Ville Lehtola

University of Twente, Finnish Geospatial Research Institute

Papers

Total Citations

209

H-Index

About

Ville Lehtola is a leading researcher at the forefront of urban digitalization and geospatial engineering. His work primarily focuses on advancing **digital twin technology for cities**, 3D indoor mapping, and intelligent processing of mobile LiDAR data. Lehtola’s most impactful contribution is his seminal 2022 review, “Digital twin of a city: Review of technology serving city needs,” which has garnered **187 citations**. This paper critically examines how digital twins—technologies proven in manufacturing—can be adapted to serve the dynamic, complex ecosystem of a city, addressing what an urban digital twin should contain and how it should be orchestrated. Beyond this, Lehtola has pioneered novel paradigms in LiDAR data processing, such as **preregistration classification** of mobile laser scanning data, a method that operates on raw data streams to classify points before traditional registration, enhancing efficiency. His work on indoor 3D scanning and reconstruction methods further underscores his commitment to creating comprehensive spatial models. Through these contributions, Lehtola is shaping how we model, understand, and manage both indoor and outdoor urban environments, bridging the gap between raw sensor data and actionable city intelligence.