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Cesium for Omniverse v0.28.0

Cesium for Unity Samples v1.23.1

CesiumJS 1.140

3D Tiles

The Netherlands, perhaps more than any other country, appreciates how critical what lies below the surface is to what's built above. Much of the country sits below sea level, meaning groundwater is high, and centuries of silt and sand deposits from continental rivers mean the soil is soft. Consequently, understanding the makeup of the ground is of paramount importance for city planning.

Bedrock.engineer visualizes large geospatial subsurface datasets using 3D Tiles voxels. Here they use 3D Tiles voxels to visualize GeoTOP, a public geological model of the Netherlands by the Dutch Geological Survey. Courtesy Bedrock.engineer.

Visualizing national scale subsurface data with 3D Tiles voxels

GeoTOP demo by Bedrock.engineer

Unfortunately, subsurface data is challenging to share: the science is highly technical, and visualizations are often limited to PDFs, hand‑drawn cross sections, or specialized desktop software. That’s why Bedrock.engineer was founded. Bedrock.engineer works to make geotechnical data—boreholes, CPT tests, ground models, and analysis results—more accessible and easier to integrate into the tools engineers and stakeholders use. One of their interests is 3D visualization of subsurface models in the browser. Using the 3D Tiles 2.0 draft voxels extension in CesiumJS, they are streaming large subsurface datasets, demonstrating how open-format 3D Tiles enables geological voxel models to be explored in spatial context directly in the browser. Open source software and open data formats are central to how Bedrock.engineer works.

Bedrock.engineer visualizes subsurface data, like these boreholes in Hong Kong, together with above ground data in CesiumJS. Courtesy Bedrock.engineer.

Subsurface visualization with 3D Tiles voxels

Voxel representations, which can model continuous volumes and store material properties such as soil type, are ideal for subsurface datasets that hold continuous data like sediment layers. But visualizing very large voxel datasets in a geospatial context was not possible with open standards before 3D Tiles support.

Bedrock.engineer visualizes GeoTOP’s 50m deep subsurface data covering the entire Netherlands in CesiumJS using voxels. Courtesy Bedrock.engineer.

With the addition of voxel support in the draft 3D Tiles 2.0 specification, Bedrock.engineer can now combine voxel‑based subsurface models with 3D Tiles’ hierarchical streaming. Voxel renderings are currently a 3D Tiles extension and are part of the 3D Tiles 2.0 proposal, which was described at the 134th OGC Member Meeting in March. Bedrock.engineer has built their own Python tooling to convert gridded scientific formats, such as NetCDF, into 3D Tiles. 3D Tiles makes it possible to visualize dense, volumetric datasets covering an entire nation directly in the browser.

Bedrock.engineer brings GeoTOP data into CesiumJS using the 3D Tiles open standard, as in this dataset from Amsterdam. Courtesy Bedrock.engineer.

3D Tiles voxels make visualizing geoscience models possible, and bringing those 3D Tiles into CesiumJS makes it usable. What Bedrock.engineer appreciates most about CesiumJS is that visualizations are widely accessible to anyone with the link, allowing technical and nontechnical stakeholders to interact with the data directly.

"What 3D Tiles voxels change is accessibility. Subsurface models that used to require specialist desktop software can now be explored directly in the browser, in true 3D, in spatial context with the world above ground. And because it’s an open format, there’s no lock-in: anyone can build on it and combine it with their own data. That considerably lowers the barrier." 

– Jules Blom, Cofounder Bedrock.engineer

By bringing subsurface data into CesiumJS, Bedrock.engineer is also able to combine that data with other datasets, including terrain and buildings, for a more complete picture. For city planning, seeing what is below ground is only valuable if it’s shown in context with the natural and built environment above. Building on CesiumJS, Bedrock.engineer has implemented multivariable filtering, allowing users to see just the relevant data for any given application.

Fence diagrams make it easier to see layers of subsurface sediment. Courtesy Bedrock.engineer.

A prime example of Bedrock.engineer’s work is their CesiumJS visualization of GeoTOP, a public geological model of the Netherlands by the Dutch Geological Survey. By bringing GeoTOP into CesiumJS as 3D Tiles, Bedrock.engineer can embed the model in any browser-based application, combine it with other datasets in spatial context, and build custom tools on top of it, all using an open standard.

Every square meter of land in the Netherlands is designated for a particular use, such as agricultural, urban development, or green space. Municipalities are legally obliged to consider subsurface data whenever it is relevant to a public task. Courtesy Bedrock.engineer.

The GeoTOP model is well suited for governments seeking to better understand the geological features of their area at a regional scale. In the Netherlands, government bodies are legally required to consult BRO subsurface data, including models like GeoTOP, whenever it is relevant to a public task. Bedrock.engineer’s visualization makes it easier to understand and communicate what that data actually shows. When a local government can clearly see what’s below ground, they can make better decisions around spatial planning, groundwater management, land subsidence, and dike safety assessments.

