Moving cities around with the help of Microsoft HoloLens

When the Swedish city of Kiruna saw development conflicting with underground iron mining, city planners had a bold idea. Move the city 3 kilometers east to save the mining industry and give citizens a chance to reshape the city. When an executive at IT services company CGI discovered a way to collect vast amounts of infrastructure data to support smart, sustainable growth, his team confirmed the concept by working with city governments. By using Microsoft's Hololens software to "see" city infrastructure data - from pipe material types to soil types and other subsurface composition data - Kiruna planners are taking a proactive role in the future.

This small polar city is located 145 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. Kiruna (the name comes from the Sami people's name for "Rock Thunderbird") is Sweden's northernmost city, with about 18,000 people living in it. It is the last wilderness in Europe. This city, shrouded by the Kebnekaise Mountain, is located between the Torna and Kalix rivers. The nearby iron mines provide Europe with 90% of iron ore. But mining-related activities are beginning to destabilize the city's underground, forcing people to make a difficult choice: stop mining or relocate the entire city.

City planners saw not disaster but opportunity, leaving the mines in place and moving the towns away. All buildings, including its historic wooden church, will be moved 3 kilometers eastward. To create a new city – a vibrant, sustainable place where people can live and the economy can prosper – Kiruna turned to technology. With the help of innovative ideas from IT partner CGI, urban planners and decision-makers are using "Hidden Cities" using Microsoft HoloLens and augmented reality (AR) technology along with GPS. It is a proof-of-concept (POC) application that helps them accomplish this monumental feat.

create a visual

Most of us pale at the thought of moving from one house to another. But for Nicolas Siren, Deputy Mayor of Kiruna and Deputy Chairman of the Kiruna Executive Committee, relocating the entire city is exciting. "In order to keep the mines open, we had to move," he said. "That gave us a huge challenge, but also a huge opportunity - to right all the wrongs of the old city and make sure we carry with us our soul and our history. "Our goal is to create the first sustainable city in the Arctic climate. We have the means, we have the money, we have the technology, the latest technology, and we have the absolute will to make it happen."

Kiruna city managers have brought together researchers, citizens and industry experts to establish the Kiruna Sustainability Center (KSC) as a laboratory for testing sustainable solutions. New cities will require extensive underground infrastructure. Failure to understand existing pipes and other impediments could damage the city's infrastructure, which would be very costly to repair and potentially cause significant inconvenience to citizens. In parts of the world that are covered in snow for nine months of the year, even locating manholes can be a problem. Hidden infrastructure is the bane of cities around the world, which face service disruptions, traffic delays and unintended damage costs.

The city is eager to work with a range of experts to create its invisible city POC. CGI's head of commercial engineering, Robert Ilitalo, also a resident of Killuna, has the foresight to deal with uncertainty. He conveyed the idea of using augmented reality (AR) technology to digitally map underground infrastructure to managers at his company and the city of Kiruna. This technology is both exciting and promising. There were concerns about whether it would work outdoors.

X-ray vision

CGI consultants knew they were pushing the technology beyond its original vision as an indoor tool, and they designed a minimum viable product to test the tool's limits. The first test in September 2017 proved that the AR platform worked properly and could be used outdoors.

The POC solution combines GPS data sources and geographic information system data from the city with Microsoft HoloLens, a holographic headset that supports mixed reality applications. Planners and other professionals collaborating on urban design can put on headsets and view real-life landscapes through holographic lenses.

Stakeholders in Kiruna collaborated on the design with the CGI team, meeting monthly to review progress and refine the vision. "For the Hidden City project, we worked with the Kiruna Municipality and KSC to provide end users with X-ray vision. We gave them superpowers so they could walk around Kiruna Neustadt and see the pipes underground ." Ilitalo said.

Kiruna plans to capture data from underground and other infrastructure, equipping maintenance workers with hidden city models that they can access via mobile devices. Because Hidden City's data discovery is based on the user's location information, users can visualize any available information on the platform, including Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, property boundaries, Building Information Modeling (BIM) data, and geographic data. The visual AR display is presented based on current data, so it can also interact with the user and even warn of impending risks - for example, showing flashing pipes if the pressure is unsafe.

“This is a new way of working that will have a big impact on maintenance, project planning, and more. With IoT and Microsoft Azure we can really be proactive about maintenance in this new city ," Ilitalo said.

This model uses Azure to support interactions between data and IoT devices, so users have immediate access to detailed metadata about infrastructure components. With one click, the current platform displays all the details of every part, including IoT components, from serial numbers to service records.

Building future cities with AR and HoloLens

In tests, wearers experienced a holographic, interactive perspective and viewed three-dimensional underground pipes through a hidden city. Urban planners in Kiruna can use this technology to design the structure of new cities. City maintenance teams will have valuable ongoing records of underground structures, including everything from pipe materials and serial numbers to soil type and rock density. Once the technology is in place, convenience and initiative continue to grow. For example, if a water main has to be shut off to repair a leak, maintenance crews will be able to respond faster than ever before. Even with snow covering the ground, they can "see" where shutoff valves and other critical facilities are. As the value of the solution becomes more and more apparent, planners’ excitement grows.

"This urban transformation has created a void - the possibility of creating a smart and sustainable city," said Mats Nielsen, director of the Kiluna Center for Sustainability. "We have not just created a technological solution that offers a "A tool for more efficient underground maintenance, and collaboration between urban planners, companies and scientists creates a new paradigm for smarter urban planning." This kind of innovation will surely become a natural part of building and designing new cities. component. "

Kiruna's plans go far beyond moving 3 kilometers east. It hopes Hidden City will position the city as an innovation hub in Sweden. The city has witnessed opportunities to use its experience as a platform to help design and manage other smart cities. Like municipalities around the world, it is laying the foundations for a sustainable future. Kiruna hopes to achieve optimal sustainability by “right-sizing” its problems. Knowing exactly where the damaged pipe is located means the repair team will know exactly where to dig, saving time and minimizing disruption.

“It is important to take lessons and innovations from Kiruna’s urban transformation and turn them into business," said Kiruna City Council President Kristina Zakrissen. "The interest from the business community is positive; It promotes economic growth and employment.”

Ilitalo has a global view of these possibilities. Like other residents of Kiruna, he respects the environment. He recognized the emotional and human side of urban planning. "As the impacts of climate change intensify, some cities may need to relocate. Being exposed to a city that has already made this journey will be invaluable experience," he said. "Moving a city is not just about houses and roads, it's about People and businesses. For example, no business owner wants to be the first in a new city. And no business owner wants to be the last in the old part of the city. Kiruna learned a lot about the complex socio-economic situation in this project.”

City managers believe their cities can become models for sustainable cities around the world. Kiruna’s subarctic location and innovative experience make it an ideal partner for other organizations and companies pushing the limits of sustainability in harsh or changing climate conditions.

In the meantime, the hybrid team in Kiruna will continue to experiment and push AR technology and HoloLens applications forward. Ilitalo doesn't think his team found any limitations in using the technology. "We've been working with Microsoft since it released HoloLens and augmented reality technology in 2015. We saw that this technology would change the world."

Source: Microsoft

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