In this talk, I present a practical, OSS-centered workflow for bringing 3D geospatial data into urban planning and smart city initiatives.

The core message is that 3D mapping and modeling turn abstract datasets into something you can explore, making planning discussions more concrete and easier to align on.
In practice, building an explorable view means dealing with many different data formats—so I’ll briefly introduce the datasets as well. To connect those formats to web applications, I use GeoServer as the publishing layer. Rather than pushing raw GIS files to the browser, GeoServer can publish web-friendly outputs such as map tiles and GeoJSON.With GeoServer in place, I can also demonstrate attribute delivery and visualization—for example, showing station names and building names stored in GeoServer directly on the map. This enables searching, filtering, and interpreting features while staying grounded in geographic context.

To close, I highlight three application patterns that are especially useful for planning:
Cross-sections Analysis: Quickly understand elevation, slope, and how terrain and structures relate to each other.
Visibility Analysis: Check what can be seen from a given point, supporting discussions around landmarks, safety, and view protection.
Linking 2D and 3D: Link a 2D map with a 3D scene so users can move smoothly between overview and detail. On the day, I’ll play a short (~20-second) video to show how it works.

Overall, combining 3D data with an OSS-based publishing approach makes urban data easier to access, easier to share, and more usable in real planning conversations.