Such visualization can also be useful to building developers in the early stages of a project. Knowing whether they’ll be dealing with peat or sand makes a significant difference when considering foundation type. Though GeoTOP is not a substitute for a full geotechnical investigation, but it gives a useful first indication before that work begins.

Semi-transparent voxel rendering of geophysical models reveals subsurface structures, creating an X-ray–like view of the underground. Data courtesy Emerald Geomodelling, image courtesy Bedrock.engineer.

Bedrock.engineer is working to add GeoTOP data to the LEIA viewer, a CesiumJS-based digital twin for the provincial government of Zeeland, Netherlands. Bringing GeoTOP into LEIA will allow policy makers to see subsurface data in spatial context with other government datasets. Bedrock.engineer has also brought a shallow subsurface model of the Antwerp urban region and harbor into CesiumJS, visualized as 3D Tiles voxels.

Voxel support is part of the draft 3D Tiles 2.0 specification, a key aspect of our commitment to open standards. If you’re working with volumetric data, explore the 3D Tiles OGC Community Standard, try it in CesiumJS, and share your feedback on GitHub. We’d love to see your implementation.

Bedrock.engineer Streams Subsurface Data at Nation Scale with 3D Tiles Voxels

Over the last 20 years, technology and the nature of conflict have changed more rapidly than US defense policies and military procedures. To modernize and synchronize operational-level planning, Sandtable uses CesiumJS, Cesium for Unity, and Cesium ion to combine traditional military planning documents and immersive geospatial context.

For operational wargaming in the COA analysis step of the MDMP, as well as mission rehearsal, Sandtable Navigator provides a 4D environment built with Cesium for Unity. Pictured here are friendly and enemy units at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, USA. Courtesy Sandtable.

For operational wargaming in the COA analysis step of the MDMP, as well as mission rehearsal, Sandtable Navigator provides a 4D environment built with Cesium for Unity. Pictured here are friendly and enemy units at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. Courtesy Sandtable.

Sandtable: COA Analysis

Founded in 2024 by US Army veterans and researchers, Sandtable pairs AI with human judgment in its Mentat and Navigator prototypes to facilitate mission analysis, course-of-action (COA) development, and operational wargaming with more data, detail, and speed.

Planning, collaboration, and rehearsal tools tend to involve 2D imagery, spreadsheets, printed documents, a physical sand table, and the risks that come with putting a group of key people in the same place simultaneously. The company’s push to bring time-dynamic 3D to military planning results in interactive environments that fuse data types and sources to support planning and assessment for both human teams and autonomous systems, no matter where they are. 

During COA DEV, planners using Sandtable Mentat create, visualize, and share unit symbology, operational graphics, viewshed, and ranges of weapon systems in 4D. Courtesy Sandtable. 

“What we’re simulating and planning—like drones, counterdrone technology, and electromagnetic warfare—exists in 3D space in reality, and we need to be able to represent reality. That requires Cesium,” said Sandtable COO Brady Moore. 

And reality is complex: data comes from myriad sources, and conditions shift over time. With AI, the platform helps surface patterns, compare options, and stress-test assumptions, so commanders can focus their judgment where it matters most.

Planners drag and drop MIL STD 2525D symbols from predefined combat power data to build enemy SITEMPs and friendly COAs in Mentat. Courtesy Sandtable.

Planners drag and drop MIL STD 2525D symbols from predefined combat power data to build enemy SITEMPs and friendly courses of action in Mentat. Courtesy Sandtable.

Sandtable: Enemy SITEMPs and Friends COAs

Cesium is deployed across Sandtable’s solution to accelerate key phases of the military decision-making process (MDMP), particularly mission analysis, COA development, and rehearsal, with authoritative geospatial context and efficient data delivery:

Mentat, built with CesiumJS, incorporates written orders, concept sketches, and open datasets, e.g., for soil density and composition, on top of real-world terrain in a browser for rapidly adjusting COAs with AI.

Navigator uses Cesium for Unity for COA analysis and mission rehearsal in a shared virtual environment, wherever participants are, on a variety of devices. Instead of merely rehearsing plans produced in Mentat, Navigator feeds insights back into the planning environment—enabling continuous refinement rather than one-time execution.

Sandtable Mentat allows planners to determine which factors about the terrain are relevant to operations and visualize them together or separately. Courtesy Sandtable. 

With detailed geospatial data from Cesium ion and a range of public and government sources (for example, NOAA and USDA datasets), warfighters and autonomous vehicles know not only where hills and trees are but also microterrain features relevant to mobility and line of sight. This is important because factors like height of vegetation determine what a drone can—or can’t—see (depending on available data resolution and source quality). This data is primarily 3D Tiles, quantized mesh, and KML/KMZ, optimized, hosted, and streamed via Cesium ion for efficiency and interoperability. Cesium ion also enables Sandtable to be data agnostic, because 3D Tiles is an OGC community standard, and can use the Army's own Well Formed Format data when available. Sandtable uses Cesium ion SaaS while connected to the internet and anticipates leveraging Cesium ion Self-Hosted in future disconnected or denied environments, as well as secure enclaves.

