The first step in the implementation of smart city projects concerns the construction of the urban digital model that describes the components of the urban built and natural environments. For each urban component, the digital model provides the geolocalisation and characteristics (attributes). GIS is generally used for the construction of the digital model of urban ‘horizontal components’ such as urban networks, transport facilities and natural environment, while building information modelling (BIM) is used for the description of ‘vertical components’ such as buildings.
The combination of GIS and BIM provides a powerful tool for the construction of the urban digital model with georeferenced data and the visualisation of this data in a user-friendly environment.
VMAPS has provided as built 3D city models of some of the biggest metropolises around the globe from Europe to North America.
