What it is
An urban digital model is a structured description of a city, in which every statement has a source attached. The Brașov model brings together the municipality's planning documents, European open data and mapped urban geometry, then links them to one another: a problem documented in a strategy sits next to the projects that address it and the indicators that measure it.
It is a demonstration model. Its role is to show what the platform can do on a real city, not to replace the municipality's official records.
What the model shows
The Brașov model answers working questions, not an inventory. Three results from it, measured, not estimated:
The first figure comes from the surface temperature measured by Landsat 8/9 in a single satellite pass, the second and third from the Copernicus soil sealing layer. Each one carries its source, method and reference year in the model, and the public demonstration shows them on the map, neighbourhood by neighbourhood. Open the public demonstration (the platform interface is currently in Romanian).
The full inventory of the model (all layers, documented problems, projects, indicators and territorial units) is worked on in the version for partner institutions, together with the institution's own data.
Where the data comes from
The model's 26 sources fall into three groups:
The municipality's documents
Eight documents published by Brașov City Hall or by the Local Council: the sustainable urban mobility plan of the metropolitan area, the 2030 Sustainable Development Strategy, the 2023-2033 heat supply strategy, the sustainable energy action plan, the 2025 energy efficiency improvement programme, the projects portal, plus the written sections of the PUG (General Urban Plan) currently being updated. Added to these is the Integrated Urban Development Strategy of the Metropolitan Area, published by the Brașov Metropolitan Agency for Sustainable Development.
European open data and satellite data
Copernicus, for soil sealing and its change between 2018 and 2021. The European Commission's Joint Research Centre, for the average height of the built-up area. Landsat 8 and 9, through USGS and NASA, for surface temperature. The National Institute of Statistics, for population by registered residence.
Collaborative mapping
OpenStreetMap, for urban geometry: streets, neighbourhoods, stops, heritage, cycle network. Overture Maps Foundation, for building footprints. sensor.community, for particulate matter sensors.
Every source has a title, a publisher, an address and, where one exists, a licence in the model. The full list can be seen in the platform, next to every statement that relies on it.
What the model does not contain
The model declares its gaps in a field of their own, alongside the data, not in a footnote. The ones that most change how the figures should be read:
- Cadastral parcels are missing. The cadastre has no public service that can be queried, and the 117 parcels in the model are enclosures from OpenStreetMap, with no cadastral number and no area taken from legal documents.
- Building height is mostly estimated. Only 2,266 of the 30,412 footprints have a height that refers to the building itself; the rest were given the average height of the block.
- Traffic is estimated where there are no measurements, based on the street category in the mobility plan. Those values are not counts made on the ground.
- The reference territorial units are incomplete. The model covers 12 macro-units out of Brașov's 180, and the PUG drawings with their boundaries are published only as drawings, not in a machine-readable format.
- The urban planning regulation used is the preliminary version from October 2024, under public consultation. The General Urban Plan in force remains the one approved by Local Council Decision (H.C.L.) 144/2011 and extended by H.C.L. 117/2021. The values in the model should be read as a proposal, not as regulation in force.
- The temperature is that of the surface, not of the air, measured in a single satellite pass on 29 June 2026, around midday. It is not the perceived temperature and it is not the summer average.
- Two of the 26 sources are marked as demonstrative, a strategy and a local budget. They show the structure, not the municipality's real figures.
The model carries its own quality score, 0.68 in version 0.3.0. The score rises as estimated sources are replaced with data provided by the institution.
How to check a figure
Every statement in the platform shows the source it relies on. The way to check is the same every time: you open the item on the map, read the attached source, follow its address to the original document and compare. If a value has no source, the platform marks it as an estimate or an assumption, and does not present it as a fact.
The complete model is not published as a file: its full form, with all items and sources, belongs to the partner institutions. The schema it is built on remains public, for interoperability: semantic-model/schema/city-model.schema.json.
What you can do without an account
The public demonstration at citytwin.ro/map-ui/ shows a selection: the map of Brașov, an analysis of heat vulnerability with its sources and limits declared, and a simulation of a cooling point. Free questions to the AI assistant, all themes and layers, the model inventory, scenarios, reports and exports are for partner institutions. An extract from a report can be seen in the demonstration report, and the way people work with the platform, in a working example.
Frequently asked questions
Is the digital model of Brașov a project of Brașov City Hall?
No. The model is built by the Romanian Smart City Association from public documents and open data, as a demonstration of the City Twin platform. It is not an official implementation by the Municipality of Brașov and does not have the status of an administrative document.
Where does the data in the Brașov model come from?
From 26 sources cited in the model: documents published by Brașov City Hall (the mobility plan, the strategies, the PUG currently being updated, the urban planning regulation, the projects portal), European open data (Copernicus, JRC), Landsat through USGS and NASA, OpenStreetMap, Overture Maps, the National Institute of Statistics and sensor.community. Every source has a title, a publisher and an address in the model.
What can I see without an account?
The public demonstration at citytwin.ro/map-ui/ shows a selection: the map of Brașov, an analysis of heat vulnerability with its sources and limits declared, and a simulation of a cooling point. Free questions to the AI assistant, all themes and layers, the model inventory, scenarios, reports and exports are for partner institutions.
How accurate is the model?
The model declares its own quality score, 0.68 in version 0.3.0, and lists its gaps in a field of their own. The most important ones: traffic is estimated from the street category where there are no measurements, cadastral parcels are missing, and the actual building height is known for only 2,266 of the 30,412 footprints.
Can I use the figures from the model in an official document?
Not directly. The model shows the source of every value, so it can serve as a starting point, but the figures must be checked in the original document cited before they go into a council decision, a funding application or a public report. Two of the 26 sources are explicitly marked as demonstrative and contain no real data.
How does my city get a model of its own?
Through the contact form at citytwin.ro/en/contact.html. The model is built from the city's public documents, plus the data the institution chooses to provide.
For your city
What you see here for Brașov can be built for any municipality in Romania, from its public documents. Write to us through the contact form and you will receive a concrete proposal: what a model of your city would look like and what data would be needed from the institution.