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Résumé :
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A digital twin is a virtual replica of the real world that enables cities to be planned, simulated and managed in a data-driven manner, and is increasingly recognized as a core enabling infrastructure for digital transformation and smart sustainable cities.
In October 2023, Naver of the Republic of Korea participated in a project by the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing (formerly the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing, MOMRAH) of Saudi Arabia to build cloud-based digital twin platforms for five major cities: Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and Dammam. By combining aerial photogrammetry with artificial intelligence (AI) based 3D reconstruction technology and processing massive spatial data on large-scale cloud infrastructure, city-scale 3D models with an accuracy of around 10 centimetres were created. In June 2025, the first phase was completed for Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah; the resulting models represent roughly 6 800 square kilometres of urban territory in which some 920 000 individual buildings are reconstructed in three dimensions.
The platform provides urban planning and simulation functions such as terrain and earthwork analysis, skyline and sunlight analysis, building regulation compliance checks, flood simulation and real-time rainfall visualization. In August 2026, the Digital Government Authority (DGA) of Saudi Arabia formally approved the platform for use in national digital twin initiatives. Additional services on the platform are being developed in cooperation with the National Housing Company (NHC) of Saudi Arabia and its digital subsidiary NHC Innovation. This contribution shares the implementation experience, use cases and lessons learned from the project, including its public-private cooperation arrangements, as a possible reference for developing countries pursuing smart sustainable cities.
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