The QGIS version 3.34 introduced support for Cesium 3D tiles. At the same time there is a growing number of 3D data published as 3D tiles. This is also true for the city of Helsinki, Finland, that has published diverse datasets as open data, including textured and untextured buildings, terrain data, and photogrammetry-derived mesh models.

Mobility Lab Helsinki is a test bed for smart mobility, which is a common effort between Forum Virium Helsinki and Business Helsinki. Mobility Lab Helsinki is running several agile pilot projects and one of them in the beginning of 2024 dealt with developing the mobility digital twin of Helsinki. We at Gispo conducted a pilot project that aimed to develop QGIS-based workflows for Helsinki to enhance the use of 3D data and 3D data production processes.

In this pilot we integrated 3D tile datasets into QGIS and thoroughly tested out the 3D tile features. One aspect of the project was to identify use cases within the organization of the city of Helsinki and to explore ways for them to benefit more from the 3D data available. By providing easier access to 3D data and facilitating integration with other spatial datasets, the pilot seeked to enable more comprehensive analysis and decision-making in urban planning.

We learned that with the new support for 3D tiles in QGIS, the accessibility of using such data is improved. With a growing enthusiasm around digital twins, we see that 3D tiles support in QGIS is a welcomed feature, though still in its infancy. We found that at the moment it is possible for organizations to use 3D tiles in QGIS, primarily for visualization purposes but also for rudimentary measuring. However, taking into account the wide spectrum of other features in QGIS, it is only a matter of time until we can see some spectacular applications where 3D tiles meet more traditional spatial data.