AM UTC-8, Patrick Cozzi wrote:
> Folks,
>
>
> Following up from 2014 review, let's talk about what is on the roadmap for 2015.  The AGI team is looking at these broad areas:

> High-level Entity APIKMLPolygon, polylines, billboards, and labels clamped to terrainStreaming 3D buildingsStreaming point cloudsStreaming vector tilesWebGL 2More tutorials and demos.  More outreach in general.  Google Summer of Code.

> Of these, what do you need most?  Besides these, what else is important to you?
>
>
> Patrick--
>
>
> twitter.com/pjcozzi

Streaming 3D Buildings.....

[Ashley Mort]

KML support would allow us to swap out Google Earth for Cesium.

[Patrick Cozzi]

Thanks everyone!  I just want to make one last call for feedback if anyone else wants to chime in with their support for features already mentioned or new ones.

@Narco:

> if it's possible to streaming large number of 3D buildings, like a city, in Cesium now?

Not without coding something custom, which some folks have done.  I don't think it will take us long to get an initial version out in core Cesium.

Patrick

[robert....@gmail.com]

KML - already listed by others but would want support for dozens of KML files loaded at once, including groundOverlays.
Equivalent of KML network links and when it polls link pass BBOX of current view as Google Earth does.

Multiple CZML Data sources displayed at once - using SandCastle and own JS files seems never get both Vehicle and Satellite (or other CZML files) to be displayed at same time, using processUrl or loadUrl, even if comment out reset clearing of data sources. But can display multiple GeoJSON files.

More CZML example files
Fix CZMLWriter KML conversion - saw some crashes and output didn't have the Document item which then caused Cesium error about this. Used videoMaterial branch since main didn't reference KML.

[Matthew Amato]

Robert, 

In case you missed, I posted a detailed overview of the KML plans yesterday: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/cesium-dev/xz2xwKogybY/jt8h174rknwJ

You can also already load multiple CZML files at once.  The reason removing Sandcastle.reset in the demo doesn't appear to work is because the files take place during two different time periods and by default Viewer will set the clock to the time period of the last loaded document.  If you were to jump to the time of the first file after loading the second file, you will see the data come in.  If you are still having issues, feel free to open a new thread on the matter for discussion (so I don't derail this thread).

The CZMLWriter KML -> CZML converter was deleted quite some time ago; we are instead focusing on native support.

Thanks,

Matt

[Idan Lahav]

Can you please go into detail on "Streaming vector tiles" and streaming in general ?

Are you taking into consideration OGC protocols and standards as WFS or maybe supporting specific servers as ArcGIS server ?

(I know it is still an early stage but still it can be a great discussion ..)

[Patrick Cozzi]

Idan, see issue #2132 for more on vector tiles.

Patrick

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "cesium-dev" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/cesium-dev/Z_RE-krc0HY/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to cesium-dev+...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

twitter.com/pjcozzi

[Berwyn McKilligan]

I'll throw in my two bits.

I'm, currently working on porting a project that leveraged the google earth api that also defaulted to google maps if the earth plugin was not installed.  

I am adding cesium to deal with the deprecation of the earth api, and lack of support in 64bit chrome, but I also want to support ie9 and ie10, which lack webGl, so all three geo interfaces will need to be leveraged.

The number one thing I would like to see is more tutorials and demos leveraging different features of the cesium api.  

Things like:

-  generating images/canvas elements client side to use image tiles, or as elevation bitmaps. (if possible)

-  more examples on matrix functions, to manipulate geometry primitives in the scene (stretching, rotating ect...) and to set up the camera for flyto  and views

There is a lot of demand asking for full featured KML support as it is the method that most people have consumed or displayed their data with when using the earth api.

For my project I have a lot of data that is very dynamic and there is considerable functionality to change the geo-representation of that data, similar to the  NICTA subspace demo,  http://cesiumjs.org/demos/subspace.html

In my experience I learned that the best way to work with the data and the API, be it maps, earth and now cesium is to work with the data directly as javascript data objects, in the client, rather than static kml files.  

The flexibility to leverage the individual javascript geo API and the ability to pull in data as needed is far greater if you move away from a kml approach.  Its is not as easy at first but the payoff down the road is huge.

[Ivan]

For us it is:

- polygons clamped to ground

- complex geometries (e.g. holes) using CZML, and more CZML examples (we'd be happy to contribute some if there was an official 'snippets' page or similar)

- polygons and polylines styled the same way

- and to echo one request already given above: reduce the load on the users' machine when Cesium is doing nothing: currently there is a noticable effect on general machine usage when cesium is open or not.. (albeit especially on older machines). Difficult to quantify but noticeable nonetheless.

and as always: awesome work and great project, looking forward to seeing what 2015 brings!

-ivan

[Michael Gerlek]

Point cloud support -- point support for geometry (PointGeometry) and tiling support for loading data.

There are several webgl-based point cloud viewer efforts going on right now, it'd be nice if Cesium could keep pace with them.

-mpg

[Michael West]

Hi guys,

We really, really like Cesium.

Highest priority for us is still #932 - especially the ability to dynamically modify, add, and remove points from lots of polylines (i.e., modify the vertex lists programmatically).

We've implemented our own app-specific high level entity API (LOBs, tracks, vehicles, etc.) but would be interested in one that we didn't have to maintain. :-) 

As far as terrain clamping goes, we already use the elevation service to return elevation values that we then attach to vertices.

