At this year's Innovation Arena, the industry is challenged to plan future road projects in Virtual Reality (VR).

Using data from the National Road Database (NVDB) and technology recognizable from the game Fortnite, all tunnels in Norway can be visualized in seconds.

“The data from NVDB has typically been used for subject systems and maps, and has never been used in this type of project before. When I heard about this project, I had no doubt that we had to contribute to good visualization,” says Jan Vidar Strømsvold, data manager for NVDB in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.

Unique visualization

In just two months of intense work, Bouvet, in collaboration with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, delivered a unique VR solution on assignment for the project's steering group, consisting of a number of VIA members. This is phase two of the VR tunnel project, followed by the prototype of the VR visualization of the Ryfa Tunnel, which was developed in 2019.

“The technology and data base have evolved a lot since the prototype we developed in 2019. Back then, we had to manually build texture and 3D models for a tunnel, and the user was left with a small part of a single tunnel. It was time-consuming to develop, and there was a limitation in the number of tunnels one could visualize. Today, the quality of what is visualized is much better, in addition to being able to automatically generate any tunnel. This is possible because of the quality of the data that NVDB provides,” says Victor Prestholm, unit manager at Bouvet.

This solution can give all VIA's member companies a head start. In the long term, they will be able to access the technology, which is available both with VR glasses and from a computer.

“The idea is that this should be a platform to build on, with opportunities for development, testing, demonstration and tunnel exercises,” Prestholm says, explaining the current functionality:

“By searching a tunnel, it is visualized in just a few seconds, and you get the opportunity to move around and have access to information. The idea is that, among other things, it should be able to be used for maintenance, or to simulate fire or traffic.

Data with many possibilities

They both hope that more people will use the information contained in the NVDB and that more solutions will be forthcoming.

“New tools will be able to help with maintenance backlogs and place higher demands on our data. The data can also be used for internal and external purposes in the simulation of accidents and fires, for example, or analyses for traffic liquidation,” says Strømsvold and adds:

“We humans are not the best at visualizing numbers in Excel sheets. Having the tunnels generated visually provides another opportunity to work further with the data, and we want to take that further.

Victor Prestholm and Jan Vidar Stømsvold tell more about the project and the possibilities that exist with VR technology at Innovation Arena on October 22 in Kristiansand. Haven't signed up yet? There are still some vacant seats left. Watch the rest of the program and sign up here!

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