Sandtable Mentat develops its own Modified Combined Obstacle Overlay (MCOO) using CesiumJS to visualize layers. Sandtable’s detailed datasets help determine terrain trafficability. Other terrain data includes canopy height, land use, soil attributes, slope, and elevation. Courtesy Sandtable.

Sandtable Mentat develops its own Modified Combined Obstacle Overlay (MCOO) using CesiumJS to visualize layers. Sandtable’s detailed datasets help determine terrain trafficability. Other terrain data include canopy height, land use, soil attributes, slope, and elevation. Courtesy Sandtable.

Sandtable: Modified Combined Obstacle Overlay (MCOO)

Critical to Sandtable’s work is embedding with the very people who will use the platform. During the Army’s xTechOverwatch competition in October 2025, the team tested Mentat on a tablet in the field with soldiers during the day and adjusted the capabilities and interface each night, returning the next day with an improved product. Sandtable developers were able to take feedback from concept to functional visualization and analysis in hours rather than days. This speed of development is enabled by adaptable, streaming-ready 3D Tiles and open-source runtimes. (The company’s CEO, Brian Hamilton, is a Cesium Certified Developer, and Sandtable was among the competition’s winners.)  

Watch Sandtable CTO Brent Lance’s 2025 Cesium Developer Conference talk to learn about the role Cesium plays across Sandtable’s solution for the MDMP. 

Military Planning Using Agentic AI and Simulations

Mentat and Navigator have been deemed Awardable on the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace, making them eligible for government procurement and tightening collaboration between government and industry.

Use Cesium ion to securely fuse high-resolution imagery and terrain with unit-specific data for actionable information and collaboration. Get started with a community account.  

Author’s note: Sandtable’s COO, Brady Moore, is a former Cesium employee. 

Sandtable Modernizes and Synchronizes Military Planning with Cesium

The most costly risk to major infrastructure projects isn't bad weather or poor funding: it's the risk that slips past the constructability review. If not caught soon enough, a single contradiction—like major utility conflicts or an unworkable traffic management plan—triggers millions in wasted taxpayer funds and guarantees years of delay.  

A critical conflict revealed during constructability review: a proposed highway support column lands directly on existing railway tracks. Courtesy WSB.

Although the constructability review is the critical gatekeeper, the process is often trapped in 2D static documents. Engineering design and consulting firm WSB is using Cesium-powered geospatial capabilities in Bentley Infrastructure Cloud Connect to ensure design flaws are caught early.  

Connect provides a secure, open, and scalable environment for engineering services firms, construction firms, and owner-operators to store, manage, and share infrastructure files and data. Cesium’s integration with Connect offers a unified web experience to visualize infrastructure data in full geospatial context.  

“Civil engineering isn’t just about technical analysis—it’s also about solving geospatial challenges,” said Andy Kaiyala, vice president of digital construction management at WSB. An early adopter of Connect, Kaiyala adds “Cesium’s capabilities allow us to incorporate critical spatial information early in the process, helping us make smarter decisions about fitting infrastructure into available space while minimizing disruption.” 

Demonstration showing Cesium’s integration with Bentley Infrastructure Cloud Connect.

Demonstration showing Cesium’s integration with Bentley Infrastructure Cloud Connect.

Cesium + Bentley Infrastructure Cloud Connect

CesiumJS serves as Connect’s visualization front end, rendering massive infrastructure datasets on an interactive map that scales from a global portfolio view—covering multiple projects across regions—down to detailed, project-level insights. Engineering-grade data (such as BIM models, point clouds, and reality meshes) is efficiently streamed as 3D Tiles, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) community standard created by Cesium.  Connect also integrates Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles, leveraging the 3D Tiles standard to provide high-resolution 3D representations of major cities and terrain. 

Apart from catching obvious errors, Cesium’s geospatial capabilities in Connect help teams uncover hidden, high-impact risks that traditional reviews miss. On a project in the southern United States, WSB quickly identified and effectively communicated a high-risk design problem:  a proposed railroad bridge and major sewer infrastructure were planned adjacent to a protected historic building, prompting a redesign before the project moved to final design —and potentially saving months in schedule delay and millions in public funds. 

Cesium-powered geospatial capabilities in Connect reveal design conflict between a proposed railroad bridge and a historic building. Courtesy WSB. 

A bottom-up view highlights further design conflict between sewer pipes and the proposed bridge pilings. Courtesy WSB.

“Cesium provides a high-performance, scalable, and geospatially accurate environment that brings full context to infrastructure project designs in Connect,” said Bill McNamara, senior director of iTwin and portal experience at Bentley. “It’s not just empowering our end users. It’s driving value across the ecosystem of infrastructure stakeholders.” 

