It is the time of year when city centres transform, as outdoor Christmas markets fill town squares and high streets. An estimated 6,000 markets will open across Europe during the festive season, with some of the largest — including Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt, London’s Hyde Park Winter Wonderland and Craiova in Romania — welcoming millions of visitors. Written by Martin Vojtek, Business Director of 3D Surveillance for Hexagon’s Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial division, a planned part of Octave.
Sadly, these popular events have in recent years been the subject of attacks, most notably Berlin in 2016 and the tragedy in Magdeburg last December, where a vehicle was driven into the crowd. Incidents such as these have encouraged governments, including the UK with the introduction of Martyn’s Law, to strengthen planning and preparation for large-scale public events.
Digital twins: A new standard for event preparation
One of the most effective tools for preparing and safeguarding public spaces today is the creation of a photorealistic digital twin — a highly accurate 3D virtual model of the intended market area. Drone-based photogrammetry captures streets, squares and surrounding buildings with exceptional detail, enabling planners to work within a realistic and immersive environment long before any physical structures are installed. Digital twin design tools can ingest these datasets and visualise them using advanced technologies, creating a lifelike representation of even the most complex outdoor scenes.
Designing the market in 3D before construction begins
Once the digital twin is created, event organisers, city authorities and security specialists can begin shaping the market virtually. Temporary stalls, lighting installations, stages, decorative structures, back-office units, Christmas trees, ice rinks and other festive features can be positioned directly within the digital model. It‘s also possible to place static representations of people or larger groups to approximate crowd density and understand how occupied space will influence visibility, accessibility and the overall perception of the environment. This ability to design and refine the market layout before construction allows planners to test multiple variations, understand how structures interact and ensure that the environment remains safe and manageable throughout the event.
Virtual camera planning, coverage assessment and analysis
Digital twins also provide a robust foundation for planning the deployment of visual-monitoring systems. Cameras can be placed directly into the 3D environment, allowing planners to immediately see how temporary structures, decorations or pedestrian flows will influence the field of view. Blind spots become apparent, alternative camera heights or angles can be explored and strategic decisions about additional mounting points or temporary towers can be made with confidence.
For each planned camera, the expected resolution per metre or per foot is visualised directly inside the digital twin. Instead of relying on theoretical charts or static design tables, planners can instantly see whether a particular camera position will deliver the clarity required for the intended purpose, whether it is early detection of movement, recognition of behaviour patterns or full identification of individuals. This real-time visual feedback makes the entire planning process more precise, transparent and efficient.
These evaluations can be carried out within the realistic daytime environment captured by the digital twin. Planners can also prepare alternative scene variants — for example, dedicated night-time versions or layouts reflecting festive lighting — to understand how visibility and coverage may change throughout the event. Even without full weather simulation, this approach allows teams to anticipate typical operational challenges and refine the monitoring concept well before the first stall is erected.
Testing safety and security scenarios
Perhaps the greatest advantage of working with a digital twin is the ability to explore the environment from multiple perspectives before the event begins. Although the scene itself is static, planners can move through it using a virtual intruder to understand how the market will appear from ground level and to identify potential vulnerabilities that may not be obvious from a top-down view. This makes it possible to assess where hostile-vehicle barriers should be positioned, how narrow passages might feel when occupied, or where visibility may be reduced due to temporary structures or decorations.
The static digital twin also provides a clear way to evaluate emergency access lanes, determine suitable locations for help points or medical posts and plan the general layout of security patrol routes. By navigating the scene freely and observing it from different perspectives, teams can refine the design and address potential blind spots long before construction begins.
A unified environment with LiDAR
Beyond planning, the created digital twin also becomes the primary visualisation environment for LiDAR during live operations. Operators can interact with this 3D map directly and with a single click on any location, all PTZ cameras capable of viewing that point automatically reposition to it. This provides an unmatched navigation interface for real-time camera control, making situational awareness significantly faster and more intuitive. LiDAR then works seamlessly with a video management system, which controls all camera streams, recordings and video evidence, creating a tightly integrated monitoring workflow.
Supporting real-world operations
Once the market opens, the digital twin continues to serve as a valuable operational resource. If layouts change during the event — for example, because of additional attractions, adjusted walkways or altered security checkpoints — these modifications can be quickly modelled and evaluated before implementation. When the festive season concludes, the same model can be repurposed for future events, long-term city planning or other public-space deployments.
A safer and smarter festive season
Christmas markets are vibrant, high-profile and densely populated environments, making them attractive targets for those seeking to cause disruption. By combining detailed photogrammetry, advanced 3D visualisation, and rigorous spatial evaluation, cities can create safer, better-prepared, and more resilient festive settings. With tools such as digital twins and LiDAR, authorities can plan more effectively, anticipate risks earlier and ensure that every stall, pathway and vantage point contributes to a joyful — and secure — holiday season.
