The capability of analyzing and visualizing data in 3D is critical to any modeling and simulation exercise. Nowadays, a variety of solutions and standards co-exist to access and transfer 3D content over the internet (e.g., 3D Tiles, I3S, glTF, CDB, CityGML). These solutions use different distribution mechanisms, are optimized for particular user requirements and bandwidth situations, and deliver data in different formats (e.g. as image stream, scenes, or raw vector data). All these differences make integration into analysis and visualization environments challenging. At the same time, we see a quickly growing number of available real world 3D resources with an enormous potential for holistic and detailed 3D views on real world and augmented situations. 

What is lacking is a resource model and corresponding API to access and query 3D content from a variety of sources in their native format. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) community is filling this gap by designing a new Web API with corresponding resource models for a variety of existing 3D standards; building it from the ground up via the OGC Innovation Program, a collaborative research and development program that advances innovative concepts from low technology readiness levels up to the highest levels of market integration and expansion.

This paper describes the OGC GeoVolume API, a new Web API that allows access to, and query of, 3D geospatial data, with a corresponding container format for streamed data delivery compatible with glTF. The GeoVolume API supports the  smooth transitions between 2D and 3D environments, allows applications to get 2D, 2.5D, and 3D resources, and enables 3D bounding volumes to support multiple types of 3D content.