1001 Smart Cities

Permanent project revision

Virtual Singapore: National 3D City Model and Digital Twin

Revision 2026-08-20-source-dates-b2 · effective 2026-08-07

Superseded. A later revision exists: 2026-08-20-source-dates-r2 →

unreviewed

Record the publication date of each source that states one; sources that publish no date are marked null.

sha256:f10f6d1099195f3d82ec58e71ed896c4e3e885a9a6c25e5b7f3f2276521f28f5
All revisions → Current entity page →

Change set

  • replace /snapshot/projectFingerprint — Updated projectFingerprint to the current sourced project record.
  • replace /snapshot/sources — Updated sources to the current sourced project record.
14
of 14 claims mapped
10
source dossiers
3
publication dates recorded
5
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Claims, one by one

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-37e3b0ffdfe06707 quantitative
captured over 160,000 high-resolution aerial images in 41 days for a nationwide 0.1-metre reality mesh
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
VentureBeat (23 Feb 2022): 'The SLA captured over 160,000 high-res aerial images over forty-one days, and Bentley's ContextCapture tools worked to transform these into a 0.1-meter accurate nationwide 3D reality mesh.'
Caveat
A widely circulated variant misreads this as '160,000 buildings' — the figure counts aerial images. Article sits behind a bot wall; verify via the archived copy.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. VentureBeat — How Singapore created the first country-scale digital twin (2022)
Claim 2 clm-36eeabc4fae78a81 quantitative
roughly 25 TB of street data from 600 billion point-cloud points and 3 million panoramic images
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
GIM International (24 Aug 2022, co-authored by SLA's Land Survey Division): '600 billion point clouds and three million panoramic images … approximately 25TB of data.'
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. GIM International — Singapore's journey towards a nationwide digital twin (SLA authors, 2022)
Claim 3 clm-037052c47cff7e99 descriptive
refreshed every five years by air and every two years at street level
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Same SLA-authored article: the plan is to 'map the whole nation once every five years using aerial mapping, and to refresh the street mobile mapping data every two years'.
Caveat
Stated as the plan in 2022; no later source confirms the cycle has been kept.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. GIM International — Singapore's journey towards a nationwide digital twin (SLA authors, 2022)
Claim 4 clm-484eead4348af846 quantitative
the OECD's 2024 case study describes capabilities only
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The OPSI entry (updated 5 Nov 2024) frames every application in the possibility mood — 'decision-makers can optimise land use, assess flood risk, and manage underground utilities more effectively' — and contains no documented decision, adoption figure or outcome number.
Caveat
Negative claim: verified by reading the case study in full, not by a single quotable sentence.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation — Virtual Twin Singapore (independent, updated Nov 2024)
Claim 5 clm-6ffe39cf774c1670 descriptive
when Singapore needed twins that actually run something, it built new platforms — Punggol's sensor-fed Open Digital Platform and the port's Maritime Digital Twin
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
JTC describes the Punggol ODP as 'completely operationalized, a virtual 3D environment fed live data mined from the sensors of the physical facility management systems'; MPA launched 'its first Maritime Digital Twin on 24 March 2025 – a virtual model of Singapore's port'. Neither is built on Virtual Singapore.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. JTC — Open Digital Platform, Punggol Digital District (official)
  2. Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore — Maritime Digital Twin launch (2025)
Claim 6 clm-7bba6c4228eeef03 quantitative
Virtual Singapore launched on 3 December 2014 as part of the country's Smart Nation drive
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
GovTech's own description and the OECD case study both date the launch to the Smart Nation programme in December 2014, led by the National Research Foundation.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. GovTech Singapore — 5 things to know about Virtual Singapore (official, 2017)
  2. OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation — Virtual Twin Singapore (independent, updated Nov 2024)
Claim 7 clm-f0cdfef268ffc7b9 quantitative
In 2015, Dassault Systèmes signed on to build the platform on its 3DEXPERIENCity software
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Dassault Systemes' 2015 investor press release announces the collaboration and the 3DEXPERIENCity platform. Used for the fact of the contract only, never for a capability claim.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Dassault Systèmes — investor press release on the NRF collaboration (vendor, 2015)
Claim 8 clm-8ab98527dd132b4c quantitative
In September 2018, Reuters reported that the model was so detailed that officials worried about it falling into the wrong hands
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The 2018 Reuters wire story is the source of nearly all international coverage, including the 'planners and plotters' framing and the security concern.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Reuters (via Euronews) — Virtual Singapore project could be test bed for planners – and plotters (2018)
Claim 9 clm-97d702ba4e260f5d descriptive
Virtual Singapore would run only on computers physically cut off from the web
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Reuters reports the government's answer: deployment restricted to machines physically separated from the internet.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Reuters (via Euronews) — Virtual Singapore project could be test bed for planners – and plotters (2018)
Claim 10 clm-02c971dc7c23d9b8 descriptive
In the Yuhua housing estate, SLA staff modelled solar panels and connected them to energy-bill data
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The SLA authors describe the Yuhua exercise in their own words; the OECD case study carries it as the showcase application. The panels themselves were installed under a separate HDB programme.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. GIM International — Singapore's journey towards a nationwide digital twin (SLA authors, 2022)
  2. OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation — Virtual Twin Singapore (independent, updated Nov 2024)
Claim 12 clm-f29fd43deba48da2 descriptive
The NRF's Virtual Singapore programme page is gone; so is the Smart Nation initiative page
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Checked directly: neither the NRF programme page nor the Smart Nation initiative page resolves. No cancellation notice or closing report was found in any source.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation — Virtual Twin Singapore (independent, updated Nov 2024)
  2. GovTech Singapore — 5 things to know about Virtual Singapore (official, 2017)
Claim 13 clm-63f1d71e2f110b06 descriptive
Punggol Digital District's Open Digital Platform, built by JTC and GovTech
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
JTC's own description of the Open Digital Platform, the operational twin for Punggol Digital District — a separate system from Virtual Singapore.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. JTC — Open Digital Platform, Punggol Digital District (official)
Claim 14 clm-bd1a4fe91df25a82 quantitative
In March 2025, the port got its own Maritime Digital Twin
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The Maritime and Port Authority's 2025 launch announcement for the Maritime Digital Twin, again a separate platform.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore — Maritime Digital Twin launch (2025)

