Sacyr News Madrid’s green zone in 3-D

Madrid’s green zone in 3-D

We digitize the capital’s green zone to monitor its evolution and conduct landscape surveys.

12/08/2020

Innovation is an essential part of our work. We integrate new technologies into our day-to-day routine and use them to build the future.

Digitization allows us to study the evolution of living entities in real time. In the case of trees, 3-D analysis enables the accurate projection of shadows, future height, and diameter. Facilitating tree management is a huge advance in the organization of urban space.

At Valoriza, our environmental services subsidiary, we use a new tool that digitizes green zones in 3-D. Specifically, in the Moncloa-Aravaca district, we have examined more than 40,000 trees, including their height, species, diameter, any actions carried out, risks, and other important inventory data.

“This digital model creates an approximate generation of digital twins as close as possible to reality, meaning, we can see the species exactly as they are.”

David Redondo, project developer at Valoriza

Technology at the service of the environment

The concession companies in charge of the management and conservation of trees and green zones have copies inventoried by unique identifiers in order to plan and carry out the various actions necessary.

In Madrid, Valoriza Medioambiente manages several species (banana, black locust, Japanese pagoda, hackberry, etc.). Project developer, David Redondo, explains the objective: “Through modeling we aim to obtain the most realistic approximation possible, with actual height and diameter, associating each with a unique identifier and the area/neighborhood to which it belongs.”

Smart, sustainable cities

This digital tool facilitates decision-making in tree management, for example, assessing a species change in a certain area or the future evolution of a specimen in a specific location.

The model also takes into account shifting shadows throughout the year, making it possible to minimize complaints from residents about branches on building facades and to predict safety issues in the medium/long term.