Corpus Christi Uses GenAI, Video Game Engine for Digital Twin

The Port of Corpus Christi has combined generative AI, geospatial data and video game engine technology to create a digital twin capable of displaying port activities for law enforcement and port authorities both in real time and 3D.

Spanning roughly 36 miles, the port is the largest crude export terminal in the U.S. and third largest in the world. Through a collaboration with GIS software provider Esri, the port developed a digital twin known as the Overall Port Tactical Information Computer System, or OPTICS.

Funded by a Port Security Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and completed in August 2024, OPTICS includes a 3D port model, integration with the Port of Corpus Christi Police Department’s computer-aided dispatch system and commercial shipping data via an automatic identification system.

“We wanted to get more value out of our existing systems,” said Darrell Keach, business systems manager for the Port of Corpus Christi. “We have dozens upon dozens of different applications, but many of them don’t talk to each other. The only way you could combine that data is a person having three, four or five monitors.”

OPTICS was built by Esri partner The Acceleration Agency using the Unity game engine and Esri’s ArcGIS Maps Software Development Kit for Unity. According to Esri Principal Project Manager Rex Hansen, the ArcGIS system allows for direct access to live and local geospatial information. When combined with Unity and predictive data, OPTICS can provide a photorealistic, real-time visualization of the entire port.

“If we provide something that is as photorealistic or as realistic as possible, it’s a lot easier for the audience that’s working with that application to understand,” said Hansen. “By reducing that abstraction, they can bring their knowledge, their intelligence, to bear on oversight, on planning, on interaction with other personnel in the field, to be able to really accelerate the processes that happen in and around the port.”

Authorities viewing the system can click on a vessel present in the port to view its location, assess its ability to successfully navigate by other nearby ships, find information needed to contact the vessel directly and, in the event of an emergency, georeference every port asset within 1,000 feet, including emergency services.

The port has been awarded a second grant worth $1 million through the Department of Homeland Security, which Keach said will be used to build a direct integration with the Port’s Esri enterprise geodatabase GeoPORT, expand the system’s vessel crossing prediction capabilities and add simulation capabilities for training purposes.

According to Hansen, the Esri system can easily be applied within transportation, including air and rail.

“This is probably one of the first, I would say the most advanced example, of being able to take a 3D digital twin and bringing it to life in a game engine to provide that dynamic interactive capability for faster decision-making and accelerating communication among staff,” said Hansen. “What we are seeing is the very beginning stages of organizations leveraging their investment through GIS and being able to take full advantage of gaming technology to provide that real-world interactivity that goes with building out a 3D digital twin.”

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to clarify Port ownership of certain technology systems.