While testing the Cesium integration with Connect, WSB shared curated views of 72 projects with over 900 external stakeholders representing 86 organizations, including state departments of transportation, rail authorities, utilities, and public agencies. “We can bring more stakeholders to the review process earlier, thanks to the intuitive way Cesium enables us to visualize project designs. It’s become a key differentiator for us,” Kaiyala explained.     

“When we show a design model with a 2D map, stakeholders nod politely,” added WSB director of digital construction management strategy Corey Johnson. “But when we show it on an interactive Cesium-powered map surrounded by Photorealistic 3D Tiles, their eyes light up. They immediately understand the proposed design and any constructability issues.” 

For WSB, visualizing engineering data in true geospatial context has elevated constructability reviews from a static checkpoint to a dynamic driver of smarter, faster, and more transparent project delivery. As more organizations adopt Cesium-powered capabilities in Connect, early detection and clear communication of design risks resolve conflicts before shovels hit the dirt. Kaiyala summed up the approach: “Ultimately, Cesium isn’t about pretty pictures; it’s about putting valuable information in the hands of the people who build the infrastructure we all rely on.”  

Sign up for a free Cesium ion account to pair your 3D models with accurate geospatial context.  

WSB Transforms Constructability Reviews with Cesium and 3D Tiles in Bentley Infrastructure Cloud Connect

To modernize defense planning and rehearsal, VRAI used Cesium for Unreal to build the Virtual All-Domain Environment (VADE), enabling users to deeply examine areas of interest before arriving. 

VADE uses Cesium to mirror operational reality. Courtesy VRAI. 

Virtual All-Domain Environment (VADE) uses Cesium to mirror operational reality. Courtesy VRAI.

This Is VADE

An immersive XR platform in the works since 2021, VADE began as a proof of concept between simulation data company VRAI and the Royal Air Force for comprehensive situational awareness and could scale across Defence. VRAI announced VADE’s full release at DSEI in fall 2025. 

Real-world 3D data and live collaboration in VADE enable a common operating picture (COP) for detailed planning and faster decisions. Add XR, and troops familiarize themselves with a location before deploying. VADE can be set for individuals or in multiplayer mode, accessed via desktop app or with headsets.  

The tool’s capabilities span domains: 

For drone intervisibility studies, users can draw routes, mark waypoints at each kilometer, and determine blind spots at specific locations and heights to ensure proper placement anywhere on the globe.  

With a volumetric tool for battlespace management and deconfliction, airspace coordination via VADE is accurate and intuitive.  

High-altitude parachute insertion simulations include trackback lines for descent, giving the distance to the drop zone throughout the line; users can view the line from the aircraft or the ground, with the surroundings they can expect to see.  

Because VADE allows users to customize for NATO standards, slopes turn red if they’re not sufficient for helicopter landing sites (HLS). 

Although VADE is not a targeting tool, users can examine the impacts of explosives. 

Restricted operating zone for UAS overwatch. Courtesy VRAI.

Intervisibility study to ensure proper placement. Courtesy VRAI.

Route planning, with directional arrows and optional kilometer markers. Courtesy VRAI.

Gun target line (GTL) tool. Courtesy VRAI.

GTL and impact of explosives. Courtesy VRAI.

VADE employs Cesium World Terrain and Bing Maps Aerial imagery with Cesium for Unreal to enable users to navigate to places that matter for their missions, manipulating the time of day and simulating weather conditions, with high-fidelity rendering. When users are online, they can pull in Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles for exercises in urban areas, and Vexcel data is a boon when VADE is used as part of an airgapped solution via Cesium ion Self-Hosted.  

The VADE library includes data via Cesium ion; 3D models of aircraft, tanks, and other vehicles; NATO map marking symbols for friendly forces and enemy capabilities; and user-specific sources, like their own imagery, photogrammetry, or GitHub repos. VADE connects to users’ private Cesium ion accounts for hosting, tiling, and streaming efficiently. Using geospecific data via Cesium saves VRAI engineers and their users days of work per location and obviates the need for hand modeling or geotypical data, improving situational awareness and decision speed and reducing the cognitive burden on those tasked with complex planning and rehearsal. 

“It’s a transformative way of planning for defense. We operate in multiple dimensions—why wouldn’t we plan in multiple dimensions?” said Ant Casson, former Squadron Commander in the Royal Air Force and VRAI’s business development lead for the UK and Europe. “The possibilities are endless for VADE, enabled by the powerful tools provided by Cesium for Unreal.”

The VADE library includes 3D models of aircraft, tanks, and other vehicles. Courtesy VRAI.

VADE is dual use: in addition to its defense value, the app’s live 3D COP enables better decisions with real data for emergency services, disaster relief, critical national infrastructure planning, large event planning, and agricultural monitoring.  

Learn to integrate 3D geospatial data when clarity, confidence, and speed matter most. 

