From desert to smart cities: How drones are reshaping Saudi Arabia | NexTech

Saudi Arabia is in the middle of one of the most ambitious reinvention stories on the planet. Under Vision 2030, NexTech travels to KAUST to see how FalconViz is turning physical environments into highly accurate 3D models. We explore the digital foundations being laid for the next generation of cities. Drones equipped with LIDAR and high-resolution cameras capture millions of measurements for infrastructure estimates with centimeter-level precision. These living digital models continuously update using live feeds to catch traffic congestion and solar panel faults before they happen. This same submillimeter precision is also digitizing 1,000-year-old heritage sites like Al-Balad, allowing experts to preserve history remotely. Finally, we visit the Wadi Qadid farm to witness how scientists are turning the scorching desert into a living laboratory. By combining FalconViz's multispectral drone scanning with GrowBiom's soil microbes, researchers are hacking one of the harshest climates on Earth to turn the sand green.