Helsinki 3D

The 3D City Models of Helsinki, also known as the city’s digital twin, are a virtual rendering of the city’s environment, operations and changing circumstances. The digital twin is a combination of information technology services, open data and constantly updating information.

3D mesh

Urban data model

Energy and Climate Atlas

Munkkiniemi-Haaga 1915 plan

 Virtuaalimalli Eliel Saarisen suunnitelmasta vuodelta 1915

A virtual model of Eliel Saarinen’s design from 1915

The Munkkiniemi-Haaga plan is a virtual model of Eliel Saarinen’s design from 1915. Like the original scale model, the virtual model is quite accurate, displaying even the windows drawn on the buildings. Saarinen’s plan is a significant part of the history of Finnish city planning. The unrealised plan is now easily available for everyone to see.

The Munkkiniemi-Haaga plan(Link leads to external service)

The 3D history of Helsinki

  1. 1980s

    The first virtual 3D models of buildings in Helsinki were made in the 1980s. The impetus for urban modelling came from an idea competition for the development of the downtown area Kamppi-Töölönlahti Bay. The first 3D-modelled buildings were the Sokos Hotel Vaakuna, the Main Post Office building (Postitalo), the National Museum and the Central Railway Station.

  2. 1990s

    To support the planning of the Töölönlahti Bay and to coordinate the results of several architectural competitions, the city implemented a virtual model of the Töölönlahti Bay area in 1999. A year later at the Urban Planning 2000 exhibition, the public was invited to virtually move about in the model. 

  3. 2000s

    Before the turn of the millennium, urban modelling was not only time-consuming but expensive. The work was done manually, and the processing of the data was complicated. The work required the use of powerful workstations that were very expensive. 

  4. 2010s

    In the first decade of the 21st century, the technology of urban modelling technology developed rapidly. This included surveying technology, laser scanning, the processing of point clouds and oblique air photography, as well as the modelling methods and the computers themselves. The standardisation of systems like information service interfaces and CityGML advanced urban modelling during this decade also brought about advances in the field.

  5. Present

    The possibilities offered by modern technologies such as artificial intelligence and game engines are constantly shaping the technological whole of the digital city and the possibilities for its utilisation. Like the real city, the digital twin of Helsinki is never finished.