VRAI Delivers Virtual All-Domain Environment with Cesium for Unreal 

Amanda: We’re thrilled to welcome Don McCurdy to the Platform team at Bentley. I know Don through his work with open standards: he formerly co-chaired the 3D Formats working group responsible for glTF and created popular open source tools like glTF Transform. As the senior director of open standards at Bentley, vice chair of the Khronos 3D Formats working group, and co-chair of the Metaverse Standards Forum 3D Asset Interoperability working group, I’m passionate about the openness that standards enable. With an eye to the future of standards development, I sat down with Don and with Sean Lilley, who is a lead engineer behind 3D Tiles and a driving force in Cesium’s development, to talk about their contributions to open standards and what they see ahead as developers.

Amanda: Don, you’ve been deeply involved with the development of glTF, the Khronos standard for models and scenes. How did you first get involved in open standards?

Don: I happened to be personally interested in building my own projects with WebGL around the time draft versions of glTF 2.0 were coming together. Loading 3D models into the scene correctly was a real challenge—existing loaders weren’t enough if the format itself wasn’t designed for runtime transmission or isn’t carefully documented in a technical specification.

The vision for glTF immediately felt right—runtime transmission, detailed specifications, and a scope that was opinionated and focused enough for complete implementation and specification to be possible.  I started contributing to a glTF loader in three.js and was introduced to Patrick Cozzi and others at the Khronos Group soon after that.

After that, finding more ways to get involved was easy: there are always more interesting technical challenges than people to solve them. I was also very fortunate to be working with a team that allowed me to spend a percentage of my time on self-directed work in open standards and open source.

Since then I’ve written the glTF Transform library, which is popular for optimizing existing 3D models, but at the same time it’s a very flexible framework for creating or modifying glTF models, or managing custom glTF extensions. I’ve also written three-ish glTF loaders now (too many?)  and a couple popular viewers like gltf.report/.

Amanda: Sean, you’ve been a key contributor to 3D Tiles since its inception. 3D Tiles is an OGC community standard for streaming massive 3D datasets, and is built on glTF. What drew you into the open standards space?

Sean: I first got involved in open standards when I joined Cesium in 2015. Previously, I was using COLLADA and OpenGL in a personal game engine project and was already a big fan of Khronos. One of the first projects I worked on at Cesium was obj2gltf, which started during a code sprint in the Poconos, and later gltf-pipeline.

This was also the year 3D Tiles was announced; I contributed to the specification, CesiumJS implementation, tiling pipelines, and was quite active on the Cesium Community Forum.

Amanda: Both 3D Tiles and glTF have revolutionized the way people visualize 3D data, but that’s just the beginning. I know we have some key work going on in 3D Formats right now with a new glTF version on the horizon and a new 3D Tiles coming right behind it. How do you see these standards evolving over time?

Don: glTF has been successful over the years, at least in part because of its unique focus on efficient, last-mile transmission to runtime. The line glTF needs to walk as it evolves, I think, is to keep that focus while understanding that the mission is a moving target, and that capabilities of runtimes and last-mile 3D data are also evolving.

Other open source or standards projects like OpenPBR, MaterialX, and USD are worth mentioning here. While they don’t necessarily share that transmission-to-runtime goal, they absolutely represent an evolution (for the better!) in 3D content creation, and these changes feed into workflows around glTF.

Importantly, glTF today provides the “building block” for extension into very different use cases – 3D Tiles and VRM especially. I hope that doesn’t change; it’s an important balance of scope.

Sean: At the same time, the community might benefit from glTF and 3D Tiles converging over time. In 3D Tiles 1.0 we had the Batched 3D Model and Instanced 3D Model formats that wrapped binary glTF. In 3D Tiles 1.1 we saw these capabilities move into glTF extensions that allowed 3D Tiles to reference glTF directly.

And now, in the other direction, there's an industry wide push towards using glTF for complex scenes; for example, the AEC industry using glTF for massive design models, and e-commerce using glTF for level of detail.

It seems to me that 3D Tiles and glTF are meeting somewhere in the middle, while staying true to efficient transmission.

Amanda: What community projects using glTF and 3D Tiles are you keeping an eye on?

Don: I worked with R&D at The New York Times a few years back, and they’ve done some really excellent work using both glTF and 3D Tiles in different projects, such as visualizing the progress of the fires in Maui in 2023. They’ve also written “field guides” sharing their processes and learnings for publishing 3D content in journalism.

Sean: Ever since the Google Maps Platform released their worldwide dataset as 3D Tiles, members of the larger community have been building all sorts of interesting applications with that data, like visualizing building projects in context or showing stadium locations in sports reels.

I'm really looking forward to Cesium Native getting WebAssembly support so that we can bring Cesium Native's 3D Tiles streaming engine to the browser.

I'm also actively following Garrett Johnson's 3D Tiles Renderer for Three.js.

Amanda: It’s clear both of you have contributed significantly to the tools and standards making 3D graphics easier than ever to share. What does it mean for Bentley to bring this kind of talent together?

Sean: It’s exciting. Don’s work has influenced how developers and artists optimize and publish 3D content. His tools like glTF Transform and gltf.report are widely used. Having him on board means we’re doubling down on our commitment to open standards and high-quality tooling.

