Las Vegas has revealed it is to create a digital twin of itself in a bid to reduce carbon emissions.
The twin will provide a digital model of the city’s buildings, transportation systems, and infrastructure, fed by data transmitted by sensors over a 5G network.
The idea is to give planners, building owners, and system operators better visibility into their assets’ operations to improve mobility, air quality, noise pollution, water management, and emissions.
The project will initially provide a twin of a significant area of downtown, but will eventually scale up to include the whole of Sin City.
Las Vegas chief innovation officer Michael Sherwood said: “Digital Twins are rapidly becoming vital to how cities are run.
“Now in Las Vegas we will have a city-scale digital twin that is driven by the physical environment, and ultimately letting us control key systems through it.
“This will give us new levels of insights and control to benefit city planners, residents, and businesses.
“We’re setting the benchmark for cities around the world to become smarter, efficient, safer and more sustainable.”
Tech company Cityzenith will provide the digital twin platform after delivering a similar initiative in New York.
Cityzenith chief executive Michael Jansen said: “We are confident that this seminal project will demonstrate the combined power of Digital Twin and IoT [Internet of Things] technology working together to transform mobility, walkability, and emissions/air pollution.”
Terbine will manage IoT data from sources such as local government agencies, building operators, transportation systems, and vehicle manufacturers to build out the twin.
The parties aim to unveil the first iteration of the Las Vegas digital twin at the city’s Consumer Electronics Show in January.
Image: randy andy/Shutterstock
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