Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

2.500 km of the metropolitan area mapped with cutting-edge techniques, to implement intelligent urban planning and enhance public spaces

Milan, November 11 2022 – A campaign of aerial and terrestrial surveys of the approximately 2.500 kilometers that make up the urban area of ​​the metropolitan city of Milan, to optimize the infrastructure, services intended for towns and citizens and improve the relationship between city users and the Municipality.

For the first time, a vast survey campaign beyond administrative borders - made possible by co-financing from PON Metro funds (National Operational Programs for Metropolitan Cities) - will allow the creation, verification and updating of twenty-two 'geodatabases' ' which make up the information assets of the Administration. Data that will be made available to the municipalities of the vast area to implement intelligent urban planning and enhance public spaces.

Cyclomedia, a leader in the digitalisation of outdoor spaces, collected and processed the data thanks to the acquisition of a detailed and precise photograph of the territory, including approximately 1,2 million urban objects - for example electricity poles, vertical and horizontal signs. to technologies based on advanced artificial intelligence algorithms. The company took twenty-five days to map every single street, traveled the streets of every neighborhood (including Citylife and the Expo area never before included in the surveys) using three vehicles equipped with cameras, and collected millions of 360 degree images through accurate and modern mobile mapping sensors.

Thanks to technology and world-leading instrumentation, Milan lays the foundations for the construction of a true Digital Twin (or digital twin) of the city which clearly highlights - among other things - the vertical road signs and horizontal, traffic lights, barriers, light poles and wire supports, driveways and public billboard systems, as well as the dimensions of bridge and tunnel openings, street and commemorative plaques, number and size of commercial shop windows, ramps for people with disabilities, public clocks, tram tracks and much more.

The aim of this ambitious data collection and processing project is to provide the municipal administration with detailed information on the city fabric, useful for addressing the contemporary challenges of managing public space.

The first step to becoming a fully-fledged smart city, in fact, is to equip oneself with a correct overview of the existing situation enriched by data and insights that can be used to improve the management of the municipality for the benefit of all citizens, always with a view to economic and social sustainability. A Digital Twin allows you to navigate the territory in an immersive way to inspect and evaluate individual places without the need to carry out field inspections and to automatically identify all the assets present in the public space, in order to intervene promptly with any maintenance processes. 

"This project – declares Layla Pavone, coordinator of the Board for Technological Innovation and Digital Transformation of the Municipality of Milan – demonstrates how digital innovation and advanced technology can drive decisive, as well as fascinating, transformations for better governance of cities. Thanks to this vast survey campaign, which for the first time went beyond the borders of the city of Milan, the Administration is equipped with an extraordinary information heritage which will be made available to the municipalities of the metropolitan city and which can evolve to become a true digital twin. A technological progress with enormous potential for the services offered to citizens, in terms of sustainability, efficiency and safety".

Cyclomedia is a world leader in outdoor digitization and has been providing actionable data through the world's most accurate spherical street-level imagery for over thirty years. Thanks to innovative analyzes powered by artificial intelligence, Cyclomedia provides timely information and practical insights that can be used today to build a better tomorrow. The company develops, builds and operates the world's most advanced mobile mapping systems, capable of mapping densely populated urban areas in Western Europe and North America.

The updated and accurate data that Cyclomedia collects every year is used by public bodies and private companies to make cities greener, more accessible, smarter and safer and in general to make informed choices based on highly accurate data.

For further information, consult the website Cyclomedia.