SLA: How Singapore plans to simulate public services in 3D

Singapore Land Authority (SLA) launched a 3D simulation of the entire island to simulate new kinds of public service delivery, including the delivery of AEDs on drones to cardiac arrest patients. “The world is moving towards 3D, so as a Smart Nation, we need to push this digitisation,” said SLA D/GSDD Ng Siau Yong as he discussed plans for a 3D map of the nation. 

Improving the lives of citizens 

OneMap is the nation's digital map service and is regularly updated with information from government agencies - such as where citizens can collect a free face mask. Singapore's Civil Defence Force has also used OneMap to build MyResponder, an app that alerts all trained first-aiders to nearby cardiac arrests. Singapore is now using a 3D map to deliver AEDs on drones to cardiac arrest patients. 

OneMap3D Beta would allow citizens to navigate through a neighbourhood in first-person view. Home-buyers could use the map to inspect surrounding facilities of a potential flat and observe how sunlight fell on the building. Businesses including property portal Mogul.sg were using OneMap3D’s APIs to serve their customers.

SLA captured 3D data using aerial imagery and aerial laser scanning technologies. This had produced high-quality 3D city models of terrain, buildings and other infrastructure. The sheer size of the 3D data was a challenge and the team had to ensure the data was compressed without compromising on its quality, so users could load a high-quality map quickly, said D/GSDD. 

Creating geospatial capability 

SLA had a vision for Singapore to be “geo-powered” and had launched its 3D Singapore Sandbox, a geospatial application development platform for start-ups, developers and researchers to test out geospatial innovations. SLA also planned to train the public sector to be geo-literate and was creating introductory geospatial courses on Learn.gov.sg. A series of talks and workshops were also released on Geoflix to promote geospatial data and technology. SLA’s efforts to use 3D geospatial data did have promising benefits for Singapore’s public services and would be a key step in its Smart Nation efforts.