This code was a lot messier when these were promises.

We added this feature to the drawing plugin but haven't yet submitted that code back to GitHub - expect to do so this month.

Still haven't decided how high to raise a polygon that is being hand-drawn - right now we just use the highest elevation over a coarse grid enclosing the polygon so some parts may remain below the highest elevation.

Other than that, our customers use KML a lot so the more robust that feature becomes, the happier they will be.

Thanks,

Mike

[Umberto Di Staso]

Hi Patrik,

Can you provide more details about the data format of the 3d buildings?
They will be some kind of geo referenced gltf or there will be something else?

Thanks in advance!!
Umberto

[Patrick Cozzi]

@Berwyn for IE9 and IE10 also consider OpenLayers or Leaflet if just 2D is OK in those browsers.

@Ivan thanks for the offer for CZML examples.  Once we know the plan (e.g., perhaps a CZML tab in Sandcastle), we'll ping you.

@Michael Gerlek - I agree about point clouds and have a big interest in them.  I saw your other post, sorry I have not responded yet.  We made a good amount of progress on streaming massive point clouds to Cesium based on the research from CRS4.  It will be a while before we can clean the code up and post it as we are busy with KML.  By the way, several of us will be at the OSGeo code sprint in Philadelphia.  Hope to see you there.

@Michael West - sounds like you have implemented some interesting stuff with Cesium.  Can you share any links?

@Umberto - for the 3D building format, we are still working out the details with potential data providers.  Once that partnership is in place, I'll start a separate thread.

Patrick

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "cesium-dev" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/cesium-dev/Z_RE-krc0HY/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to cesium-dev+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

twitter.com/pjcozzi

[Patrick Cozzi]

Once again, thanks everyone for the feedback.  Based on this, here is the short-term roadmap with dates (a first for me!):

• High-Level Entity API - Cesium 1.6 on February 2
• Join the discussion and check out the updated Sandcastle examples
• Polygons, polylines, billboards, and labels clamped to terrain - Cesium 1.7 on March 2
• KML - Cesium 1.7 on March 2
• Join the discussion and test our work-in-progress by dragging-and-dropping your KML here
• Streaming 3D buildings - details TBA based on data partners
  

This will be a big year for Cesium, especially these next few months!

Patrick

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to cesium-dev+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

twitter.com/pjcozzi

[in...@cubelease.com]

On Wednesday, January 7, 2015 at 8:11:20 AM UTC-7, Patrick Cozzi wrote:
> Folks,
>
>
> Following up from 2014 review, let's talk about what is on the roadmap for 2015.  The AGI team is looking at these broad areas:

> High-level Entity APIKMLPolygon, polylines, billboards, and labels clamped to terrainStreaming 3D buildingsStreaming point cloudsStreaming vector tilesWebGL 2More tutorials and demos.  More outreach in general.  Google Summer of Code.

> Of these, what do you need most?  Besides these, what else is important to you?
>
>
> Patrick--
>
>
> twitter.com/pjcozzi

It would be interesting to see some statistics on the growth of the Cesium user community. Could the number of Cesium release downloads be published or charted? Web traffic to the Cesium Sandcastle would also be interesting to see.

Cheers,
Greg

[Patrick Cozzi]

Hi Greg,

There are various statics posted on the forum.  For example:

2014 - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/cesium-dev/FTI1_vZDpGo

2013 - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/cesium-dev/cizxRxOEQ8I

There are also stats in many of our presentations.  In particular, check out the ones from SIGGRAPH and FOSS4G:

http://cesiumjs.org/publications.html

Patrick

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "cesium-dev" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/cesium-dev/Z_RE-krc0HY/unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to cesium-dev+...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

twitter.com/pjcozzi

[tri...@gmail.com]

Is there a way to bring osm 3d buildings into cesium?? Thanks!!

[Patrick Cozzi]

There is not a fully automated process for bringing OSM 3D buildings into Cesium, but we are making good progress in this direction.  See our OSM NYC demo and read about 3D Tiles.

Patrick

On Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 10:16 PM, <tri...@gmail.com> wrote:

Is there a way to bring osm 3d buildings into cesium?? Thanks!!

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "cesium-dev" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/cesium-dev/Z_RE-krc0HY/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to cesium-dev+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

twitter.com/pjcozzi

[pla...@gmail.com]

it would be nice to have not only "demo" of NY, but also help how to replicate it.

[rk28...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, September 18, 2016 at 10:58:58 PM UTC+5:30, pla...@gmail.com wrote:
> it would be nice to have not only "demo" of NY, but also help how to replicate it.

Any update on "how" to replicate the demo of NY? I fail to understand why there is still no concrete information on this.

Regards,
Rohit

[Geoneer]

Hey Patrick,

NYC demo is nice. How did you load the 3D objects? 

I did check the code, but did not find out how you load the 3D data..... :-((

Can you explain?

[Rachel Hwang]

Hi there,

As Patrick said, we don't yet have an automated process for converting such files into 3D tilesets for use in Cesium, but we are actively hard at work on this problem. For now, you can read up on the 3D tiles specification here: https://github.com/AnalyticalGraphicsInc/3d-tiles

And you'll definitely be hearing from us when we have more updates. =)

Cheers,

- Rachel