Monaco creates new version of its “digital twin”

You may have already come across it. Since Monday 15 April, a car with a roof-mounted camera has been cruising the streets of the Principality. 

This system is powered by the Government’s Department of Forward Studies, Urban Planning and Mobility (DPUM), in collaboration with the Town Hall’s Digital Services Department (DSN). The aim of the project is to scan streets and buildings in order to model Monaco in 3D and create a new “street view”. New because an earlier version was created in 2020, but advances in camera technology mean that we should now have ‘high resolution’ modelling.

Georges Gambarini, in charge of the Smart City programme in the interministerial Digital Transition delegation, explained the purpose of the campaign in detail to Monaco-Info: “The aim is to recreate what we call the Principality’s ‘digital twin’ giving the twin a complete overhaul with unparalleled resolution. This will enable urban planning simulations. For example, it will be possible to project what Monaco will look like tomorrow if new buildings are added, or provide tourists with an immersive Principality experience. »

The current high-res 3D image-gathering phase is due to complete on Sunday 21 April. It will resume in May, however, according to the government.

As Grégory Martin, Head of the DPUM’s Geographic Information Unit, told Monaco-Info: “The campaign will be carried out in several phases, the first of which will be vehicle filming, followed later in the year by drone filming and then filming with an on-board dynamic scanner that will enable us to cover all the areas that cannot be accessed by a vehicle. »

After recording the images and modelling the project, the new version of the twin should be ‘born’ by March 2025.