Adding metadata to the OSM dataset

Cesium for Unreal
1

Hi, I was wondering if it is possible to add metadata to the OSM dataset, such that I can map colors to my own values on the 3D tiles?
Unfortunately I am not able to add the data directly to Open Street Map as the data is restricted and can’t be shared publicly.

I saw this post about CesiumJS and I guess I want to do something similar in Unreal Engine.
I have a datatable with values mapped to long lat coordinates, so the best thing would be if I could edit the metadata of the dataset in editor based on these values.
I have seen some posts asking about editing in runtime and I want to emphasize that I have no such need. I could even edit the data in some external software, such as Blender, if that is a better option.

I also saw a post discussing the use of a texture and mapping to feature_id but I don’t think that is feasible based on the share number of ID:s in OSM.

I saw this post about creating a dataset in blender but I don’t really understand how replicate it.
Would it be possible to download/clip a subset of OSM and apply additional metadata to that dataset, and then upload it again to Cesium?

Regards, Gustav

2

Hi @Simstad,

Unfortunately there’s no easy and direct way to do what you describe. It is possible to download a “clip” of an area of Cesium OSM Buildings using the Cesium Clips feature. And from there it is theoretically possible to add and modify the metadata included in the clipped model. Actually doing so, however, will require understanding the 3D Tiles and glTF specs quite well and writing some code to manipulate them.

Perhaps there’s a way to accomplish your goal without modifying the metadata embedded in Cesium OSM Buildings? For example, you could supply a custom material that pulls your custom data from somewhere, such as a texture you supply. The trick will be in looking up the appropriate values. You might be able to do that using the feature IDs embedded in Cesium OSM Buildings itself.

Another possibility to embed your custom data in a raster overlay, served up via WMS or another raster overlay type. Then Cesium for Unreal can drape it over the top of Cesium OSM Buildings, and a material can either use the colors from the overlay directly, or compute material parameters based on them.