GroundXML: An addition of aligmnent and subsoil specific cross-sectional data to the LandXML scheme

This paper describes the addition of alignment- and subsoil-specific cross-sectionaldata to the LandXML scheme. Data exchange between infrastructure and geotechnical software should be made possible with this newly created GroundXML format. We developed the new scheme GroundXML as an extension of the LandXML scheme. Usually, commercial infrastructure software exports the alignment structure as LandXML file. Within these formats, the structures of the alignment are stored in different tags as axis, gradient and digital terrain model (DTM). Additional information which is necessary for geotechnical analysis has not existed in LandXML up to now. This means, that the format has not supported a semantic description of different underground layers with drilling profile, ground parameter or volumes. In order to realize a simple and automatic exchange of geometrical and semantic information between infrastructure- and geotechnical software, we have now added new elements to the GroundXML scheme. We use the standard LandXML format to describe the geometry of different underground layers and add new features to include the subsoil parameters from the 3D subsoil model. The description of the subsoil will be realized by the 3D subsoil model which includes the building ground properties of the corresponding layers. Afterwards a GroundXML instance file can be imported into the geotechnical software via a GroundXML interface. In a next step, the subsoil structure is analyzed and if necessary, the cross-sectional-line can be optimized. The suitability of the GroundXML formats has been tested exemplary with commercial infrastructure and geotechnical software as a part of the Bavarian research project ForBAU. The paper describes in detail the necessary steeps to create the format GroundXML.