1. Urban Heat Island (UHI)
Description: The Urban Heat Island (UHI) layer uses surface temperature proxies to highlight pockets of heat across the city. It shows relative temperatures based on the underlying raster; cooler areas appear green while hotter areas trend toward browns. UHI arises from heat‑absorbing materials, limited vegetation and anthropogenic heat sources.
Priority rule: This digital twin uses UHI values above 35 °C combined with NDVI below 0.20 at a building’s centroid to flag heat‑stressed buildings for cooling interventions.
Analysis tip: Overlay the UHI heatmap with vegetation (NDVI) to quickly identify where planting trees or installing green roofs can reduce temperatures.
2. Well‑being Corridors & Movement
Description: Well‑being corridors are polylines linking parks and other green spaces to illustrate ecological connectivity and provide walkable routes for residents. Connected habitats improve genetic diversity and species richness, and corridors reduce plant extinction rates while boosting colonisation and mental well‑being.
Dynamic arrows: The corridor lines feature animated arrowheads moving along the direction of travel. These arrows symbolise flow and make it easier to see the intended direction of ecological or pedestrian movement.
Use case: Turn on well‑being corridors together with green spaces to understand how parks, lawns and trees can be connected into continuous networks that benefit both biodiversity and human well‑being.
3. Scenario Polygons (Smooth Draw)
Functionality: Scenario polygons let you draw intervention areas for grass, shrubs, trees or mixed vegetation. The drawing is smoothed automatically to produce natural boundaries.
Impacts: Each vegetation type modifies NDVI, cooling effect, stormwater infiltration and biodiversity proxies based on predefined parameters. After drawing, gauges and comparison panels update to reflect your scenario’s ecological benefits.
Tip: Use mixed vegetation to balance cooling, biodiversity and water management, or experiment with different types to see trade‑offs.
4. 3D Context + Shadows
Details: Level‑of‑Detail 2.2 (LOD 2.2) models offer realistic roof and wall geometry for buildings. They provide context for proposed interventions and allow shadow‑casting simulations.
Hidden attributes: Each building contains metadata such as BAG ID, construction year and footprint area (from the LOD 1 layer). Select a building to reveal these attributes in the popup.
Shadows: Shadows are computed in real time. Use them to assess how building form and orientation influence potential tree planting and facade greening.