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OSM Buildings

AugmentCity can display a global layer of 3D buildings derived from OpenStreetMap data, rendered directly on the terrain surface. This gives your map an immediate sense of urban context without needing to import any data.

Enable it from the Terrain panel (mountain icon) or the Layers panel under the Buildings section.

Enabling buildings​

  1. Click the mountain icon in the centre toolbar to open the Terrain panel.
  2. Tick OSM Buildings.
  3. Buildings appear on the globe immediately. Zoom in to see individual structures.

Untick the checkbox to hide buildings.

Common controls​

These controls apply regardless of which style mode is active:

ControlDescription
Show outlineDraws edges around each building footprint, making individual structures easier to distinguish
OpacityControls overall transparency of the building layer — slide from 0% (invisible) to 100% (fully opaque)

Style modes​

Open the Style settings in the Buildings section to choose how buildings are coloured. There are five modes.

Solid​

All buildings are rendered in a single colour. Click the colour swatch to open the colour picker and choose any colour.

Use Solid when you want a clean, neutral urban context that does not distract from other data layers.

By height​

Colour buildings based on their height using threshold rules. Each rule maps a minimum height value to a colour — buildings that meet or exceed the threshold get that colour.

To build a height band scheme:

  1. Select By height as the style mode.
  2. Click Add rule.
  3. Enter a height threshold in metres and choose a colour for that band.
  4. Add more rules to define additional bands (for example: below 10 m = grey, 10–30 m = blue, above 30 m = red).

Rules are applied in order from lowest to highest threshold. Buildings shorter than the first threshold receive the default colour.

By type​

Colour buildings according to their OpenStreetMap building type tag. Each type gets its own colour. Buildings with a type that does not match any rule use a default colour.

Supported types include: residential, commercial, industrial, office, retail, public, education, healthcare, parking, mixed-use, warehouse, and other.

This mode is useful for land use analysis — for example, showing the distribution of residential versus commercial stock across a study area.

Distance​

Colour buildings based on their distance from a reference point (anchor). Buildings close to the anchor use the "near" colour; buildings further away use the "far" colour.

To set up a distance style:

  1. Select Distance as the style mode.
  2. Click the map to place an anchor point.
  3. Adjust the near and far colour swatches as required.

This mode is useful for visualising catchment areas, access zones, or impact radii around a proposed development or transport node.

Advanced​

Write raw CesiumJS 3D Tiles style expressions in JSON for full control over building appearance. The expression is applied directly to the Cesium 3D Tileset style engine.

warning

Advanced mode is intended for users familiar with the 3D Tiles Styling specification. Syntax errors in the JSON will prevent buildings from rendering correctly.

Per-building overrides​

The global style mode sets the appearance for all buildings. Per-building overrides let you customise individual buildings on top of that global style — for example, marking a proposed development, hiding an existing building to model a demolition scenario, or flagging specific structures for stakeholder review.

Applying an override​

  1. Click Override Pick in the Buildings section. The cursor changes to indicate override mode is active.
  2. Click any building on the map.
  3. A popover appears with editable fields for that building:
FieldDescription
NameCustom label for the building
Building typeChoose from: residential, commercial, industrial, office, retail, public, education, healthcare, parking, mixed-use, warehouse, other
HeightOverride the building's height in metres
ColorPer-building colour. Uncheck Use global style to activate a custom colour for this building
HiddenHide the building entirely from the map
NotesFree-text notes visible to your team
  1. Edit the fields as needed, then click Done to close the popover and apply the override.
  2. To remove the override for a specific building, click Revert in the popover.

Managing all overrides​

All active overrides are listed in the Buildings section of the panel. Each entry shows the building name (or a generated identifier if no name has been set) with a Revert button to remove that override individually.

To remove all overrides at once, click Clear All Overrides.

tip

Per-building overrides are saved as part of the scenario state. You can use different overrides in different scenarios to compare a baseline against a proposed development, for example.

Coverage​

OSM building data is available globally, but coverage varies by region. Urban areas in Europe, North America, and major cities worldwide have good coverage. Rural and less-mapped areas may show few or no buildings.

The data is sourced from the Cesium OSM Buildings tileset (Cesium Ion asset 96188). A valid Cesium Ion token must be configured for your AugmentCity installation.

Saving in scenarios​

Building visibility, style mode, style settings, and all per-building overrides are saved in scenario snapshots. Switching scenarios restores the full building state exactly as it was when the scenario was saved.