Houdini GeoJSON Tool: From GIS footprints to 3D city blocks

Custom GeoJSON pipeline built in Houdini (Python), including reprojection logic, attribute handling, and geometry reconstruction.

Transforms GeoJSON building data into structured 3D geometry by handling coordinate reprojection, attribute mapping, and geometry reconstruction inside Houdini.

Data flow

Raw GeoJSON → 2D footprint reconstruction → attribute-driven 3D extrusion

Example source feature (GeoJSON)

{
  "type": "Feature",
  "properties": {
    "heightroof": 29.75,
    "cnstrct_yr": 1925
  },
  "geometry": {
    "type": "MultiPolygon",
    "coordinates": [[[...]]]
  }
}

2D footprint

3D Generated Buildings

• heightroof → extrusion height: Procedural extrusion is driven by the heightroof attribute when available.

Dataset reference

• Microsoft US Building Footprints: https://github.com/microsoft/USBuildingFootprints?tab=readme-ov-file