A 3D version of Glasgow could offer a fresh perspective on how the city is “built and run” — including plotting developments and responding to major incidents.
The Glasgow model, a 3D representation of the city, is a free platform, accessible to the public, council and stakeholders.
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It is hoped the model will bring “real benefits” to Glasgow City Council, aiding the day-to-day management of the city when “something happens somewhere”.
Planners can “run” projects against the model, assessing their viability, including checking the impact on neighbouring buildings, such as shadowing.
The public will be able to view potential developments during consultation and the model can be used to “showcase” the city to private investors.
And, as the model is developed, council officers want to be able to map underground, looking at utilities like gas and water.
Photorealistic and block data, procured in 2017, has now been enhanced through the addition of light detection and ranging (LiDAR data), which “shows fantastic detail of individual buildings”.
Council staff have worked in collaboration with the Urban Big Data Centre at the University of Glasgow and the Scottish Government to develop the updated model.
Glasgow is currently leading the way in Scotland, but the model could be extended across the country.
Cllr Angus Millar, chair of the Digital Glasgow Board, said: “The 3D Smart City Model for Glasgow makes the city a leader in the use of this digital technology in Scotland and the UK, offering a new way to look at how the city is built and run.
“Use of the model will bring real benefits to many groups of people, allowing the potential to plan and operate the city in a smarter way, delivering the economic, environmental and social benefits we aim for.”
The model can show the ideal place for solar panels, shadowing throughout the day and the distance between areas.
One council officer said: “It helps architects, if they’re drawing buildings, to get an idea without needing to go to the site. If they’re creating buildings beside it, they can make sure that it fits nicely into the landscape.”
She added: “You can tell how the light changes throughout the day and that is really important when you’re building a structure that might be taller than another structure.
“With this kind of solar analysis, it tells you where the best place to place solar panels is, at what angle and so on. That will help with carbon reduction, it can also help with transportation.
“If we’re moving toward cars and buses being electric, where the best place is to put the solar panels, where they can charge the buses or cars within the city depending on where the route is.”
Another council officer said: “The way they are working in Australia, they use it for planning, so developers can submit their 3D model and automatically it’s included.
“When you’re doing your decision-making, how it’s going to look, you run all of your constraints, all your policies, against the model. It’s so much easier.”
She added: “Ideally, what I would love to have is the solar analysis done on the whole of the city. You would have a very clear idea to say it wouldn’t be worth me putting solar panels because I only get one hour of sunlight a day.”
However, the officer said there is a greater need for analysis on the impact of shadowing in Australia. “There it was 7pm in the evening and 21 degrees, it was like ‘no, we’re in Scotland, we will not be doing any’, but we will definitely be using the flooding.
“We are very interested in setting up a pilot and working with the flood risk management team.”
It is hoped the model will make planning consultation “more transparent” in Glasgow, allowing the public to see how a new-build would look.
Council officers want developers to engage with the council, providing their models which can be uploaded into the digital Glasgow.
Projects would be able to be viewed at different stages, showing the impact of delays or helping to make decisions on required changes.
There is a 3D model of the council’s Exchange House, which can show every floor.
“During the pandemic we had restrictions on how many people could be in the office and we could tell you what floors were accessible, what tables were being used,” one officer said.
As the model is developed, officers hope to produce a “digital twin” — an “exact replica of the city”.
With that, they would be able to analyse “what happens if there was a fire, how would people get out the building”. “We could do simulations, that’s the next stage.
“Our hopes are that when we move to a digital twin that we can look under the ground as well, so you can map out utilities, your fibre, gas, water.”
It could also be used to plan diversions when there’s a traffic jam in the city centre or “what’s the best way to walk in the winter to get your vitamin D”. “Something as simple as using it for health reasons.”
In the future, the council staff hope to have “versions” of Glasgow. “What I would love to be able to see is how Glasgow was 20 or 30 years ago, if we are baselining these models we will be able to look back and be able to see the impact.”
