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3D City Model Hackathon was organized on 9 – 11 October at Design Factory. The hackathon was a joint effort of SITO, Espoo city and Aalto Built Environment Laboratory. 3D City Model is a way of representing the physical dimensions of a city in a digital 3D form. In addition, it is possible to integrate different kinds of data onto the model. In essence, the model can function as a digital user interface for the city thus opening up possibilities for new services and ways of interacting with the city.

The goal of the 3D City Model Hackathon was to create an application or concept related to city planning, urban digitalization, living, traffic & transportation, energy or environment that utilizes the 3D city model of Otaniemi and other data provided by the organizers and their partners.

With the hackathon, the Espoo city wanted to anticipate and get ideas in what ways the 3D city model could be utilized in the future. Another important goal for all the organizers was to increase interest in city models and gather students and professionals together for the weekend. 

The event was opened with inspirational speeches by the director of economic and business development of Espoo, Tuula Antola and 3D city model expert from Helsinki city, Jarmo Suomisto. The participants had time from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon to complete their concepts with the help of mentors from different companies that work with the city models. In the end, nine different proposals were submitted.

The submitted works were among other things a space reservation system that helps to save energy, two projects concentrating on wayfinding, a city planning tool and an exploration how to integrate data from mobile device sensors with the city model.

Aalto Built Environment Laboratory was proud to participate in the Hackathon as it believes that 3D city model will offer many possibilities to support built environment research and planning in the future. 

Aalto Built Environment Laboratory (ABE) is a new collaborative research and learning initiative of Aalto University, School of Engineering focusing on the questions of the built environment.

More information: Maria Viitanen/ABE, maria.viitanen@aalto.fi.