Source dossiers and revision state

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-08-20-source-dates-b2 effective 2026-08-07 · created 2026-08-20

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:f10f6d1099195f3d82ec58e71ed896c4e3e885a9a6c25e5b7f3f2276521f28f5
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
14
of 14 claims mapped
10
source dossiers
3
publication dates recorded
5
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
National Research Foundation, Singapore Land Authority & GovTech (Dassault 3DEXPERIENCity)
Actor types
national-government, private
Funding model
public
Funding description
Not recorded
Cost
About S$73 million (~US$53 million), as reported by Reuters; the former NRF programme page is offline.
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

10 source dossiers

GovTech Singapore — 5 things to know about Virtual Singapore (official, 2017) tech.gov.sg · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-c8cce305aea3273e
Publisher
Name not classified · tech.gov.sg
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-07
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The government's own 2017 framing: ready for agencies by 2018, public access 'progressively' thereafter — every application described as a capability, not a completed use.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation — Virtual Twin Singapore (independent, updated Nov 2024) oecd-opsi.org · 5 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-a5362d572693ca0f
Publisher
Name not classified · oecd-opsi.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2024-11-05
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-07
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2026-04-12
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Best independent case study; names SLA as lead and a planned subsurface twin, but records no documented agency decision and no outcome figure.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Reuters (via Euronews) — Virtual Singapore project could be test bed for planners – and plotters (2018) euronews.com · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-1262fbdd835ade0f
Publisher
Name not classified · euronews.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-07
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The programme's one big international media moment: S$73 million figure, NRF director George Loh's misuse warning, and the 'internet separation' rollout.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
VentureBeat — How Singapore created the first country-scale digital twin (2022) venturebeat.com · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-3d63098b8831abfa
Publisher
Name not classified · venturebeat.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-07
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2025-03-08
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Documents the 2022 completion of SLA's national 3D mapping: 160,000+ aerial images in 41 days, 0.1 m reality mesh. Bentley (vendor) savings claims inside are not used here.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
GIM International — Singapore's journey towards a nationwide digital twin (SLA authors, 2022) gim-international.com · 3 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-0e0dd5ffff3873fd
Publisher
Name not classified · gim-international.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2022-08-24
Updated
2024-10-09
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-07
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2026-02-17
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

SLA Land Survey Division authors: 600 billion point-cloud points, 3 million panoramic images (~25 TB), and the five-year aerial / two-year street refresh cycle.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Ministry of Law — speech at the official launch of OneMap3D (2021) mlaw.gov.sg · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-5610cc8e574b6b63
Publisher
Name not classified · mlaw.gov.sg
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2021-09-15
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-07
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

OneMap3D launched 15 September 2021 as SLA's public 3D platform — the publicly delivered piece of the 3D-Singapore vision, separate from Virtual Singapore.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore — Maritime Digital Twin launch (2025) mpa.gov.sg · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-d4f2bcea1081ead1
Publisher
Name not classified · mpa.gov.sg
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-07
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2026-05-15
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Singapore's first Maritime Digital Twin, launched 24 March 2025 by MPA with GovTech — an operational twin built as a new platform.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
JTC — Open Digital Platform, Punggol Digital District (official) jtc.gov.sg · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-6b936743b75acefd
Publisher
Name not classified · jtc.gov.sg
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-07
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2026-02-06
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

JTC/GovTech's district twin described by its operator as 'completely operationalized' and fed live sensor data — the operational contrast to Virtual Singapore.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Dassault Systèmes — investor press release on the NRF collaboration (vendor, 2015) investor.3ds.com · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-c60afdac64b8e688
Publisher
Name not classified · investor.3ds.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-07
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The platform vendor's own 2015 announcement; notable for what it omits — no budget figure appears in it.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Government Technology (govtech.com) — Virtual Singapore Is More Than Just a 3-D Model (US trade press, ~2017) govtech.com · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-4e7ff17397602dcf
Publisher
Name not classified · govtech.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-07
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Fullest account of the Yuhua pilot with SLA's own words: existing solar panels were modelled and linked to energy bills — a visualisation of what was already built.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Known limits of this passport
  • Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
  • Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
  • A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
  • The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.