Sidewalk Labs unveils Delve tool to enhance urban development

The prototype of this tool was first unveiled in December 2019 before being fine-tuned into the Delve product announced this week. Delve Director Okalo Ikhena told Smart Cities Dive the integrative tool is intended to "bridge the spatial components of development with the financial dependency on the development as well."

Ahead of this launch, UK-based developer Quintain utilized Delve to inform its work on a Wembley Park development project in the London Borough of Brent. Delve generated over 40,000 design options for this project by the final week of engagement, all while "respecting the rules of the game and on targets that we set," said Jason Margrave, Quintain's executive director of development, in a statement.

This concept behind the Delve tool — utilizing available technology to enhance a traditionally arduous development process — is not necessarily new, and competes with products from companies including Esri and UrbanFootprint. Yet, Ikhena said Sidewalk Labs is at the beginning of a "realization" regarding how the use of technology can be pushed even further to optimize development while empowering developers.