Add PLATEAU 3D City Models to QGIS

Introduction

Project PLATEAU is an initiative led by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) to develop, use, and release 3D city models as open data. Besides developing the data, the project works on creating use cases and putting them into practice, with participation from a wide range of stakeholders, toward the digital transformation (DX) of urban and social development.

This article describes the characteristics of PLATEAU data and shows how to add it to QGIS with the PLATEAU QGIS Plugin.

Characteristics of PLATEAU data

PLATEAU 3D city model data is provided in the CityGML format. CityGML is a standard format for working with 3D city models, standardized by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), an international standards body for geospatial information. The specifications unique to PLATEAU's CityGML are defined in the “Standard Data Product Specification for 3D City Models.”

Another characteristic of PLATEAU data is LOD (Level of Detail), a concept that indicates how detailed a feature is. As the table shows, the features provided differ by LOD.

For building models, LOD0 to LOD4 are defined. LOD0 represents the shape of a building as a 2D surface. LOD1 is a simple box shape, and LOD2 is a detailed building shape that includes the roof. LOD3 includes architectural details such as windows and doors. LOD4 is the highest-precision model and includes the shape of the building interior, such as interior finishes and equipment.

The data covers 20 types of features in total. These include physical structures such as buildings, roads, and parks, which are targets of geospatial information development for cities and regions, and terrain data.

Obtaining the data

PLATEAU 3D city model data is published as open data on the “G-Spatial Information Center.” As of January 2025, 3D city models of more than 200 cities across Japan are available. Click the year listed for the municipality whose data you want, and you can choose which data to download.

The 3D city models published on the G-Spatial Information Center (including the information published on the PLATEAU website) can be used freely within the scope of the terms of use, including reproduction, public transmission, and adaptation such as translation and modification. Commercial use is also allowed.

This article downloads and uses the fiscal year 2022 CityGML (v3) data for Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture.

Adding PLATEAU CityGML to QGIS

PLATEAU 3D city models are published in the CityGML format. However, if you add a CityGML file directly with the standard QGIS functionality, problems can occur: loading may take a long time, or the attribute information may not load correctly.

So this article uses the PLATEAU QGIS Plugin to load the CityGML files of the PLATEAU 3D city model into QGIS.

Installing the PLATEAU QGIS Plugin

The PLATEAU QGIS Plugin is registered in the official QGIS plugin repository, so you can install it from within QGIS.

Here is how to install the PLATEAU QGIS Plugin.

From the menu bar, choose Plugins → Manage and Install Plugins to open the dialog. Open the All tab and search for plateau. The PLATEAU QGIS Plugin appears in the results. Select it and click Install Plugin. That completes the installation.

When the installation finishes, open the Installed tab and check that the box next to the PLATEAU QGIS Plugin is selected. If it is not, select it.

If everything looks right, close the dialog.

Adding CityGML

First, launch the PLATEAU QGIS Plugin you just installed. Either click the PLATEAU icon in the toolbar, or open the Processing Toolbox and go to Project PLATEAU → Load PLATEAU 3D City Model (PLATEAU 3D都市モデルを読み込む).

The plugin dialog opens.

The plugin's settings and options are as follows.

PLATEAU CityGML file (PLATEAU CityGML ファイル)

• Specify the CityGML file to load.

LOD to load (読み込むLOD)

• If an object comes with multiple LODs, only the simplest LOD is loaded by default.
• Choose from Load only the simplest LOD (最も単純なLODのみを読み込む), Load only the most detailed LOD (最も詳細なLODのみを読み込む), and Load all LODs (全てのLODを読み込む).

Options

Split layers by the parts that make up a feature (地物を構成する部分ごとにレイヤを分ける):

• Enable this option to load features split into semantic parts, such as walls and roofs or roadways and sidewalks, for some models at LOD2 and above.
• Be careful when enabling this option, because it can greatly increase the number of features generated.

Force 3D data to 2D (3次元データを強制的に2次元化する):

• Enable this option to discard the 3D information and load features as flat data.
• This option is handy when you analyze the data in QGIS, for example.

Append to existing layers with the same name (既存の同名レイヤに追記する):

• Enable this option to append the imported data to existing layers.

Destination CRS (変換先CRS)

• Specify the destination coordinate reference system (CRS).

Now load PLATEAU CityGML data.

1. PLATEAU CityGML file: click the ... button and select one CityGML file to load. This article adds a building model, so in the folder of the downloaded CityGML data, go to 14130_kawasaki-shi_city_2022_citygml_3_op 3 → udx → bldg and select any CityGML file.
2. LOD to load: select the LOD you want.
3. Select the options you need.
4. Destination CRS: set a CRS if needed.
5. When the settings are done, click Run and wait for the CityGML file to load.
6. When the outlines of the buildings appear on the map canvas, close the plugin dialog.

Adding multiple files with a batch process

With the method above, you can select only one CityGML file. Batch processing lets you load multiple files at once.

Launch the plugin and click Run as Batch Process.

Choose Autofill → Select Files and select the CityGML files you want to add to QGIS. This example selects the files for Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture.

Once the files are selected, set the options as needed. Here the data is added for analysis in QGIS, so enable Force 3D data to 2D.

When you add data as a batch process, setting the same option for each file one by one is tedious. Autofill helps here too: use it to apply the same setting to all the files.

1. In the drop-down directly below Autofill, change No to Yes.
2. Click Autofill → Fill Down to apply Yes to all the files.

3. Check that Yes is applied to all the files.
4. Click Run to load the files into QGIS.

Checking the added data

When the processing finishes, close the plugin dialog and check that the buildings loaded. It helps to add a basemap such as OpenStreetMap from XYZ Tiles in the Browser panel.

The attribute table shows general attributes such as name (building name), as well as attributes specific to PLATEAU, such as usage (building use) and measured Height (building height). You can use this information for spatial analysis and data visualization suited to your purpose.

PLATEAU has many other specific attributes, such as the building ID, LOD, and metadata. For details, check the attribute table of the added data.

In the Layers panel, the loaded building model appears as Building. Data with disaster risk information attached is also added automatically, such as Building / RiverFloodingRisk 1 L2（想定最大規模） (L2, maximum assumed scale) and Building / RiverFloodingRisk 1 L1（計画規模） (L1, planned scale).

These layers contain information that differs by area, so what is added varies from area to area. If you add data without disaster risk information, these layers do not appear.

Conclusion

This article covered Project PLATEAU, from an overview and how to obtain PLATEAU data to how to load it into QGIS. Add the PLATEAU QGIS Plugin to QGIS and try working with PLATEAU data.

For a detailed explanation of how to use the disaster risk information, see the following article.