Coopterr, territorial cooperation platform based on Rennes Métropole's digital twin

Coopterr, Rennes Métropole's territorial cooperation platform, is now online. It offers a first service to citizens, enabling them to consult electromagnetic wave exposure measurements and identify radioelectric sites in the city of Rennes.

A Rennes Métropole project in collaboration with Camptocamp and Virtual City Systems

In early 2022, Rennes Métropole commissioned Camptocamp to develop a territorial cooperation platform based on Rennes' digital twin.

Camptocamp, in association with its partner Virtual City Systems (VCS), a European leader in the smart city field, proposed to implement the proven Open Source technologies CesiumJS, OpenLayers and VCMap developed by VCS.

Project background and objectives

Rennes, the capital of Brittany, is at the heart of a metropolis with a population of almost 500,000, and a strong demographic and economic dynamic. In Rennes Métropole, the "Smart City" has been taking shape since 2016 through projects and experiments focusing on governance and data sharing, as well as the development of new urban services.

Against a backdrop of digital transition and the growing availability of urban data, Rennes Métropole is looking to improve the basis for its decisions and public policies by using a cooperation platform based on the digital twin, through three use cases of interest to Rennes Métropole.

Solar cadastre: Simulation of the photovoltaic production potential of roofs and comparison with the energy consumption of local residents.

Linear transportation systems: Mediation and consultation with citizens and communities for the implementation of a linear transportation infrastructure; presentation of the network; integration of the new linear into the city's current transportation context.

Exposure to electromagnetic waves: Visualization of exposure levels to electromagnetic waves (simulations and real and actual measured values) as well as objects (relays and radioelectric sensors) on the territory of the city of Rennes.

The latter use case is now online. The first two (solar cadastre and linear transport system) will be online shortly.

Efficient software architecture for 2D and 3D rendering and visualization

The platform is based on VCMap, an open-source JavaScript framework and API for building dynamic, interactive maps on the web. It can display 2D data, oblique images, and massive 3D data, including terrain data, vector data, mesh models, and point clouds, making it easy for users to explore and interact with data in an integrated, high-performance mapping application. VCMap applications can be rendered in all modern web browsers, on both desktop computers and mobile devices, offering mapping wherever the user is.

VCMap is built on proven and reliable open GIS and web technologies, such as OpenLayers and Cesium, for the visualization of 2D and 3D geospatial data. It can load and display data from different sources and in different formats, including OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards and open interfaces. Users can easily switch between 2D, oblique and 3D views, and dynamically add map layers to the scene, accessible in all views.

The VCMap framework offers ready-to-use tools and widgets that can be flexibly combined in an application to meet the needs of end-users and target audiences. Examples include navigation controls, map layers and legends, drawing and editing tools, split screens, camera flights, as well as GIS tools such as measurements, elevation profiles, visibility analysis or real-time shadows.

VCMap offers a powerful programming API for developers, making it easy to create customized applications and extend its functionality with custom plugins.
 

Camptocamp and digital twins

Camptocamp is proud to have supported Rennes in the development of its digital twin platform. Our partnership with VCS has enabled us to set up a customized, high-performance tool based on the solid Open Source foundations of VCMap, Openlayers and Cesium.

Camptocamp's experience with Cesium goes back over ten years. The company is one of the very first to have its developers certified by Cesium.

This expertise earned us the Geospatial World Forum Excellence Award for the swissgeol.ch project. 

This technology has also been successfully used for the schweizmobil.ch website, with its 3D visualization of mountain hiking trails, and for buildings and infrastructures on the Swiss Federal Geoportal.

With Cesium, 3D visualization on the web is made possible without any plug-ins or additional software apart from a common web browser.

Would you like to distribute your 3D data or digital twin to a wide audience in a high-performance, easy-to-maintain way? Would you like to give them a virtual reality experience in the context of your project? Contact us to discuss your project with our expert Cesium implementation teams.