Posted on April 14, 2025
How has the use of a 3D Digital Twin increased operational efficiency at the Port of Corpus Christi?
DK: With something this revolutionary and new, honestly, our staff is still figuring it out. The app, called OPTICS, has only been out for about six months. OPTICS is an acronym for Overall Port Tactical Information Computer System. OPTICS delivers comprehensive situational awareness by combining multiple data streams into a single pane of glass (or common operating picture).
RH: Port staff now share a unified, real-time operational view, allowing them to collaborate more efficiently and respond more swiftly. This has improved their ability to address security threats and quickly locate and assist in emergencies, such as a damaged or disabled ship.
How do GIS, AI, 3D game engine technology, and drone imagery combine to improve operations at the Port of Corpus Christi?
DK: Many port personnel do not work at a desk. Rather, they are on location at various facilities scattered across 30,000+ acres between two counties. Using a mobile application for better situational awareness saves time and reduces redundancies.
By using 3D gaming technology, we can simulate real-life situations using visualisations that more closely resemble what that item looks like in real life. An oil tanker looks like an oil tanker. This allows for the transfer of data by implication. Having visual displays in this manner makes it seamless to relay relative size, geolocations, and details about an asset just by looking at it. We don’t have to do anything else to convey what that item is and its relative size to other items.
How does the ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unity contribute to better visualisation and decision-making at the port?
DK: The Esri ArcGIS platform provides the basis of the system. By basing this system on the ArcGIS platform, it is easier to leverage many of the geospatial functionality already built into that system and overlay or merge those datasets with additional ones. OPTICS is based on three primary data sources: base layer imagery, Port Police department CAD (computer-aided dispatch), and commercial vessel locations via AIS (Automatic Identification System), a worldwide ship tracking system. Additionally, we are bringing in some weather data from NOAA and the U. S. Coast MARSEC security level.
RH: Esri ArcGIS provides the authoritative 3D GIS system of record, while Unity delivers immersive real-time 3D visualisation. Within OPTICS, the ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unity enables precise integration of 3D GIS data from ArcGIS into Unity, ensuring high-fidelity rendering and responsive simulations that accurately represent the real world across various devices and experiences.
What are the main benefits of incorporating video streaming from drones, satellites, and security cameras into port operations?
DK: We are excited about adding cameras to OPTICS in the next phase of development. This will allow end users, street-level officers and command staff alike to get access to that information in the field, which currently is difficult or impossible. It will allow them to see that information on a mobile device without the need for a full computer setup.
What makes a game engine like Unity valuable for real-time rendering and collaboration in port management?
DK: The Unity game engine is built once and deployed to multiple devices was one of the big draws. From the start, we knew we needed to not only create a desktop application for our Digital Twin, but we needed to put this tool into the hands of those out on the street or port staff on location at various facilities scattered across 30,000+ acres between two counties. Additionally, having the ability to buy many ready-made assets from Unity’s online store, Turbosquid.com, was a real time saver.
You successfully integrated technology from Esri, Unity, and the Project Gemini Platform. How did this collaboration come about, and what challenges did you encounter along the way?
DK: This “trifecta” of success came about through The Acceleration Agency. They brought decades of game development expertise, much of that in the Unity system, to the table. Additionally, TAA brought Project Gemini, which was their creation, to the table, and the Port was already an existing Esri customer.
One of the biggest challenges was displaying the water correctly. With any transportation system, such as roads and waterways, satellite imagery will always capture vehicles and vessels that happen to be transiting that path. In essence, we had “ghost ships” that were a permanent part of the base imagery.
We were left with two options. One way would be to go through and scrub all the vessels that were captured in the ship channel photos. The problem with this solution is that whenever new imagery was provided, we would have to go back through and scrub all the images again.
Two, and the solution we used was creating a mask around all the shoreline to hide the basemap. Then we used that mask to create a water layer. This solution not only allows us to remove the ghost ships, but it also allows us to display water realistically through the ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unity. This also sets the stage for future enhancements where we will bring in the underwater contours of the ship channel. Also known as bathymetric data.
How does the port’s Digital Twin technology serve as a model for other ports worldwide?
DK: We feel we have set a new standard for not only ports, but any organisation looking to build a Digital Twin. OPTICS shows how gaming technology can be used in a business application for great results. Gaming tech can be used for work as well as fun. We have also built this with the goal of creating something that other public and private organisations could use to deploy for themselves. The software uses a standard API to connect to virtually any system that could provide data of value.
How do these technological advancements support improvements in safety and environmental management at the port?
DK: This new system is the first step in providing a single source of truth via a single pane of glass. Thereby providing information, which is normally found in multiple applications via their own interface, into one unified system or window. By leveraging multiple systems into OPTCS, we took the first step in creating an application that provides true, comprehensive situational awareness.
Those users who interact with various applications through their daily work can now see how their actions potentially impact others. As an example, if there is an environmental spill, the incident location is displayed in OPTICS, which then builds a georeferenced list of items within 1,000 feet of that spill. This quickly gives the user an indication of what vessels and vehicles are nearby. Additionally, we can bring in the ArcGIS population overlay to get an idea of how many people may be affected nearby.
