On the 10th, NAVER announced that it has completed the establishment of a digital twin platform in three cities in Saudi Arabia: Mecca, Medina, and Jeddah.
NAVER secured the project to establish the digital twin platform from the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in October 2023 and began the business in earnest from July of last year. The total area of the three cities is about 6,800 square kilometers, which is more than 11 times that of Seoul. The number of buildings alone exceeds 920,000.
NAVER explained that the digital twin platform provides various urban planning support functions and analysis results based on three-dimensional (3D) models. It has enabled terrain analysis, such as earthwork volume and slope, for urban development.
To analyze the landscape and sight lines of specific areas, it can check factors such as skyline and sunlight hours. It is also possible to verify compliance with building laws by linking design data before construction.
It also supports simulations for natural disasters such as floods. By linking historical flood frequency and drainage data within the city, it can visualize major flood-prone areas and monitor the movement of rainfall clouds through radar visualization.
Saudi Arabia is conducting a digital twin platform project aimed at implementing future cities using innovative technology and establishing itself as a global leader in the smart city sector. This project is led by the Saudi Arabia Baladi and NHC Innovation, with technological cooperation provided by NAVER, NAVER Cloud, and NAVER Labs.