Setup and Usage¶

For using the City2TABULA tool, you have two main options: the recommended Docker-based setup for ease of use and consistency, or a manual installation for advanced users who prefer direct control over the environment for development purposes.

Docker Setup (recommended)¶

Prerequisites (Docker)¶

Requirement	Version	Notes	Download Link
Docker	20.10+		docker.com
Docker Compose	2.0+		docs.docker.com

Step 1. Download release¶

Download the latest release from GitHub. Unzip the downloaded file and navigate to the project directory:

cd city2tabula-<version>

Step 2. Download data¶

Place your 3D city data file (.gml or .json) under data/ directory before starting the containers:

data/
├── lod2/<country>/*(.gml | .json)
└── lod3/<country>/*(.gml | .json)

Example

For example, if you have a LoD2 CityGML file for Germany, you would place it in data/lod2/germany/ directory. If you have a corresponding LoD3 file, it would go in data/lod3/germany/. The directory structure should look like this:

data/
├── lod2/
│   └── germany/
│       └── germany_lod2.gml
└── lod3/
    └── germany/
        └── germany_lod3.gml

Tip

If you don’t have your own data, you can use the example datasets provided in the data/ directory. These are sourced from publicly available datasets with appropriate licensing. Refer to this documentation for example datasets and sources.

Step 3. Create Docker Container¶

This will build the Docker images, start the containers, and run the interactive setup script to configure environment variables and database connection settings. Follow the prompts to complete the setup.

Choose and run the appropriate command for your operating system:

# Linux/macOS
make setup

# Windows (Command Prompt)
setup.bat setup

# Windows (PowerShell)
./setup.ps1 setup

Step 4. Create database¶

After the setup is complete, you can create the database with:

# Linux/macOS
make create-db

# Windows (Command Prompt)
setup.bat create-db

# Windows (PowerShell)
./setup.ps1 create-db

Note

If you have already created the database, you will need to change the database name or reset the existing database before running the above command again. To change the database name update environment configuration in docker.env file. To reset the database, use the following command:

# Linux/macOS
make configure

# Windows (Command Prompt)
setup.bat configure

# Windows (PowerShell)
./setup.ps1 configure

To reset the database, use:

# Linux/macOS
make reset-db

# Windows (Command Prompt)
setup.bat reset-db

# Windows (PowerShell)
./setup.ps1 reset-db

Step 5. Run feature extraction¶

Final step is to run the feature extraction process, which will execute the full City2TABULA pipeline and generate the output data in the database. Use the following command:

# Linux/macOS
make extract-features

# Windows (Command Prompt)
setup.bat extract-features

# Windows (PowerShell)
./setup.ps1 extract-features

Development Setup¶

Warning

This setup is mainly intended for Linux development environments. If you’re on Windows, Docker is strongly recommended. Local installation on Windows might require additional configuration (e.g., WSL2, manual Java setup) and is not covered in this guide.

Prerequisites (dev)¶

Requirement	Version	Notes	Download Link
Go	1.21+	required for City2TABULA	golang.org
PostgreSQL	17+	required for City2TABULA & CityDB Tool	postgresql.org
PostGIS	3.5+	required for working with spatial data	postgis.net
Java	17+	required for CityDB Tool	oracle.com
Git	2.25+	required for City2TABULA	git-scm.com
CityDB Importer/Exporter	v1.1.0	Unzip and place the `citydb-tool` directory at your preferred location.	github.com

Note

Steps for local development setup will be added in future updates. For now, refer to the Docker setup instructions for a streamlined installation process.