A 23-year-old native from South China's Guangdong Province has rebuilt the city of Guangzhou in a virtual game, not just for fun but also for traffic congestion study. Photo: screenshot of itouchtv.cn on Sina Weibo.

 

Five Rams Sculpture, Canton tower and Zhujiang New Town… From city landmarks to streets and lanes, Huo Kaiyang, a 23-year-old native from South China's Guangdong Province, has rebuilt the city of Guangzhou in a virtual game, not just for fun but also for traffic congestion study.

After finishing postgraduate courses, Huo designed the game using simulations of 84,000 buildings and 260,000 people on the streets of Guangzhou. 

Starting from piecing together the Guangzhou South Railway Station, the youngster spent the past three years adding various elements including buildings, bridges, streets and lanes into the game.

Despite initially developing the game just for entertainment, Huo said he became interested in city congestion and will use the game to explore possible solutions.

"Easy to find out interesting spots for sightseeing. I'll use it for a Guangzhou tour!" A netizen wrote on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo. "Creating a game for fun but then using it as a research tool is just humblebragging!" Another one wrote, jokingly.

Global Times