Short description: Kalasatama is a new seaside district being developed in Helsinki. A smart city project called Fiksu Kalasatama has been experimenting with smart services in collaboration with the residents, businesses, and other stakeholders in the area. The Kalasatama digital twin project obtained funding from KIRA-digi, the national digitalisation programme of the Finnish government. The aims of the project are to:

• Create digital twins of the Kalasatama urban development
• Share the models as open data
• Provide a virtual platform for the experiments that are part of the Fiksu Kalasatama project
• Test new technologies, especially those related to CityGML
• Advance the use of digital twins in the city's processes and services

The team created two 3D city models. The first one is a semantic city information model based on CityGML and the other is a visually high-quality reality mesh model. CityGML is a global standard established by OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium). It is a semantic, expandable information model that can describe objects—e.g., buildings and building parts—and their relationships in a hierarchical structure. CityGML makes the model “intelligent,” rather than just a three-dimensional representation of the reality.

The city information model allows users to perform a variety of analyses focusing, for example, on energy consumption, greenhouse gases or the environmental impacts of traffic. The reality mesh model can be utilised in various online services or as the basis for all kinds of design projects, such as planning the exit routes and the locations of performance stages and sales stalls for city events. The models are available as open data.

Recommendations: Digital Government Integration (6, 7); Standardisation and Reuse (12, 13); Governance, Partnerships and Capabilities (18)