Map Kommunal

Cities are hubs of life and commerce and are subject to constant change: construction projects alter the infrastructure, vegetation changes, climate change demands adaptation, and extreme weather events test cities’ resilience. Digital twins, built from data collected by measurement vehicles, form a crucial foundation for city administrations to address these challenges. In practice, however, significant hurdles exist: Operating one’s own measurement vehicles is usually not cost-effective; acquisition costs are high, and operation requires trained personnel to conduct measurement runs, perform maintenance, and process data. Alternatively, mobile mapping service providers are commissioned to conduct surveys, which often comes with restrictions on the rights to use the data. Furthermore, the bidding process is complex and time-consuming, making it impossible to update short road segments. Segmentation and classification of objects in the road environment is not always available and often comes at an additional cost—the actual potential of the data therefore frequently remains untapped.

Fraunhofer IPM has developed a demonstrator that addresses the drawbacks mentioned above: cost-effective sensor technology with fully automated, integrated data analysis. The Mobile Urban Mapper mini (MUM mini) is a compact mobile mapping system that can be flexibly deployed on various carrier platforms, such as passenger cars or cargo bikes. Its unique feature is the integrated, AI-based data processing: After the measurement run, not only are images and georeferenced 3D data (point clouds) instantly available, but the data is also semantically enriched with relevant object classes such as road surface, buildings, vegetation, etc. The system is thus “plug-and-play” and outputs all (meta)data transparently—fully automated!

As part of the “Map Kommunal” project, the demonstrator and improved sensor technology are being expanded. This will generate reference data and quantify its accuracy. To showcase the results, a demonstration will be established highlighting the advantages of the MUM mini measurement system.

Through this system, municipalities gain a level of autonomy and data sovereignty that was previously unavailable. As a result, the MUM mini measurement system supports sustainable urban development on multiple levels: Municipalities can independently digitize specific areas of the city as needed and have access to up-to-date data for efficient planning processes. Open interfaces and full rights to use the data guarantee independence and promote the resilience of local government. This opens up new opportunities, e.g., for road safety, creating accessibility, or improving traffic flow in the face of shifting construction sites. Transparent data sharing promotes citizen participation and democracy and can serve as the foundation for new business models.