Spatial Data Engineering – The relationship between space, time, and business process (Spatial XD) or the study of spatial potential.

Are we starting to see a new profession forming??With the increased interest in spatial digital twins and in particular the spatial data that feeds the model (Spatial XD), is it time to start talking more about the concept of space, time, and the relationship to business process as a profession in its own right? Many would refer to this as similar to Geospatial science or even Digital Engineering, however this has a built environment focus that relates to the concept of spatial change over time. So, could this be considered a hybrid of the two?

As we start to transition our digital focus to project compliance, asset reliability and performance optimization, moving past the project execution phase of an asset, a new skill set is required. This skill set no longer focuses on BIM models, project / geometric coordination, and geospatial data visualisation, but a skill set that directly relates to space, time and business process, irrespective of the phase of the asset lifecycle whether that be design, project delivery or operate and maintain. Similar to data science and engineering but directly relating to the concept of space and time.

Spatial data is the latest node type to be included in the concept of enterprise knowledge, with most business processes contextualized in a semantic model in some form through a simplified table and schema and associated data pipelines. Why have we struggled to include the spatial reference into this? Why have we focused on the explicit object through an archaic IFC standard schema expecting every project to fit this mold? But then struggled to understand how we manage change over time or more importantly the relationship of spatial to non-spatial data. The concept of a standardized IFC schema may work for new simple projects in the AEC industry, but how can this ever relate to brownfields assets or in turn any other complex industry? ?And most importantly how does this manage change over time effectively?

The other concept that needs to be considered is the relationship between business process and space. When we look at the various datasets within an enterprise, very really do they relate in a 1:1 or 1:n relationship. So, to embrace the concept of digital twin, there must be a digital thread established, that builds a relationship between the physical and digital. In other words, create a direct link between the enterprise business decision making and the physical asset to a level of fidelity that will change and adapt dynamically over time. Technology companies and asset owners have been challenging the concept of the digital thread for some time, however, continue to focus on the explicit tag or object (form) at a defined level of detail. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the most dynamic way to build enterprise relationships, with various levels of fidelity in each dataset or process. Hence, the emerging concept of space and time as the digital thread. Space and time will always be the constant and known. With a known range of units being meters and seconds for example. Everything relating to the asset, however, has a variable range of units. Here lies the complexity of building relationships.

Due to the complexity of spatial data, this concept has not been understood or embraced to date. However, with advancing technology, cloud-based processing and more dynamic simplified spatial data platforms, the opportunity is becoming realistic. However, we need to start understanding the concept of the spatial digital thread in more depth and exploring the business value spatial data can create for assets and projects. This will require a new mindset, a more progressive mindset, with a focus on the potential of space, whether that be past or future state, fixed or dynamic. We need to embrace the concept of indexed space being our new baseline and anything that passes through that indexed space is a point in time relating to a business process. Hence the unified relationship opportunities that it starts to create.