Bluesky’s MetroVista powers Nottingham’s digital twin

The city of Nottingham has taken a significant stride towards realizing its vision of establishing a digital twin for the city. In what is believed to be a pioneering initiative in the UK, it is seamlessly integrating the intricate and expansive MetroVista 3D mesh with pre-existing photogrammetric 3D models in a singular application. This groundbreaking approach facilitates the visualization of novel developments in an immersive real-world setting, all the while retaining the capacity to effectively involve its extensive network of development stakeholders.

Powered by the innovative MetroVista 3D mesh model, a product hailing from Bluesky International, this novel tool ensures the utilization of precise data to drive decision-making processes. Its primary objective is to provide transparency and heighten engagement with the planning process. This marks a significant endeavour to establish accurate and well-informed frameworks for decision-making, ensuring that the city’s evolution is steered by data-backed insights.

Bluesky’s MetroVista data combines ultra-high resolution aerial photography and oblique images with high point density Lidar to create photorealistic mesh models. 

“We have always had 3D aspirations, and our planning department pioneered its use nearly two decades ago,” commented Laura Pullen, GIS business development manager at Nottingham City Council. “However, at that time the city model was on a single, stand-alone computer that had to be carried from meeting to meeting! More recently we deployed a number of lightweight GIS applications using simplified 3D buildings, but we were keen to create an internal tool utilizing high-detailed 3D data at its core which could also exploit our GIS data holdings. 

“We now have a fully integrated internal assessment tool which is delivered online and accessible anywhere, including throughout the planning department, enabling planners to undertake advanced visualizations, constraint checks and spatial analysis. In addition, it sits alongside a public application which is shareable with partner organizations, external stakeholders and the public. The online tools have Bluesky MetroVista data at their heart, making it easy for non-professional users to engage with and interpret the data.” 

Esri competition

Nottingham City Council began its journey from vision to virtual reality when it won a competition organized by Esri UK to find local planning authorities with innovative ideas for how best to use geospatial technology to help modernize the planning process. Supported by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which published the ‘Planning for the Future’ white paper that presented the importance of geospatial technology and data for the digital planning reform of the country, the work by Nottingham and the other Esri projects was nominated for the Digital Leaders 100 Geospatial Initiative of the Year award.  

Earlier this year, Nottingham City Council was selected as one of 15 local planning authorities to be funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities PropTech Innovation Fund. In a joint project with Bradford Council, Nottingham is now trialling 3D and exploring VR and AR visualizations as well as physical models, using the Bluesky MetroVista data within its online tool, to ensure data-driven decision-making and transparency in planning, and to provide a common platform, maximizing the use of existing spatial data holdings which could be used as a blueprint for other local planning authorities. 

“The focus of this project is around digital engagement within the planning process. The core 3D data within the tool was critical and we were keen to include photorealistic models, alongside traditional 3D building data, as we believe it will enhance engagement with members of the public and other stakeholders,” Pullen continued. “In fact, it’s all about having the right data for the right audience.” 

“Bluesky was keen to engage with us from the start and already had data available off-the-shelf. With a focus on public and stakeholder engagement, the MetroVista photorealistic mesh model is an ideal product to include within this tool as it brings things to life. Users can identify buildings and features they are already familiar with and the data is easy to consume, hosted within our existing online storage service so we don’t need big servers internally, is editable, so redundant buildings can be dynamically demolished and new developments ‘dropped’ in, and is compatible with our other geospatial datasets including traditional 3D building models and other data such as flooding, conservation areas and live CCTV streams. 

“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,” she concluded.

Geospatial foundations for smart cities

Ralph Coleman, chief commercial officer at Bluesky, commented: “It has been fantastic to see the vision we had for our MetroVista product realized through the work Nottingham City Council has done. We see MetroVista as a key data tool setting the geospatial foundations for smart cities and citywide digital twins to be built. It has been inspiring working with the Nottingham team and I am confident that their innovative work will be shared as best practice with other local authorities in the UK.” 

Bluesky’s MetroVista data is acquired using a Leica CityMapper sensor, the world’s first hybrid airborne sensor that simultaneously captures vertical and oblique imagery together with high point density Lidar, which allows for the production, with minimal manual interaction, of accurate and detailed, citywide mesh models. MetroVista data is becoming increasingly popular for smart city applications. By providing a geographically accurate and detailed 3D representation of the urban environment, MetroVista data has already provided insight for a range of applications, including urban design, defence and security modelling, insurance assessments and utility and telecom planning.