Welcome to Orlando, the MetaCenter of the metaverse and the first in the world to deploy a fully realized regional digital twin.
The Orlando Economic Partnership (the Partnership), the Orlando region’s economic and community development organization, and Unity, the world’s leading platform for creating and operating real-time 3D (RT3D) content, recently unveiled a digital twin that showcases the entire Orlando region.
Operational for the first time, the new 3D technology maps 800 square miles of the Orlando region and recreates 40 square miles in high-fidelity, including Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties. It marks a first for digital twin technology, which has not previously mapped a large region.
Digital twins are dynamic virtual copies of physical assets, processes, systems and/or environments that look and behave identically to real-world counterpart. Orlando’s digital twin is essentially a virtual copy of the entire region with different data sets layered throughout.
Currently deployed in a digital marketing center at the Partnership’s new headquarters in downtown Orlando, with an online version set for launch in phase II of the project, it incorporates various data sets from multiple sources, allowing companies, local governments and nonprofits to visualize how plans will impact the region. By aggregating public and private sources of information, the digital twin serves as a critical resource for all decision makers in the area, making the technology a vital piece of Orlando’s future.
“The digital twin technology and capabilities truly exemplify why Orlando has been designated the MetaCenter of the metaverse,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. “Using this technology, Orlando has the ability to demonstrate to established companies, startups, entrepreneurs and thought leaders from around the globe the possibilities available to them in our city – from real estate options and infrastructure to the proximity of other like-minded companies and our diverse talent pool.”
With Unity’s platform, stakeholders from across the region can plug in their own data, creating a rich 3D model that can be used for different simulations, such as climate change, as well as infrastructure planning. For economic development, the Partnership will show site selectors and CEOs available land and real estate, as well as areas of interest for different industries, infrastructure connectivity and talent availability all while saving drive time.
“Orlando is one of the world’s most dynamic innovation ecosystems and this immersive digital twin further proves our position as a region leading the development of forward-thinking tools that enhance the experience of economic development,” said Partnership President and CEO Tim Giuliani. “This is a game changer that highlights Orlando’s unique value proposition and people from around the U.S. and the globe will want to come here to see how it works.”
Orlando is the MetaCenter — a real-life center of the metaverse — where modeling and simulation, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), internet of things (IoT) and next-gen gaming come together. The digital twin accelerates the region’s metaverse capabilities.
“There are plenty of questions out there about how the metaverse benefits regions and businesses. We are here to show how technology, such as the digital twin, has a real-life impact on our local economy and the prosperity of our region,” said Giuliani. “Our digital twin is going to help us showcase the region to executives relocating their companies here. It will also help local leaders ensure that we have robust infrastructure to support the people living here.”
San Francisco-based Unity opened its second office in Orlando in 2020 to take advantage of the region’s deep ties to the defense, gaming, modeling, simulation and training sectors. The Partnership chose to partner with Unity based on the company’s extensive leadership in gaming, government solutions and its experience building digital twins for other organizations including Vancouver International Airport, Hong Kong International Airport and the city of Paris, France.
“We’re honored to be collaborating with the Orlando Economic Partnership on this first-of-a-kind regional digital twin of this size and scale,” said Callan Carpenter, vice president of digital twin solutions at Unity. “We hope it’ll help companies to better plan for expansion in the future and map out new transit routes to connect Floridians with new jobs in the process.
To learn more about the Orlando Regional Digital Twin by visiting Orlando.org/digitaltwin.
The Orlando Economic Partnership (the Partnership) is an economic and community development organization that is seizing the moment to advance Broad-based Prosperity® throughout the Orlando region by growing the diversity of the economy and driving investment into the region. The Partnership catalyzes Orlando’s collaborative ethos to fuel regional leadership and improve the region’s competitiveness. Learn why opportunity in Orlando is Unbelievably Real™ at InvestOrlando.org