New York is mapping what lies beneath its streets
A $10 million platform, 3D Underground, will let agencies and utilities share a secure three-dimensional map of pipes, cables and soil.
Every excavation in a big city starts with a question nobody can answer with certainty: what is down there? New York's answer is 3D Underground, a $10 million secure platform for sharing a three-dimensional map of the city's underground infrastructure.
What it will hold
The platform is meant to let government agencies and utility companies securely share information about water and sewer pipes, gas lines, electrical conduits, fibre-optic cables and soil composition. City officials say it will improve emergency response, help identify and assess threats, and make capital projects easier to plan.
New York describes it as the first citywide underground data-sharing system in the United States, putting the city alongside Singapore, Tokyo and the United Kingdom. The idea goes back to the recovery from the 11 September 2001 attacks in Lower Manhattan, when the need for precise underground maps became obvious.
When
The platform builds on earlier mapping work with NYU Tandon and is funded by a US Housing and Urban Development disaster-recovery grant. It is due to launch in early 2028, according to NYU. The hard part will be less the 3D model than persuading dozens of utilities to keep their records in it current.
Research desk, Online
Stories by the IQGov research desk are written from public documents, official data and on-record statements, which are listed and linked at the end of each piece.
