Digital Twin & GIS Assessment

MJ is providing the City of Schenectady with a GIS-based digital twin of existing public infrastructure.

MJ performed a GIS needs assessment, working closely with the city to prioritize GIS projects and design the framework for the digital twin. The digital twin will utilize ArcGIS server technology and contain data of the city’s topography, water, storm sewer, and sanitary sewer systems, with a secondary focus on ADA ramps, traffic/trail signs, traffic signals, street lights, curbs, and city signage.

Rapid economic development in the city amidst aging infrastructure has created the need for a digital twin solution which increases efficiency and streamlines communication for improvement projects and the new construction economic development brings. The digital twin will serve as a citywide infrastructure data management tool which can integrate with other digital information sources and supports the city’s infrastructure maintenance activities.

MJ is developing a digital twin that fulfills these needs and serves as a central repository for infrastructure mapping and documentation that can be continually updated to reflect evolving conditions. The digital twin will serve as an immersive digital basemap and an engineering, assessment, planning, and development tool which features high-definition 3D laser scans, 360° panoramic imagery, and high-resolution aerial photography.

MJ’s digital twin solution is centered around a web-enabled Content Management System (CMS) that utilizes a GIS database for digital storage of infrastructure data. The solution uses Esri’s ArcGIS Online software suite in conjunction with MJ’s Trident software to fulfill the CMS and GIS needs. The platform is easy to use and has all the features advanced mapping users expect, so it can grow with the client. MJ is facilitating the set up of the city’s own ArcGIS Online subscription with Esri.

For this project, MJ is utilizing Trident, a web-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) developed by MJ which offers users the ability to remotely explore sites’ and cities’ digital twin via immersive existing conditions data MJ captures with 3D laser scans and 360° panoramic photos. Not satisfied with current industry offerings, MJ’s geospatial group developed Trident with the goal of providing digital documentation specifically tailored to engineers, urban planners, and GIS analysts.

MJ is populating the digital twin with the fundamental datasets that create a detailed, interactive basemap of which the City of Schenectady’s engineering, assessment, codes, planning, development, fire, and police divisions can immediately begin to utilize. The modern basemap is no longer a static image or plan set, but rather an immersive collection of datasets from multiple sources that leverage the efficiencies of the latest technology to provide rich datasets which maximize value and make the data accessible to non-traditional user groups.