Don: I’ve collaborated with the team before, including on 3D Tiles 1.1. Joining Bentley now feels like a natural next step: Bentley’s investment in open standards is a big reason I’m here. It’s rare to find a company that not only uses open formats but invests in helping define them.

Amanda: For readers interested in pushing the forefront of open standards, how would you recommend getting involved?

Sean: The Cesium community forum is very active and a great place to help other people building in 3D. And the 3D Tiles repo on GitHub is a great place to share ideas.

Don: There’s always need for people to pitch in. If you’re passionate about open standards, the Khronos Group is always looking for volunteers interested in supporting the future of graphics. And the Metaverse Standards Forum, as you know, is doing some really interesting interdisciplinary work.

Amanda: We’re deeply committed to building the tools for an open ecosystem. If you’d like to join us, check out our current openings.

Advancing 3D Tiles and glTF in an Open Ecosystem

The Cesium team will be at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) in Orlando, Florida, December 1-4! I/ITSEC is the world’s largest gathering of professionals in modeling, simulation, and training, and we’re excited to be a part of it once again. 

Join us in BOOTH 221 for Cesium demos curated specifically for the modeling, simulation, and training community. 

Come by the booth to engage directly with our teammates. We look forward to the opportunity to answer your questions and demonstrate the latest capabilities and integrations that enable better decisions, faster. 
  
We will also be hosting a happy hour 3-5 p.m. Tuesday, December 2, at our booth. 

US Army One World Terrain Well Formed Format built on 3D Tiles 

We continue to collaborate with the community to evolve 3D Tiles, including specific enhancements that are part of the US Army’s One World Terrain contract. See live demos of new features in the One World Terrain Well Formed Format (WFF), an extension of 3D Tiles. We’ll stream a massive One World Terrain dataset via Cesium ion to CesiumJS—the same data used for analysis and planning can be used for execution. 

We’ve incorporated iTwin Capture technology to bring reality modeling and analysis to Cesium ion. Reconstruct 3D reality models from photos, such as high-res drone imagery, as 3D Tiles mesh and seamlessly stream them. Combine your reality data with Cesium World Terrain or other curated 3D data for a unified view and improved situational awareness. Run AI-powered reality analysis on point clouds for segmentation and embedded metadata.  

Released in September, Cesium Mars is a 3D Tileset to enable developers, researchers, and mission planners to create visualizations and simulations of the Red Planet. It comprises precise terrain captured by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), paired with colorized imagery. Access Cesium Mars and Cesium Moon via Cesium ion. 

Built on open standards and APIs, these plugins combine the 3D geospatial capability of Cesium and 3D Tiles with leading 3D creation engines: 

Cesium for Unreal is integrated with Unreal Engine Editor, Actors and Components, Blueprints, and other UE features to enable a high degree of interactivity, physical realism, and photorealism to create amazing experiences. 

Cesium for Unity is tightly integrated with Unity, making it possible to visualize and interact with real-world content in editor and at runtime. The plugin also has support for Unity game objects, physics, collisions, and character interaction. 

Cesium for Omniverse enables users to visualize and interact with a full-scale, high-fidelity WGS84 globe within NVIDIA Omniverse to create, visualize, and analyze simulations in their precise 3D geospatial context. 

Cesium Native powers Cesium's runtime integrations and is an open source foundational layer for any 3D geospatial software, especially those streaming 3D Tiles. 

When Cesium users need to move their solution to the high side or a disconnected environment, Cesium ion Self-Hosted is the way to go. Cesium ion Self Hosted provides an offline capability for hosting, tiling, and streaming massive heterogeneous 3D geospatial datasets. 

Ansys: Ansys Geospatial Data Cloud. Tuesday, December 2, noon-6:30 p.m. 

Battle Road: AtomEngine and 3D Tiles for Godot. Wednesday, December 3, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 

Stop by BOOTH 221 or reach out to schedule time with the team. We look forward to connecting with you in Orlando! 

ガーナとトリニダード・トバゴにおけるAI都市再構成とCesiumによる3D可視化

2025年、国連宇宙部（UNOOSA）と英連邦事務局が共同で推進する「Commonwealth Digital Twin Project」において、Cesiumが重要な役割を果たしました。本プロジェクトは、気候変動の影響を受けやすい英連邦諸国を対象に、AIと衛星データによる3D都市モデルと洪水・高潮シミュレーションを構築し、住民の防災力を高める国際的な試みです。

洪水リスクが高い2カ国を対象に

初期対象として選ばれたのは、西アフリカのガーナとカリブ海のトリニダード・トバゴ。いずれも近年洪水被害のリスクが高まっており、かつ現地政府や関連機関が協力的であったことから選定されました。今後は、同様の課題を抱える他の英連邦諸国にも水平展開が想定されています。

