Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Limited is gearing up to launch a ‘digital twin’ project in select wards in the capital to map physical assets including all buildings as part of efforts to plug holes in property tax collection as well as to aid in governance. ‘Digital twin’, an emerging trend in city governance, involves the creation of virtual models of physical objects and feeding them with real-time data for improvement in services as well as to monitor various parameters.
The residential as well as commercial buildings, mapped using drones, will be linked to the respective building numbers in the digital records for an accurate idea of pending taxes as well as unauthorised constructions.
In three wards initially
The mapping project will be launched on a pilot basis in three wards — Thycaud, Vazhuthacaud and Vanchiyoor. In the next phase, it is proposed to be extended to six more wards that are chosen for area-based development in the Smart City project — Palayam, Chala, Fort, Sreekandeswaram, Thampanoor, and Valiyasala. Similar mapping projects are being taken up in the other Smart Cities too.
The Smart City project is also set to take up digitisation of all files in the Corporation office as well as the Pareeksha Bhavan. All the physical files from the year 2000 onwards will be digitised and added to a data management system, which will also enable indexing and easy search and retrieval capabilities.
Command control centre
Meanwhile, the structural work of the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) in front of the Corporation main office at Palayam is almost complete. The equipment installation and software-related work is remaining. The command control centre is meant for providing the Corporation with real-time data from the ground on everything from street lights to water supply to the traffic situation. It will also streamline the civic body’s coordinated activities with the Police, Revenue, Health and other departments.
The work on a separate Traffic and Safety Command and Control Centre (TSCCC) at the Armed Reserve Camp in Nandavanam has been completed. It will streamline the functioning of the adaptive traffic control system and other traffic-related management systems.
