Zurich - A digital twin of Zurich’s buildings, trees and forests is being made publicly available. It can be found in two apps produced by the City of Zurich - Zurich virtuell and Zurich 4D, which portrays the three digital dimensions in time and space.

The City of Zurich is making a 3D model of the city publicly available in two applications, announces a statement. The first is the app Zurich virtuell, in which users can choose from three different views of buildings, trees, forests and bridges. The other, Zürich 4D, represents structural development in time and space. Among others, it visualizes ongoing construction projects, design plans and successfully concluded architecture competitions. Both apps will be freely available to the public, as well as schools, as open data.   

Primarily aimed at planners, architecture specialists and engineers, the apps have functions of professional interest such as measuring building heights or projecting the shade they will cast. Users can also check the documentation of real estate, writes the City of Zurich. It goes on to report that the underlying technologies are already in use within the administration - for the visualization of noise simulations, as a tool in architectural competitions, and for the integration of civil engineering and building construction projects. 

According to the City of Zurich, the apps were developed within the city council’s Digital City strategic focus. They are part of the so-called Digital Twin, a digital representation of the City of Zurich.