ISPRS-Archives The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ISPRS-Archives Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci. 2194-9034 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/isprs-archives-L-4-W2-2026-147-2026 Data-Centric Solutions – A Case Study for Road Data Based on Knowledge Graphs Olsson Per-Ola 1 Wahlberg Johan 1 Hellsten Justin 1 Hansson Felix 1 Wikström Lars 2 Calvert Matthew 3 Axelsson Peter 4 Harrie Lars 1 Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, 223 62 Lund, Sweden Triona AB, Borganäsvägen 26, 784 33 Borlänge, Sweden City Planning Department, Fleminggatan 4, 104 20 Stockholm, Sweden BIM Alliance, Drottninggatan 33, 111 51 Stockholm, Sweden 28 09 2026 L-4/W2-2026 147 153 Copyright: © 2026 Per-Ola Olsson et al. 2026 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article is available from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/L-4-W2-2026/147/2026/isprs-archives-L-4-W2-2026-147-2026.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/L-4-W2-2026/147/2026/isprs-archives-L-4-W2-2026-147-2026.pdf

This study demonstrates how a data-centric architecture can be implemented with a knowledge graph based on generic datasets to enable a road maintenance tools. Two datasets were used: a 3D city model (CityGML/3CIM) and a national road database. Road polygons (CityGML/3CIM) were generated from a municipality basemap and knowledge graphs were created for both datasets. The data-centric tool was implemented in the open-source GIS software QGIS and evaluated to find how well the generic datasets fulfill the data requirement of a road maintenance tool. Much of the data required for road maintenance could be obtained from the two generic datasets; however, some information is missing. To overcome this, the information models for the generic datasets need to be extended or a dedicated information model could be created. For the latter, the information model should only contain the required road maintenance attributes and links on object level to the CityGML/3CIM objects to avoid separate descriptions of the road geometries; such an approach would avoid the data-silo structure that is common within municipalities today.