# Metaverse Meets Smart Cities--Applications, Benefits, and Challenges
## 5 Results
### Real-World Metaverse Applications in the Smart City
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**City/State/District** & **Platform** & **Metaverse** & **Smart City Metaverse Applications Already Implemented** \\ \hline Seoul, Republic of Korea & Metaverse Seoul & Yes & Digital administration services, virtual city tours \({}^{*}\) \\ \hline Helsinki, Finland & Zoan & Partial & Urban planning, digital administration services, virtual events and exhibitions, virtual city tours, virtual shopping centers and retail platforms \\ \hline Catalonia, Spain & CatVers & Yes & Social meeting places \\ \hline Barbados & Decentraland & Yes & Digital administration services, digital properties \\ \hline London, United Kingdom & - & Partial & Urban planning, virtual city tours, virtual sights, presentation of local cultural assets \\ \hline New York City, USA & - & Partial & Status visualization (transport), planning and forecasting of capacity utilization (transport) \\ \hline Santa Monica, USA & FlickPlay & Yes & Digital administration services, virtual city tours, marketing platform for local businesses \\ \hline Shanghai, China & - & Partial & Digital administration services, digital products, digital jobs, and placement of unemployed \\ \hline Singapore & - & Partial & Risk planning, digital city twin, environmental monitoring and management, tracking the use of resources and consumption optimization, digital administration services, provision of city-related real-time information \\ \hline Dubai, UAE & - & Partial & Provision of city-related real-time information, status visualization (transport) \\ \hline Benidorm, Spain & Steam & Yes & Virtual city tours, virtual sights, city marketing \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{*}\) Other applications are planned but not yet implemented.  
\end{table} 
Table 2: Overview of current metaverse smart city applications corresponding to Table 1.  
interactive and immersive experience. Based on the digital twin, constant components have been added that increasingly transform it into a metaverse [34]. In addition to exploring different parts of the city, there are virtual activities such as concerts and exhibitions, shopping opportunities, services, simulation options, and virtual citizenship. In the future, virtual citizens can have digital homes, run businesses, and participate in activities such as concerts, art exhibitions, and virtual games to get closer to the metaverse avatars [35]. Virtual Helsinki is part of Helsinki's digital strategy and demonstrates the city's commitment to digital innovation and sustainable solutions. Helsinki has been recognized for its innovation and smart tourism offerings [34]. Catalonia--Spain: The northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia is working on the development of a metaverse called CatVers, a virtual platform with free access that was launched with the support of the regional government and the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce. The Catalan version of the metaverse will focus on the culture and identity of Catalans and will offer a virtual space for society. However, the platform is limited exclusively to the Catalan language, making access to this metaverse significantly more difficult for many users [31]. Barbados: The Caribbean Island state of Barbados, located northeast of Venezuela, signed contracts with Decentraland to open the first embassy in the metaverse. In addition to Decentraland, agreements have been signed with other metaverse providers offering digital properties, such as Somnium Space and SuperWorld. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the projects aim to identify investment opportunities in digital land, establish virtual embassies and consultes, and develop and provide services such as \"e-Visa\". Work is also actively underway in developing a \"teleporter\", which will enable interoperability for users, i.e., transporting avatars between the different worlds.