Jersey will take part in the United Nations, ‘United 4 Smart Sustainable Cities’ (U4SSC) initiative as one of only seven pilot cities/territories. The UN developed the global programme to encourage information and communication technologies that improve quality of life and more efficient urban environments.
Digital Jersey, with the support of industry and Government, is leading the partnership for the Island, CEO, Tony Moretta said it is a big coup for Jersey: “We will be sharing knowledge with the idea of formulating the strategic guidance for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. It builds on work already completed here in Jersey by Government and by industry, particularly with regards to connectivity and 3D modelling; and will help catapult us into the cutting-edge use of live data to improve decision making on functions such as urban planning and sustainable transport.”
Digital Jersey and Government are working together to collate a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) for the programme, which will be used to assess the achievements of the sustainable development goals. These will be fed into a graphical Digital Twin of Jersey to visualise and simulate challenges faced by the Island, such as population movements, noise pollution and air quality.
U4SSC have partnered with Augment City, a Norway-based simulation specialist, to deliver the pilots. The Digital Twin, which is being provided at cost, is being sponsored by Jersey Telecom, Ports of Jersey, Jersey Development Company and Sure. The sponsors are collaborating with Digital Jersey in making available data sets and delivering ‘good for Jersey’ outputs form the Digital Twin. An example being the visualisation and simulation of movement of people and goods across the island to inform sustainable transport planning.
Joel Mills CEO of AugmentCity said: “We are delighted to be working with Jersey on the Digital Twin. The island is different to our existing models being effectively a separate country with its own distinct data sets. We are looking forward to working with the sponsors to develop some exciting use cases.”
One of the reasons why Jersey is an exciting addition to the programme is that Government has already begun creating 3D Jersey nearly five years ago with RealSim, a technical partner based in Northern Ireland. 3D Jersey has won awards for excellence and is considered an advanced example of the municipal use of 3D modelling for urban planning.
The Chief Minister has signed a commitment to support Digital Jersey joining the programme on behalf of the island
Joel Mills CEO, Augment City and The U4SSC-IP Leader Kari Eik, Organization for International Economic Relations (OiER) demonstrated the Jersey graphical Digital Twin at the Digital Jersey Annual Review in January at Cineworld. The demonstration visualised carbon emissions from source across the island.
For more details on the U4SSC initiative:
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/ssc/united/Pages/default.aspx
Augment City website:
