City of Helsinki has won the grand prize in the Digital Cities category at the global Year in Infrastructure conference. The awards handed out at the conference have been referred to as the Oscars of urban construction and infrastructure.
City of Helsinki won the award with its Digital City Synergy project. Almost 400 hundred cities and projects from around the world competed in the range of award categories.
This victory takes Helsinki one step closer to becoming the world’s leading city in digitalisation. The accolade demonstrates that Helsinki’s persistent efforts to apply new technology in City services and development efforts has been noticed and is widely respected by professionals across the world.
“The persistent smart city -work by City of Helsinki innovation company Forum Virium Helsinki bears fruit now. We are very happy about the award”, says Forum Virium Helsinki managing director Mika Malin.
A digital twin is a virtual model that can be used to plan or examine the city for the purposes of a project before actual implementation. As such, the main theme of Helsinki’s Digital City Synergy project is to specify the roles of various City operators and the benefits of cooperation in the development of a digital city. Digital urban development and the utilisation of modern analytic methods enable the City to simulate the end results of decision alternatives in a variety of ways before any decisions are even made.
The method based on information models also enables data analysis and system monitoring to improve future planning and anticipate possible issues. The idea of a digital twin is by no means new: for instance, the first 3D city models of Helsinki were created in 1987 to represent the Kamppi area.
The Kalasatama digital twin will help other cities interested in digital modelling to succeed
The Kalasatama Digital Twins report is a concrete example of the benefits gained from the Digital City Synergy project. Helsinki has been piloting the digital twin model especially in the Kalasatama district, preparing high-quality 3D city models in unparalleled detail and offering them to all operators and partners in the form of open data. Among other details, the Kalasatama Digital Twins report includes the technologies used by Helsinki, which makes it an excellent way to assist other cities interested in digital modelling.
City of Helsinki hopes that its city model platforms promote diverse product development, research, education and innovation in the field, and contribute to increasing awareness and understanding of the vast potential of digitalisation in urban development.
Additional information:
Kalasatama Digital Twins report (pdf).
All award winners on the Bentley website.
Further information
Mika Malin
Mobile: +358 40 668 5599
mika.malin(at)forumvirium.fi
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