Game Tech Kymenlaakso
Game Technologies shaping the future
The project enables the city of Kotka to access the opportunities brought by a smart city with the help of a virtual city model, and at the same time raises the profile of the Kantasatama area high as a center of technology expertise and research.
The project produces innovative functionalities within the smart virtual city model and supports other development sites that are already in use.
Objectives
The most important goal of the Game Tech Kymenlaakso project is to create a Smart City innovation platform in the city of Kotka with the help of game technologies and artificial intelligence, where more applications are brought to the city’s virtual modeling related to urban planning, preparedness, security and the development of the Kantasatama area, and the Turvapuisto complex is supported with new virtual training environments.
The project’s measures will raise the city of Kotka profile as a leading city for know-how and utilization of game technology and will further increase the appeal of the Kantasatama area as a concentration of high technology and know-how. Xamk game technology competence center focused on the Kotka campus is also strengthened by the strong game technology competence at other campuses of Xamk
Work packages
- Kotkansaari virtual modeling 2.0
- Utilization of gaming technologies in the development of the Kantasatama area
- Ambulance simulator training scenarios
- Cyber sickness
Procedures
Kotkansaari virtual modeling 2.0
The development of a virtual city model in cooperation with the city of Kotka aims to utilize the virtual model as an aid to city planning and to produce the first application objects related to simulations and models. In addition, the use of sensor data and artificial intelligence in the virtual model is also being tested. Including also the development of the Virrake platform on which the city modeling is done.
Utilization of gaming technologies in the development of the Kantasatama area
Let’s raise the Kantasatama area into a smart part of the city, piloting the cooperation of the physical and digital twin of the campus in virtual city modeling, applying sensor technology and artificial intelligence. In addition, intelligent traffic monitoring is being piloted and the development of game technology solutions for the exhibitions of Merikeskus Vellamo in the Kantasatama area is supported in order to improve the customer experience in the spirit of a smart Kantasatama.
Ambulance simulator training scenarios
We will develop our own software and platform for the simulator and bring XR technology into the operation of the simulator. The simulator is linked to the virtual city modeling and uses it as a driving environment.
Cyber sickness
Finding out about the tendency to feel sick when using virtual environments. Investigation work is carried out, which maps and tests the most suitable methods with which the nausea phenomenon
can be minimized in virtual training environments. The work package supports all measures of the project, finding out the best techniques to avoid the nausea element.
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Results
The project produces innovative functionality within the smart virtual city model and supports other development sites that are already in use.
In Kymenlaakso’s smart specialization strategy, it is stated that different platforms and environments play a central role in activating innovation and development activities in the RIS top sectors and sharing information. The virtual city model, which plays a central role in this project, and the creation of related virtual contents and pilots will produce a completely new innovation platform for the region. With the development work, new business opportunities and business activities will also form around it.
It is also easy to form national and international research, development and innovation activities around the city’s virtual model in the future. R&D cooperation has already been done with several Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences, which have wanted to use the development platforms developed in Xamk. These same platforms are also actively used in the development work of the virtual city model.
The virtual city model also covers the Kantasatama area, which already has the Xamk campus and Satama Areena as digital twins of the buildings that can already be connected to the virtual model. These will be used as pilot sites in the virtual city model to collect different data when the buildings are physically completed in stages during the years 2023 and 2024. The data collected with the help of sensors installed in buildings can be used in a digital twin, e.g. control the building’s property automation systems using artificial intelligence and produce useful data for users, e.g. the degree of occupancy of the buildings’ interiors or the air quality.
Vellamo, located in the Kantasatama area, is also supported in utilizing new technologies to improve the customer experience. These pilotings also strengthen the development of the smart Kantasatama operational environment mentioned in the RIS strategy.