Raleigh builds digital twin with Esri, NVIDIA, Microsoft

Raleigh's effort did not start with the digital twin. The city's Parks Department began its first drone program in 2018, and the IT department started its own about two years ago, producing a decentralized setup in which drones operate in IT, Raleigh Parks and Raleigh Water, while the police department runs its own larger fleet separately because of the law enforcement nature of its work.

The digital twin itself is an outgrowth of that base. City leaders, viewing Raleigh as one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, decided the earliest use of the technology should be modeling the city's future urban form. From there the applications broadened: Gipson Play Plaza in Dorothea Dix Park, event planning that no longer relies on estimates of whether a space can hold a tent, siting buildings to preserve the city's stately oaks, and micro-weather modeling of wind patterns and ventilation corridors. Jim Alberque, the city's GIS and emerging technology manager, frames the value as communication — showing residents the story of the city rather than telling it.

The next test appears to be fidelity. Raleigh is starting to incorporate traditional Internet of Things devices, cameras, scooters and vehicles into the twin for a much more high-fidelity view, a step that hinges on how cleanly those separate data sources merge with drone imagery. For other fast-growing municipalities watching, the more instructive part may be the drone procurement: the shift to NDAA-compliant, Blue Listed aircraft such as the Astro was driven by the possibility of federal bans on Chinese-made drones, and it suggests how city fleets may be assembled from here.