Neel AcharyMumbai, India, Jan 13: Genesys International Corporation Ltd. announced that the Varanasi Smart City 3D Digital Twin, implemented by Genesys International for Varanasi Smart City Limited (VSCL), has been conferred the SKOCH Award (Gold) 2025 in the Urban Development category. The award recognises the Design, Development, and Deployment of the 3D Urban Spatial Model, evaluated under the e-Governance stream.
The SKOCH Award follows a structured, multi-stage evaluation process that includes research-led validation, assessment by an independent jury of domain experts, and review of measurable governance impact, with shortlisted teams participating in interaction or presentation stages as part of the final evaluation.
In Varanasi, the objective was to create a city-scale digital base designed for daily municipal use, not just visualisation. Genesys implemented a high-fidelity 3D urban spatial foundation and organised it into decision-ready layers that enable planning, monitoring, and faster inter-department coordination. The pan-city deployment covered areas within Varanasi Nagar Nigam limits and involved end-to-end project planning, establishment of ground control for positional accuracy, and comprehensive data acquisition.
The project combined manned aerial surveys using LiDAR and optical imagery (nadir and oblique, including RGB/NIR) with terrestrial mobile LiDAR and 360-degree street-level panoramic imagery. These datasets were used to produce 2D and 3D base maps at 1:500 scale, high-precision elevation models, a 3D reality mesh, and a unified spatial database integrating multiple line-department datasets.
Speaking on the recognition, Sajid Malik, Chairman and Managing Director, Genesys International Corporation Ltd., said,
“Varanasi Smart City’s SKOCH Award (Gold) is a strong validation of what happens when high-accuracy city data is paired with real municipal workflows. Our role was to implement the end-to end digital twin foundation, from manned aerial LiDAR and optical surveys to street-level mobile LiDAR and panoramic capture, and then translate that into applications that departments can actually use for planning, monitoring, and response.”
The Digital Twin enables practical municipal use cases, including urban planning and development control, asset mapping and maintenance, project execution support, public safety and emergency response, and flood and resilience planning. The scope also includes integrated governance modules such as crowd management, solid waste management, road works management, water works management, flood management, and crime control, allowing departmental workflows to be executed and monitored through dashboards. The solution has been deployed at the city’s command environment, including the Kashi Integrated Command and Control Centre (KICCC), supported by training, user acceptance testing, and post-go-live manpower support.
