How 3D Building Models and GIS Help Smart Cities Handle Emergencies and Security

When fire breaks out on a hospital’s ninth floor, or a crowd surges at a stadium gate, responders need answers within minutes. Which stairwells are still usable? Where are the patients who cannot walk? Which cameras can actually see the gate? A flat 2D map cannot answer these questions well. A 3D model of the building, placed inside the city’s GIS platform and shown on the command centre’s video wall, can.

This post looks at how 3D models of critical buildings, linked to GIS and a city’s Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC), help with evacuation, law and order and pre-incident planning.

What 3D models and digital twins of buildings are

BIM (Building Information Modelling) produces information-rich models of floors, walls, doors, stairs, shafts and building services, usually during design and construction. LiDAR laser scanning and photogrammetry capture existing buildings and streets from aircraft, vehicles, drones or backpacks. Helsinki’s open 3D mesh, for instance, was produced from aerial photographs, and the city describes its 3D city models as its digital twin.

A digital twin goes a step further by connecting the model to live data. GovTech Singapore explains that Virtual Singapore is “semantically enriched”: the computer knows what kind of building it is looking at and what roof, walls, doors and windows it has, and the platform can connect to real-time sensor data for simulations such as flood impact. We covered Singapore’s wider smart city record in our report on the top 10 smart cities of 2026.

India is moving in the same direction. The National Geospatial Policy 2022 sets a goal of a National Digital Twin of major cities and towns by 2035. In November 2023, Survey of India signed an MoU with Genesys International to create 3D digital twins of cities, and in April 2025 Varanasi Smart City reported completing a LiDAR-based 3D digital twin covering 160 sq km at 4 cm ground resolution.

Why GIS integration matters

A BIM model on its own describes a single building, but emergencies spill onto roads and neighbouring sites. GIS places each building in its real location, alongside roads, hydrants, hospitals, police stations, flood zones and cameras. Responders can then plan the full journey, from the fire station to the right entrance, stairwell and room.

Open standards make this work across vendors. IFC (ISO 16739-1:2024) is the open international standard for exchanging BIM data, and its 2024 edition added infrastructure such as bridges, roads and railways. CityGML, from the Open Geospatial Consortium, defines a model and exchange format for virtual 3D city models. Indoor GIS products such as Esri’s ArcGIS Indoors combine CAD, BIM and LiDAR data into floor-aware 2D and 3D maps.

Use case: emergency evacuation

For fire, earthquake or flood, a 3D model helps in three phases:

• Before the incident: pre-incident plans can mark exits, stairwells, refuge areas, hydrant connections and hazardous stores floor by floor. The US standard NFPA 1620 (now consolidated into NFPA 1660) guides this kind of planning.
• During the incident: commanders can see which floor is affected and which routes are blocked. Esri says ArcGIS Indoors can show exits and evacuation routes and give dispatchers and first responders better situational awareness, and that indoor positioning can show a user’s live location inside a building.
• For floods: Varanasi’s officials said its 3D model would show which areas and buildings Ganga flood levels would affect, and would assist rescue operations in fires.

Use case: law and order and security operations

Police and security agencies can use the same models for:

• Crowd management: calculating the capacity of gates, ramps and concourses, and planning one-way flows for festivals, rallies and matches.
• VIP security: checking rooftops and windows overlooking a route or venue, and planning cordons.
• Camera line of sight: testing in 3D where a camera can actually see, so blind spots are found before an incident rather than after it.
• Hostage or siege situations: giving tactical teams accurate floor layouts, entry points and service corridors without sending anyone in.

Varanasi’s project team said cameras at key locations would be connected to its 3D model for crowd management, crime control and traffic monitoring.

Use case: command centre integration with ICCC, video and IoT

The value multiplies inside the ICCC. A fire alarm or panic button can open the right floor of the right building on the operator’s screen, with nearby cameras, hydrants and response vehicles around it. Esri notes that security camera feeds can be mapped onto indoor maps. Our posts on the evolving role of control rooms and video walls in Indian control rooms explain how operators already work with these layers.

What this could look like in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar already has the institutional base. In January 2025, the city’s ICCC at Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited coordinated officers from Health, Fire Services, Commissionerate Police, Transport and utilities for the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. Odisha is also cyclone-prone: when Cyclone Fani struck in May 2019, Biju Patnaik International Airport’s terminal and ATC tower lost their roofs. The examples below are illustrative; we know of no published report that these buildings have been 3D modelled or linked to the ICCC.

