Exploiting big point clouds: Unveiling insights for sustainable development through change detection in the built environment

Change detection in the built environment is essential for sustainable development practices including Urban Planning and Development, Environmental Monitoring, and Conservation. Change detection provides valuable insights into dynamic processes, facilitates informed decision making, and supports sustainable development initiatives. Point clouds serve as foundational data sources for change detection in built environments, enabling analysts to detect, quantify, and interpret spatial changes with unparalleled accuracy and granularity. By leveraging the inherent characteristics of point clouds, researchers and practitioners can gain valuable insights into dynamic processes, inform decision making, and foster sustainable development in an ever-evolving built environment. We present the preliminary results of cloud-to-cloud (c2c) distance calculations for further change detection analysis of the entire Netherlands. This study utilises point cloud data from AHN2, 3, and 4 (Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland1, The Netherlands). A method based on a 3D space-filling curve (SFC) was developed to calculate the c2c distances between AHN2, 3, and 4. This SFC method will allow change detection analysis to be carried out for the entire Netherlands. The change detection analysis outcomes can be accessed for future analysis in Potree2, a web-based point cloud rendered for large point clouds. The final implementation will allow the visualisation of AHN point clouds and their attributes, among which is the change in detection-related information. This research contributes to sustainable development practices by offering enhanced spatial insights and informed decision-making tools for further analysis and monitoring of the (built) environment in the Netherlands. [...]