AIで生成された都市モデル × 国連防災シミュレーション

このプロジェクトでは、日本のスタートアップ企業SpaceData社が、Vantor社（旧Maxar社）の高解像度衛星画像（30cm級）を用い、AIによる自動処理によってLOD1〜LOD3レベルの都市モデルを生成しました。これにより、空港や港など主要なインフラのデジタルツインが構築され、洪水や高潮による災害シミュレーションも実装されました。一方、洪水・高潮の影響評価には、国連宇宙部の国連防災緊急対応衛星情報プラットフォーム（UN-SPIDER : the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response）の技術監督のもと、災害シミュレーションとガーナ及びトリニダード・トバゴのステークホルダーへの展開が実施されました。今後はこれらのデジタルツインを活用し、浸水シナリオに応じた避難ルートの最適化や避難建物の指定など両国の避難計画の立案や更新に寄与することが期待されます。

「使える3D」への橋渡し：東京大学・渡邊英徳研究室 Watanave Labの役割

この都市モデルや防災シナリオを、誰でもブラウザ上で閲覧・操作できる形で可視化したのがCesiumです。実際の可視化と3D Tiles変換を担ったのは、東京大学大学院 情報学環 渡邊英徳教授の研究室　Watanave Labです。

LOD付きの都市モデルを受け取った研究室では、BlenderやUnityなどの中間ツールも活用しつつ、Cesium ionによる3D Tilesへの変換を実施。その後、Cesium Stories上に成果物をまとめることで、住民・行政・研究者が“視て理解できる”デジタルツインが完成しました。

ガーナ・ジェームスタウン漁港の海面上昇による影響シミュレーション(Cesium Stories)

トリニダード・トバゴ空港における海面上昇による影響シミュレーション（Cesium Stories）

ガーナ・ジェームスタウン漁港およびトリニダード・トバゴ空港における海面上昇の様子（Cesium Stories）

SpaceData社との役割分担：処理の高度さと可視化の手軽さ

このプロジェクトの先進性は、SpaceData社の高度なAI処理能力と東京大学 Watanave LabによるCesiumを活用した手軽かつ強力な可視化機能の連携にあります。

SpaceData社の処理：光学衛星画像からAIで自動抽出、構造化されたLOD付き建物データを生成。これは属性情報付きのメタデータ構造を持ち、将来的な災害分析にも活用可能。



東京大学 Watanave Labでの処理：SpaceData社によって生成された3DデータをCesium ionで軽量な3D Tiles形式に変換・高速配信し、ブラウザだけで閲覧可能な状態に展開。さらに時間軸・シナリオ・地形・属性情報との連動も可能。



とくにCesium Storiesの機能は、技術知識がなくても地元行政や教育関係者が操作・説明できるUIを備えており、今回のような国際防災協力のビジュアル表現に最適です。

ArcGISとの役割分担と今後の展望

なお、この成果はArcGIS Onlineとのハイブリッド運用も想定されています。ArcGISは属性分析・専門的な防災解析に活用され、Cesiumはその可視化・共有・住民説明・多国間連携に最適なプラットフォームとして位置付けられています。

国連宇宙部担当者は、「今後、英連邦諸国の他地域への展開においても、このCesium + SpaceData + 東大モデルをひとつの標準構成として検討したい」と述べており、本事例はグローバル展開の第一歩となる可能性を秘めています。

この取り組みは、単なる技術実証にとどまらず、洪水など災害のリスクが高い地域に、AI・衛星・3D技術を届けるという社会的意義を持っています。

Cesiumは、今後も国際社会における現実に根ざした3D活用を支援し続けていきます。

あなたのプロジェクトにも、Cesiumを。3D都市表示、リスクの可視化、共有がすぐに始められます。是非　Cesium ionアカウントに登録してみてください。

Harnessing 3D with Cesium for Disaster Resilience: International Collaboration among the United Nations, the University of Tokyo, and SpaceData


 AI-driven urban reconstruction and 3D visualization in Ghana and Trinidad and Tobago

In 2025, Cesium played a vital role in the Commonwealth Digital Twin Project, a joint initiative led by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Commonwealth Secretariat. The project aims to build 3D urban models and simulate flood and sea level rise using AI and satellite data in Commonwealth countries (former British dependencies) that are especially vulnerable to climate change, helping to strengthen community-level disaster resilience.

The first countries selected for the pilot phase were Ghana in West Africa and Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean—both facing increasing flood risks and demonstrating strong cooperation from local governments and stakeholders. The project is expected to scale to other Commonwealth countries facing similar challenges.

AI-generated urban models + UN-based flood simulation

In this project, the Japanese startup SpaceData used Vantor (formerly Maxar Intelligence)’s high-resolution satellite imagery (approximately 30 cm) and AI-based automated processing to generate city models with levels of detail (LOD). This enabled the construction of digital twins of key infrastructure such as airports and ports, as well as the implementation of disaster simulations for flooding and storm surges.

For flood and sea level rise risk assessment, simulation was conducted by integrating the urban models with Digital Elevation Models (DEM), following methods recommended by the the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER). This made it possible to identify vulnerable zones and visualize their potential impact.

