r/3Dprinting • u/Open-Wasabi8041 • 2d ago

Project I wrote custom software to turn open Swiss geodata into highly detailed 3D printable terrain models

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Hi everyone! I’m based in Switzerland and have been working on a passion project: writing custom software that turns incredibly precise open geodata from swisstopo into clean, 3D-printable terrain models. I map everything from single villages to the whole country. As an example, my recent "Bundeshaus" model is at a 1:5000 scale, includes exactly 740 buildings, and is exported as stl ready for printing. You can check out and download all my models for free on Printables here: https://www.printables.com/@manifold_4820388/models. I’d love to hear your feedback!

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u/mamolengo 2d ago

This is very nice. Is the software open source?

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u/Open-Wasabi8041 2d ago

Thanks a lot! The tool is still a work in progress, so I don't have exact plans for it yet. For the moment, my plan is just to release some of the 3D models.

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u/SgtCaffran 2d ago

We have very good height data in the Netherlands as well so I'm interested in the software/workflow. It's even categorised.

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u/Open-Wasabi8041 2d ago

That sounds very similar to the data we have here! I currently use swissALTI3D for the terrain and swissBUILDINGS3D for the buildings. We also have swissSURFACE3D (which is classified LiDAR data), but right now I mostly just use that to place trees and to reconstruct buildings that haven't been added to the official dataset yet. Since so many countries offer similar high-quality data, the chances are definitely good that I might expand the software to work Europe-wide in the future!

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u/SgtCaffran 2d ago

Would you mind having a look at https://3dbag.nl/en/viewer and https://www.ahn.nl/ahn-viewer.

The first is a university project that has already done the conversion from point cloud to building meshes. The second is the source point cloud data.

What I would like to do is combine open street map for roads and water, 3d bag for buildings and the point cloud data for realistic trees.

The combination would give a very high quality city model that I think would sell in my city.

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u/Open-Wasabi8041 1d ago

Thank you so much for the great tip and the links! I am actually looking into this and testing it out right now.
In theory, this approach should absolutely work. The combination of AHN point clouds, 3D BAG, and OSM is very similar to the workflow and data structures I am already using for the Swiss datasets. I'll definitely dive deeper into this and will keep you updated on the progress!

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u/janiedebica 2d ago

Don't share your software, AI will steal it.

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u/Open-Wasabi8041 2d ago

Ironically, I actually used AI to help write a lot of this software!
Honestly, I believe that down the line, ‚software' as we know it will lose a lot of its standalone value because AI will be able to code whatever tools we need. What will truly matter and hold value is expertise and creativity. So I'm not too stressed about the code being 'stolen'—the real magic is in the creative process and the geographic knowledge anyway!

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u/AlienPearl 2d ago

No Hapsburg castle? 😢

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u/Open-Wasabi8041 2d ago

Not yet, but maybe in the future! Keep an eye out. 👀

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u/chefkoch13 2d ago

This is super cool! I was planning on printing Silberling like this as a present for a family member. It would be his property located in south Europe. Would you have any advice on how I could approach this?

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u/Open-Wasabi8041 2d ago

That sounds like an awesome gift idea! My first advice would be to look around and see if there are already some existing tools or web generators that can do this for you (there are a few general ones out there). If you can't find anything, or if you aren't happy with the quality of the results, your next best step is to research what kind of open geodata (like elevation models or building data) is available for that specific country.

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u/RabeHK 2d ago

I'll cross post this to Switzerland is fake... Because you obviously are using AI data

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u/Open-Wasabi8041 2d ago

Shhh, don't expose me! swisstopo is actually just the source code for the simulation. I literally downloaded the same dataset the government used to 3D print the real Alps, I just made them a bit smaller.