UTILIZED SOFTWARE 

iTwin, Cesium

LOCATION 

UK

ORGANIZATION/COMPANY 

University of Glasgow - Smart Systems Group

In the Glasgow City Region's push to decarbonize, utility, transport, and communication datasets sat in separate silos, and traditional mapping tools offered no interactive 3D environment or real-time data integration — leaving the University of Glasgow's Smart Systems Group without the interoperability needed for whole-systems planning, and pushing each infrastructure sector toward isolated portals instead of a shared view. The team built an interoperable 3D geospatial digital twin on Cesium and iTwin, fusing real-time IoT sensor networks, municipal APIs, and utility datasets with machine learning models, and using Cesium ion plus AI-assisted coding under human oversight to stand up key infrastructure use cases quickly. Video was processed into 3D meshes and Gaussian Splats to cut physical surveys of heritage sites.

Breaking down the silos accelerated development cycles by 66 percent, lifting prototyping to three projects per month, and delivered GBP 100,000 in heating cost savings through sensor-driven monitoring at a heritage estate. Airport energy consumption was predicted with a mean absolute percentage error under 5 percent using LSTM and LGBM models, giving planners evidence-based insight for transport decarbonization. Dashboard models showed how surplus wind energy — a GBP 100 million curtailment problem — could be converted into hydrogen, directly supporting renewable integration, while Low Emission Zone and air quality APIs inside the twin optimized multi-modal urban transport. Coordinating multi-utility datasets, including Scottish Water and regional geospatial mapping, prevented resource conflicts before they reached the ground.

The work was delivered through a collaboration of academic, corporate, and municipal partners including SPEN, SGN, and Glasgow City Council, and the twin now stress-tests transport and energy scenarios in a risk-free digital environment while supporting live operations through real-time monitoring — proving connected, interoperable digital delivery as the foundation for faster, cheaper, lower-carbon regional decarbonization.