Map services and other city and navigation models have been part of our everyday lives for years now. The interior data of buildings is being increasingly integrated in order to improve orientation in public spaces even more. This makes visualising the different levels of buildings and navigating between and within the levels possible. The Issue? »Until now, digital building models and geodata have been generated in different formats and only available individually«, explains project leader Dr. Tauscher. »Integration is currently only done on individual bases, and usually manually or at most semi-automatically. Interior data often even has to be collected entirely from scratch. 

The »LevelOut« project automates this process: With the help of the »LevelOut Platform« internet application, owners of publicly accessible buildings can make their digital building models available online. The data that is uploaded is automatically converted into the various formats used by map services and city and navigation models and ultimately made available for both people and self-operating entities. »Based on this, innovative applications will be able to improve the accessibility of public spaces, make rail and public transport more appealing, make transport and work processes safer and more efficient, and enable autonomous navigation with artificial intelligence«, explains Dr. Tauscher. 

Kick-Off Event in Dresden

»LevelOut« is funded by the state capital Dresden, the TU Chemnitz and the HTW Dresden. Associated partners have been contributing data sets of publicly accessible buildings, and the TU Chemnitz has also been providing its expertise with OpenStreetMap and indoor navigation. Dresden’s »Neue Verwaltungszentrum« (new administration centre) scheduled to be completed by spring 2025, is serving as a model for the project. The groundbreaking new building with its modern and sustainable management, is to be planned, built and operated with the help of digital technologies.

»Through the automated development of building floor plans, people become familiarised with the digitalisation of buildings’ construction and management. The mFUND Project perfectly supplements the transition that will be launched with our new building«, says Mayor Dr. Peter Lames, who is responsible for the Finance, Personnel and Legal Department. After the Dr. Tauscher’s preliminary study, a follow-up project will examine real-life examples of the topic’s accessibility to citizens, open administration, new working environments, accessibility and autonomous navigation in buildings. »These topics are critical for future home of the City Administration«, adds Christine Spielvogel, head of the  »Neue Verwaltungszentrum« (new administration centre) staff unit. She can imagine that the applications could be practically tested with the commissioning of the new building.

The project will be launched in an event open to the public on Thursday, 16 June 2022 at 2 pm at the »Neuen Rathaus Dresden«, directly across from the  »Neue Verwaltungszentrum« (new administration centre) construction site. The event will also be available online. Those interested in attending can register by e-mail to helga.tauscher[at]uni-weimar.de.

About the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure’s mFund

The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure has been funding data-based research and development projects for digital and connected mobility 4.0 through the mFUND innovation initiative since 2016. Project funding is supported by professional networks between politics, business, administration and research, as well as by the availability of open data on the mCLOUD portal. For more information, please visit: www.mFUND.de 

In case of questions, please contact Dr. Helga Tauscher, Associate Professor of Computing in Civil Engineering, at +49 (0) 36 43 / 58 42 14 or via E-mail an helga.tauscher[at]uni-weimar.de.