BMC Commences Procedure Of Creating Digital Model Of Mumbai

According to reports, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has commenced the process of curating a digital model of Mumbai. The 3D model which will be akin to the digital twin of Mumbai will comprise comprehensive information on roads, flyovers, bridges, underpasses and tunnels, modes of transport, buildings, open spaces and gardens, civic amenities, water bodies, traffic lights, street lights, trees, airports, landscapes and slums. 

Based on accounts, once it is ready it will be useful in urban planning in terms of infrastructure and development projects, disaster management, classification of buildings, environment analysis and assessment of amenities. With 360-degree views, Mumbai will be visualised in 3D which will help simulations to derive impact areas and comprehensive data analysis.

Narratives suggest that the civic body will map alterations in Mumbai on a yearly basis with geospatial technology. Detection of alterations is anticipated to be utilized for insights into illegal and unauthorised settlements. While the project will be taken by the civic authority's information technology department, they will appoint a contractor with earlier experience. 

It has been reported that a request for proposal (RFP) for the project was published by the BMC earlier this month. The ingenious project is anticipated to be finished in over 18 months. Further, while the city's area is nearly 480 sq km, the area surveyed will be almost 500 sq km since buffer space will be needed for the survey.

The civic body looks to curate a 360-degree panoramic street view imagery of the city, depth data of all water bodies, a 3-D reality mesh model, a horizontal and vertical change detection map and a land use land cover map. A demo of its utility will be made for scenarios pertaining to roads and bridges, disaster management, fire brigade, development planning, property tax and encroachment detection, reports stated.

In its RFP the BMC elaborated on how to address the "demands of cities in the 21st century, it is important that urban governments can visualise cities in 3D".