The face and geography of the VILNIUS TECH academic campus have recently undergone noticeable changes: we’ve renovated the Saulėtekis and Old Town buildings, established new competence centers and laboratories, opened the Sustainability Center, and built new laboratories and teaching buildings for the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Electronics, and Transport Engineering on Plytinės street – forming an innovation cluster. We are developing the Linkmenų building area, where historical buildings will be modernized, and in the Antanas Gustaitis Aviation Institute complex, we plan to open a new lecture hall building for students. All these changes, along with the future development prospects of VILNIUS TECH, inspired us to update and expand the 3D photogrammetric model of the VILNIUS TECH digital city (its visuals and content), which should be considered a digital twin.

This is the fourth version of the model since 2016, when the photogrammetric reality model of the former VGTU Saulėtekis campus was first introduced to the university community. Now, in the significantly updated VILNIUS TECH digital city, we have the Saulėtekis, Plytinės, and Linkmenų building areas, which will later be expanded to include the Vilnius Old Town buildings and the Lithuanian Maritime Academy’s campus in Klaipėda.

The main purpose of this project is to open the doors to a next-generation information portal designed for students, university departments, services, and guests. The search areas and points of interest have been organized based on the university's structure. These can be accessed through two content menu groups: buildings and departments. By selecting "Buildings," the user is instantly "teleported" to the building’s geographic location on the Vilnius city map and gains access to a variety of information about the buildings, their purposes, and the university departments located there. The “Departments” section visually helps to find the locations of all VILNIUS TECH structural units with accurate addresses and contact information. For user convenience, faculties, study and creative centers, directorates, laboratories, the library, the “Technika” publishing house, and the museum are marked in the model with visual icons (logos) to make the search and navigation easier. Of course, all student, staff, and guest dormitories are included in a separate menu section.

How Can the VILNIUS TECH Digital Twin Be Useful?

The models with their surroundings can be used for real estate maintenance and development projects, visual experiments, simulations, and games – for both everyday operational needs and for education and studies. For example, one of the main purposes of the digital 3D model is to create a modern professional environment for VILNIUS TECH’s property management operations. The model allows not only to visualize the managed property but also to conduct a full range of virtual experiments: observing the sun’s path and its visual effects with precision at any time of day and season, “walking” through the campus and inside the buildings (the "3D Tour AULA MAGNA" option is recommended), and performing measurements of lengths, areas, and volumes from any position, as it is a real 3D model.

The model can also be used effectively in the development of new projects – from architectural competitions to further project implementation based on traditional BIM scenarios (application cases for 3D, 4D, 5D models), property management, and technical maintenance needs. It only requires imagination. The fact that dreams are becoming reality is demonstrated by the work of VILNIUS TECH students integrated into the reality model. One example is the BIM model of the VILNIUS TECH central building (S1), created by Živilė Klibavičiūtė (SIMfm-17). Another project, a comprehensive design by the SIMfm-23 group for the "VILNIUS TECH Linkmenų building I and II reconstruction project, adapting the I building for residential use," won first place in the student category of the Lithuanian BIM Projects 2024 Digital Construction competition. The visuals of this project and other BIM models (such as the Plytinės building) integrated into the VILNIUS TECH digital city model can be viewed in the "BIM Models" section.

Where to Find the Updated VILNIUS TECH Digital Twin?

Click the location icon on the www.vilniustech.lt upper menu bar or go to this link: https://eu.opencitiesplanner.bentley.com/vilniustech/sauletekis 

We would like to thank the team at the Digital and Informational Building Modeling Technology Center, who are responsible for creating, updating, and maintaining the VILNIUS TECH digital twin model, as well as the AGAI Aerospace Data Center team who actively contributed to the realization of this project.

The photos show the VILNIUS TECH digital twin and one of its creators, Žygimantas Pagalys.