Dutch inner cities have a tough task: on several fronts, the inner city must reinvent itself, according to VNG and others in an advisory report Recovery of Inner Cities and the Trend Report Information Society 2022. How do you know which approach works within themes such as sustainability, economy, real estate and mobility, and how do you test this as efficiently as possible? How do you ensure that data does not overwhelm you but you do uncover exactly what you need? Argaleo offers the answer to this question with a new data dashboard for inner cities, a so-called digital twin.
From assumptions to direct insights
Former municipal administrator Robin van der Helm knows the processes within municipalities like no other. "The greatest challenge is knowing when a choice is a good choice. Traditionally, this was more or less a matter of feeling. Those with experience knew how to indicate what could help, for example, to attract more people to certain places. We sometimes supplemented that information with data from analysis bureaus who then, for example, counted passers-by. Expensive, time-consuming, and ultimately the extensive reports ended up in an archive somewhere.
Van der Helm outlines a situation in which there is a decline in the number of visitors in a shopping street or area. A passer-by count can confirm this, but constant repetition is necessary to be able to interpret the effect of measures. "Instead of separate, expensive counts, the Digital Twin offers a continuous insight into the number of visitors and their behaviour. Where do they come from? How do they move through the city? In this way, you don't shoot with hail but you can very accurately mirror measures to the effect that they evoke," according to Van de Helm.
Robin van der Helm, Former director and city centre professional
He sees much more in the Digital Twin solution. "You can start monitoring," Van der Helm explains. "What do we see from the moment the parking tariffs went down? Per day, you can then literally see the passers-by and the traffic flows on the map, and you can also choose to show only the passers-by who walk from x to y. This way, you limit the information to only the passers-by who walk from x to y. That way, you limit it to only the information that is relevant to your problem definition."
In his opinion, seeing data in a 'digital sister city' brings everything to life. "It is of course cheaper and less labour-intensive," he adds. "But what I find especially important is that it works. You are quicker and more efficient in adjusting any solution. Is there no break in the trend after lowering the parking charges? Then you can look at what another solution might be relatively quickly. Moreover, with this dashboard you are finally rid of that bombardment of data: you see what is relevant to you. That's all."
Insight into visitor flows
More data, but manageable
In the course of time, many loose solutions have been put forward for dealing with the information overflow that is available. "We have absolutely no shortage of data," says Van der Helm. "The problem is mainly that it remains with flat and then mostly fragmented data." He outlines the problem with current providers: "They often focus on a single data stream, such as visitor flows, building information or climate data. So you end up with ten different apps, each providing information on different topics, whereas combining all the data gives real insight."
Within the Digital Twin, data from over 200 datasets are brought together, filterable so that only those themes are made visible that are important at that particular moment for the person using the 3D Dashboard. In addition to the visitor flows mentioned above, these include insights into themes such as safety, mobility, real estate and sustainability, each of which can be set as a filter. It seems to be a solution in which innovative technology helps the future city centre a lot in the right direction: "But then municipalities should really seize the opportunity.
Overview of sustainable property
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