VirtualGeo 2027 is out!

VirtualGeo 2027: A major milestone for the next generation of operational digital twin-centric systems

With clearer visualisation, richer dynamic data and new temporal capabilities across all domains, from space to underwater environments and infrastructure interiors, VirtualGeo 2027 gives developers new ways to help operational teams visualise and understand complex situations and respond to evolving challenges.

Operational environments are becoming more demanding. More entities must be tracked, more data sources brought together, situations are increasingly dynamic, involving autonomous systems, numerous threats and multiple domains. For teams commanding military operations, managing space assets, coordinating crisis response, protecting critical infrastructure or conducting counter-drone operations, seeing where things are is only part of the picture. Understanding how the situation is evolving is just as essential.

VirtualGeo is a sovereign European solution already powering numerous mission-critical systems across these domains, including counter-UAS systems (e.g. BOREADES, MILAD, PARADE and ARLAD), military C2 systems (SIPS, GHOST LAD, STARLINX, CLA, SOPSIGHT, SENTINEL and READYMED), crisis management systems (CRIMSON, iTRIER), and space asset command and control systems (e.g. CSO and ADS).

VirtualGeo 2027 marks a major milestone in that journey. Building on 20 years at the forefront of geospatial technology, this release expands the platform’s visualisation, temporal and geospatial capabilities, enabling fielded VirtualGeo-based systems to evolve alongside emerging operational requirements. To reflect its unprecedented performance, VirtualGeo now follows a year-based versioning scheme.

From reducing visual complexity to bringing environmental flows and highly dynamic theatres of operations to life with outstanding performance, this release has a clear ambition: to enable mission-critical applications to turn growing volumes of geospatial, environmental and operational information into a clearer, more meaningful operational picture, grounded in a digital twin of the theatre of operations, including its critical infrastructure, public spaces and territories.

From space to underwater environments

VirtualGeo 2027 closes gaps in multi-domain coverage, enabling applications to seamlessly span all domains, from space to underwater environments, including infrastructure and public-space interiors.

Keeping the picture clear as complexity grows

A crowded representation can make critical information harder to interpret. VirtualGeo 2027 introduces clustering through VrClusterStrategy, allowing spatial information to be dynamically grouped according to semantic characteristics. The strategy offers the flexibility to support a wide range of use cases, including combining different layers of information when needed.

Combined with VirtualGeo’s attribute system, clusters can also convey information, such as status and uncertainty, about the different classes of entities they contain. Applications can maintain a readable, responsive display even on handheld devices on the front line while preserving access to the underlying information, a valuable capability wherever operators need to make sense of dense geographic activity.

Dynamic flows and gradients in VirtualGeo

Operational awareness depends not only on understanding the environment, but also on interpreting its dynamic conditions. The new VelocityValueLayer introduces support for flow-field data, such as wind, contaminant dispersion and wave fields, through animations driven by speed and direction. This enables users to intuitively visualise environmental phenomena directly within the digital twin of the environment.

In addition, VirtualGeo now supports the integration of meteorological and oceanographic data from online services such as Windy and Météo-France. Users can seamlessly access, visualise and interact with real-time and forecast weather and ocean conditions within the platform, improving situational awareness and supporting more informed decision-making.

Finally, VirtualGeo Web now supports the direct ingestion of raw environmental data in formats such as GRIB2, a capability previously available only in the Desktop version. This enhancement simplifies the integration of weather and oceanographic datasets while further reducing the feature gap between the Desktop and Web platforms.

Putting time at the heart of the geospatial experience

As applications combine multiple time-dependent sources, they need a consistent way to navigate temporal information.

Available through VrGISScene, the new VrTimeController provides a dedicated mechanism for controlling time and accessing temporal information across compatible data sources. It establishes a foundation for applications built around historical records, temporal datasets and evolving situations.

The release also introduces VrAnimationStyle, associated with VrFeatureStyle, to animate supported visual attributes of vector features. Developers gain new ways to emphasise changes and evolving situations on the map, enriching applications that need to communicate more than a static snapshot.

Together, these temporal and animation capabilities advance VirtualGeo’s support for an operational picture that communicates both location and change over time.

Connecting more data and shaping more complex areas for clearer maps

VirtualGeo further strengthens its compatibility with ArcGIS ecosystems through the addition of Esri VTPK (Vector Tile Package) support, enabling developers to integrate an even broader range of vector tile datasets and streamline interoperability with existing GIS infrastructure.

The new VrCompoundGeometry supports Boolean operations on surface geometries. Developers can build complex geographic areas by combining, subtracting or intersecting existing shapes, supporting applications that need to construct and update spatial zones dynamically.

Enhancing Web version

With this release, VirtualGeo Web reaches a major milestone. Alongside a modernised API featuring TypeScript support and a dedicated interactive sandbox for developers, the platform now introduces multi-view and multi-scene capabilities. Previously available only in the Desktop version, these capabilities are now accessible on the Web, strengthening the convergence between the two solutions and providing users with a richer and more flexible experience.

This evolution has been achieved while maintaining full backward compatibility with the previous API, reflecting VirtualGeo’s commitment to providing a stable, reliable and comprehensive platform for critical projects.

For systems already built on VirtualGeo, version 2027 opens a new chapter: a foundation for clearer visualisation, broader data integration and a richer understanding of evolving situations. It equips developers to advance the operational applications their users depend on—and to prepare them for the challenges ahead.