Stuttgart is using digital twin technology to visualise and analyse data from IoT sensors across the German city.

The technology comes from Swedish company Hexagon and Japanese firm Fujitsu. The two companies have partnered to deliver a platform to support the city’s urban digital twin project.

The Civil Engineering Office will use software-as-a-service (SaaS) to promote sustainability and enhance quality of life for Stuttgart’s 600,000 residents.

The aim is to provide a common operating picture for monitoring sensor values, such as water quality, flood levels and parking space occupancy, enabling the city to derive insights for optimising operations and making informed decisions for the future.

The digital twin platform is based on Hexagon’s M.App Enterprise and Xalt Integration, with Fujitsu providing the necessary cloud infrastructure service for the project.

“The needs of our residents are very important to us,” said Jens Schumacher, head of IT at Stuttgart Civil Engineering Office. “Stuttgart’s urban digital twin project will provide our office with a vast amount of mobility and environmental data, and the IoT analysis platform from Hexagon and Fujitsu will give us the ability to use those data to make smarter decisions for the good of our city.”

Maximillian Weber, senior vice president at Hexagon, added: “Stuttgart is an exemplary model of how cities can solve today’s most pressing urban challenges, such as sustainability, safety and mobility, through the use of real-time data analysis. We’re proud to partner with Stuttgart and Fujitsu in putting data to work to ensure a better future for the city.”

The project with Stuttgart is one of many collaborations between Hexagon and Fujitsu to solve urban sustainability problems, including efforts to manage and understand the impacts of shared mobility services in Germany, such as a project with the city of Munich.

“We are excited to grow our partnership with Hexagon to solve the challenges of cities,” said Yoshinami Takahashi, executive voice president at Fujitsu. “In collaboration with Hexagon, we will provide a service that enables real-time analysis of environmental data in Stuttgart and contributes to the improvement of services for residents. Our goal at Fujitsu is to realise our vision for a trusted society, a sustainable, resilient place where people can live together in peace and prosperity.”

Hexagon specialises in digital reality, combining sensor, software and autonomous technologies. It is putting data to work to boost efficiency, productivity, quality and safety across industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, public sector and mobility applications. Hexagon has approximately 23,000 employees in 50 countries and net sales of approximately €4.3bn.