As urban environments continue to evolve, local authorities require increasingly comprehensive and accurate geospatial data to inform governance, planning and communication with their communities. Smart city initiatives are making this happen by harnessing the power of reality capture to generate digital twins of entire cities.
One such city is Nottingham in the United Kingdom. The local council embarked on an initiative to develop a digital twin of the city. The project sought to establish a versatile platform that would combine different datasets and be accessible across departments.
The aim was to reshape Nottingham’s decision-making processes and optimise urban planning for more sustainable city growth and innovation. A digital twin would allow them to streamline their approach. They also wanted it to be widely accessible to boost public engagement, for example when considering the effects of new developments on the environment.
Nottingham City Council recruited the expertise of Bluesky International, an aerial survey company that is utilising Leica Geosystems’ airborne solutions. Through this partnership, the council has developed a digital twin of the entire city — establishing Nottingham as a pioneer in digitally advanced city planning.
MAPPING NOTTINGHAM FROM THE SKY
The first stage in creating a digital twin of a city is an aerial survey. The Leica CityMapper-2 urban mapping sensor was chosen for its ability to capture both imagery and LiDAR simultaneously. This hybrid system allows for the creation of accurate and detailed 3D urban models by capturing vertical and oblique imagery together with high point density LiDAR. The sensor and its unified postprocessing software is radically transforming the process of digitising urban environments.
The CityMapper-2 enables Bluesky International to generate highly detailed data products — such as orthophotos, point clouds, 3D building models and meshes, all from a single flight. These give the digital twin greater levels of accuracy and depth so that local authorities can shape their urban landscapes with unparalleled accuracy.
ONE FLIGHT, MULTIPLE DATASETS
The CityMapper-2 captured a wide spectrum of highly accurate and flexible data during a single flight. The system helps cut flying costs and reduce carbon emissions while creating data that is adaptable for a wide range of applications.
“In one flight we can capture all the required data,” says Ralph Coleman, CCO at Bluesky International. “This makes us cost-effective for our customers while also helping us meet our ambition to achieve carbon neutrality.”
Despite of these benefits, customers do not have to sacrifice quality. “On the contrary,” says Coleman, “we can deliver datasets that meet our customers’ demands on both accuracy and quality.
"Fast-changing urban environments require more frequent and, therefore, more efficient updates of geospatial data. The ability to capture entire city areas within a single day and seamlessly integrate new information into existing geospatial data is empowering Nottingham City Council with the most up-to-date and comprehensive datasets for its new digital twin.
FROM 2D TO 3D
The shift to 3D geospatial data makes urban planning more efficient and highlights new opportunities. It enables more detailed insight into digital simulations of urban scenarios, from transport improvements to new constructions.
However, due to the intricacies involved in capturing and analysing these spatial dimensions and depth, 3D data demands a higher level of imaging and LiDAR consistency — a challenge that Hexagon helped address.
The CityMapper-2 is supported by Leica HxMap, the high-performance processing workflow available for all Leica Geosystems airborne sensors. The software suite seamlessly processes both imaging and LiDAR data within the same environment, enabling the generation of highly consistent data products crucial for creating digital twins.
INCREASED TRANSPARENCY
A key goal of Nottingham City Council has always been to ensure access to data across all their departments. The transition from 2D to 3D data has unlocked a new dimension of clarity and insight: by integrating the 3D mesh, the council could offer unparalleled visual fidelity and depth. Besides streamlining and enhancing the planning process, the creation of an easy-to-access digital twin helps foster public engagement, transparency, and more efficient public spending. “Ultimately, the beneficiaries of this data are the citizens,” says Coleman.
FUTURE APPLICATIONS
The Nottingham City Council project is now working on combining aerial data captured with the Leica CityMapper-2 with data captured with mobile mapping technologies. This means new developments will be presented in an immersive real-world environment, increasing the scope of possible use cases for the data.
As Laura Pullen, GIS Business Development Manager at Nottingham City Council, explains: “We hope to build on the work to date and, as we move forward, start to create hybrid-mesh models incorporating street level photo capture for applications with transport planning and biodiversity studies, for example.”
By leveraging an advanced 3D, photorealistic digital twin in planning applications, the council aims to take a more comprehensive approach to planning policies and enhancing public engagement. Virtual city mapping is a pivotal engagement tool for planning committees and the wider community as they discuss new development projects and their impact on the environment.
Nottingham City Council is at the forefront of revolutionising urban planning practices, setting a precedent for local authorities across the UK. By embracing digital twin technology, the council is not only streamlining planning processes but also fostering greater transparency, engagement and efficiency in shaping the future of its cityscape.