• AIIMS Bhubaneswar: a BIM model of wards, ICUs, lifts and ramps could help plan the evacuation of patients who cannot walk, and show responders where oxygen lines and generators are.
• Biju Patnaik International Airport: a terminal model linked to the ICCC would help plan passenger evacuation and cyclone preparations, and show which parts of the terminal are affected during an incident.
• Bhubaneswar railway station: modelling platforms, foot overbridges and exits could help police set safe crowd levels during festivals.
• Kalinga Stadium: the stadium hosted the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup, and FIH said its capacity would be raised to 15,000 seats for the 2023 edition. A 3D model of stands, gates and concourses could be used to simulate exit times for crowds of that size and to place cameras and stewards.
• Lingaraj Temple: on Maha Shivaratri 2025, more than one lakh devotees visited, and The New Indian Express reported that entry through three gates with exit through only one left devotees jostling and two women injured. A 3D model of the precinct, gates and queue lines could help test entry and exit plans before the festival.
• Lok Seva Bhavan and the Odisha Legislative Assembly: in January 2026, the state laid the foundation stone for a new Lok Seva Bhavan and Assembly complex across 71.13 acres. Designing it in BIM would give security teams accurate models for perimeter planning, VIP movement and camera line of sight from day one.
• The ICCC itself: one 3D view of these buildings’ floors, cameras and sensors would support both evacuation and policing decisions.

Data security and access control

A detailed model of an airport, assembly or data centre would also help anyone planning an attack, so it needs the same protection as the building. ISO 19650-5 sets out a “security-minded” approach to managing sensitive building information. The UK’s National Digital Twin Programme likewise says it is building security measures that restrict sensitive information to authorised users. In practice, that means:

• role-based access, so a traffic operator does not see a secure facility’s internal layout
• separate public, operational and restricted versions of the same model
• hosting in secure Indian data centres, with encryption and full audit trails

Building type	Main 3D/GIS benefit	Key data to model
Hospitals	Patient evacuation planning	Wards, lifts, ramps, medical gas, refuge areas
Airports and stations	Crowd flow and terminal evacuation	Gates, concourses, platforms, exits
Stadiums and temples	Crowd management and exit capacity	Gates, stands, queue lines, assembly points
Government buildings	Perimeter and VIP security	Entrances, sight lines, camera positions
High-rises, malls, data centres	Firefighting and pre-incident plans	Stairwells, risers, fire systems, plant rooms

How cities can get started

1. Prioritise critical buildings. Start with hospitals, transport hubs, stadiums, busy shrines and key government buildings.
2. Insist on BIM for new public buildings. Ask for IFC deliverables at handover so models flow straight into GIS.
3. Scan existing buildings. Use LiDAR, photogrammetry and Scan-to-BIM where drawings are missing or outdated.
4. Adopt open standards. Use IFC for buildings and CityGML for the city, so the ICCC is not locked into one vendor.
5. Keep models current. Tie updates to building permits and fire NOC renewals, and use them in mock drills.

Conclusion

India’s ICCCs already bring cameras, sensors and departments onto one screen. Accurate 3D models of critical buildings add the missing dimension: what is happening inside and above street level. With the National Geospatial Policy aiming for a National Digital Twin and Varanasi already running a 3D twin, the next step is making these models work when it matters most: evacuations, crowd surges and security operations.

Trisim’s view: 3D models deliver the most value when they are built once, to open standards, and then used every day in the command centre. Trisim’s BIM and 3D modelling unit, aigence Technologies, creates architectural, structural, MEP and ELV BIM models and Scan-to-BIM for buildings, including hospitals, campuses and data centres.

“A 3D model is only useful in an emergency if it shows the building as it actually stands today, not as it was drawn years ago. For hospitals, stadiums, transit hubs and government complexes, accurate as-built BIM models, kept updated after every renovation and linked to the city GIS and the ICCC, let responders see exits, stairwells and access routes before they arrive. In our view, that makes evacuation and security plans far more realistic.” — Partho Ranjan Baksi, Director Operations, aigence Technologies

Planning 3D models or GIS integration for your city or campus? Talk to us.

Need 3D models, BIM or a digital twin of your buildings? Talk to aigence Technologies.

Sources

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14. Hindustan Times, “Cyclone-hit Bhubaneswar airport became operational in 12 hours”, 13 May 2019. hindustantimes.com
15. International Hockey Federation (FIH), “FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela: Venue” (accessed October 2026). fih.hockey
16. ThePrint (PTI), “Lakhs of devotees offer prayer at temples across Odisha on Maha Shivratri”, 26 February 2025. theprint.in
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18. ETV Bharat, “CM Majhi Lays Foundation Of New Lok Seva Bhawan, Assembly In Odisha’s Bhubaneswar”, 12 January 2026. etvbharat.com