City of Ottawa
OTwin – Advancing Transparent, Data-Driven Governance
About the Art
Ottawa’s skyline — Parliament Hill’s tower, the Château Laurier, the modern towers beside them — is rendered in fine detail and mirrored across the Ottawa River, historical and contemporary architecture held in exact, symmetrical balance. At first view, the effect seems like a perfect reflection – a city doubled, historical architecture and contemporary development folding together. Look closer, though, and the reflection isn’t quite faithful. At the base of the Château, the lock stairs fold onto themselves in a small moment of impossible architecture, a reminder that a digital twin is never a passive copy. It reveals what the original city alone cannot show: how planning, infrastructure, and decision-making connect.
Original artwork by Aedán Crooke of Surface Impression. No AI was used in generating this artwork.
A municipal 3D platform combines more than 30 datasets to help explain planning, infrastructure and development decisions in visual context
Ottawa uses its OTwin platform to turn complex planning and infrastructure data into visual explanations that can help residents understand proposed development, neighbourhood change and the evidence informing municipal decisions.
Ottawa’s OTwin gives the city a visual way to explain complex planning and infrastructure information through a detailed, interactive 3D model.
OTwin brings together more than 30 authoritative municipal datasets, including zoning, official plan information, development applications, road networks and subsurface infrastructure, into one 3D environment. The platform gives staff, Members of Council and other users a clearer view of how planning, infrastructure and development decisions relate to one another across the city.
OTwin can help explain complex proposals by showing them in visual context. Instead of relying only on static reports, technical drawings or separate maps, OTwin can show real-world conditions and future scenarios in a way that supports evidence-based discussion. It includes tools such as sunlight, elevation and sightline analysis, along with reality capture data such as LiDAR and photogrammetry.
For residents, the benefit is clearer public-facing information about what may be proposed in their neighbourhoods. OTwin supported work on the new Zoning By-law by using 3D basemap information such as building heights, footprints, setbacks and neighbourhood density. The updated regulations were then visualized in OTwin to help show the potential impact of future growth.
OTwin also helps municipal teams identify spatial conflicts, reduce unnecessary site visits and assess how development interacts with utilities, transportation networks and surrounding buildings. For the public, its value is more straightforward: the city has a stronger visual tool for explaining planning choices, proposed change and the evidence behind decisions that can reshape a neighbourhood for residents and communities.