From data to usable 3D: The University of Tokyo’s Watanave Lab

Cesium was used to visualize the 3D urban models and disaster scenarios in a browser-accessible, interactive format. This transformation was led by Professor Hidenori Watanave’s research lab at the University of Tokyo’s Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies.

The lab received the LOD-structured city models, used intermediate tools such as Blender and Unity, and converted the data into 3D Tiles with Cesium ion. This conversion step was conducted entirely within Cesium ion, ensuring that the resulting tiles were optimized for web-based streaming and visualization.The results were then presented using Cesium Stories, providing a digital twin accessible to residents, government officials, and researchers.

Jamestown Fishing Harbour, Ghana, in Cesium Stories.

Airport in Trinidad and Tobago in Cesium Stories.

Visual simulations of sea level rise impact at James Town Fishing Harbour in Ghana and the airport in Trinidad and Tobago (source: UNOOSA—Cesium Stories).

SpaceData × Cesium: combining advanced processing and seamless visualization

A hallmark of this project was the seamless integration of SpaceData’s AI-powered processing and Cesium’s powerful and accessible visualization capabilities.

SpaceData: Used AI to automatically extract and generate structured building data with LOD and rich metadata from optical imagery—enabling future disaster analysis and simulation use.

Cesium: Transformed the resulting 3D data into lightweight, streamable 3D Tiles for fast web-based visualization. This includes integration with time-based scenarios, terrain models, and attribute data.

Cesium Stories were especially effective for non-technical users, enabling local governments and educators to easily interact with and explain the 3D content—ideal for use in international disaster resilience communication.

Coordination with ArcGIS and future outlook

The outcomes of this project were also designed for hybrid operation with ArcGIS Online. While ArcGIS was leveraged for attribute and technical analysis, Cesium served as the platform for public-facing visualization, sharing, civic engagement, and international collaboration.

“As we expand this initiative to other Commonwealth nations, we are considering this model—Cesium + SpaceData + University of Tokyo—as a reference configuration.”

This project may serve as a blueprint for wider global deployment.

This initiative goes beyond a mere technical demonstration—it is a socially meaningful effort to deliver satellite imagery, AI, and 3D technologies to regions facing high disaster risk.

Cesium continues to support the practical use of 3D geospatial technology to address real-world global challenges.

Just like in this project, Cesium users tackle global issues—for AI-enhanced city modeling, disaster risk visualization, or public communication.

Get started with Cesium ion to immediately build and share 3D urban visualizations, simulate disaster impacts, and collaborate across teams—all in a web browser.

Cesiumが拓く、3D可視化による防災の未来：国連・東京大学・SpaceDataの国際連携

About 25% of the global seafloor has been mapped in high resolution, according to NOAA, leaving a lot of work to be done. It’s not always practical or safe for humans to be involved, and that’s where Terradepth comes in: its autonomous underwater vehicles collect vast amounts of 3D seabed data hosted on Cesium ion Self-Hosted and streamed to its CesiumJS-powered app, Absolute Ocean. 

Terradepth cuts the seafloor-to-browser process from weeks to days. Courtesy Terradepth.

Terradepth Absolute Ocean Platform featuring Cesium Tilers

Traditionally, sending out a crew, collecting data, manually processing it, and making it available to users took several weeks. Using machines for dangerous, repeatable work, processing and sharing data where it’s captured, and employing people for analysis cuts the seafloor-to-browser process to days. 

Terradepth has been using Cesium since Absolute Ocean’s development and release in 2022. Absolute Ocean users collect and manage their data securely so they can recognize geographic physical features, identify human-made objects like sunken wrecks or unexploded ordnance, and observe change over time beneath the waves in immersive 3D. Hydrographers in academia, infrastructure, and national security rely on this growing collection of undersea geospatial data for better, faster decisions, with nearly immediate access to interactive data instead of a static slide or hard drive transfers. 

Skellig Michael, Ireland, in Absolute Ocean. Courtesy Terradepth.

Detail in ocean data varies: 500 m resolution from satellite altimetry, 50-100 m resolution from a ship, and 5 cm resolution from a robot near the seafloor, where human safety is questionable or even impossible. Terradepth’s AUVs use multibeam sonar, magnetometers, and more to collect terabytes of data. More detail means more data, and Terradepth uses Cesium to get it to users efficiently and securely.  

With Cesium ion Self-Hosted, Terradepth stores massive point clouds, GeoTIFFs, and other data types; tiles the point clouds into 3D Tiles; and streams them to Absolute Ocean, which is built on CesiumJS, for sharing with a broad research community or smaller set of decision-makers. Cesium ion Self-Hosted enables Absolute Ocean’s processing and sharing at the edge and supports data residency requirements. In addition to its detailed seabed data, Terradepth accesses Cesium World Terrain and Bing Maps Aerial imagery for accurate geospatial context above sea level. 