While acknowledging the enthusiasm surrounding the term “#digital twin," it's crucial for organisations flouting their wares at the likes of InterGeo or who use social media, to ensure their marketing accurately reflects the true capabilities of their offerings. Applying the term loosely to simple 3D models or visualisations? inadvertently creates confusion and missed opportunities to showcase the full potential of more comprehensive digital twin solutions.? They are, in effect, shooting themselves and their reputation, in both feet.
The term "digital twin" has unfortunately fallen victim to a classic case of buzzword hijacking by marketing and communications teams in several ways:
- Oversimplification and Overuse: The concept of a digital twin, which implies a complex and dynamic virtual representation of a physical asset or system, has been diluted to describe any 3D model or digital visualisation. This oversimplification diminishes the true potential and complexity of digital twins, creating unrealistic expectations among customers.
- A drone model or Point cloud of just the building's exterior, no matter how detailed the infinitely thin mesh can be, is incredibly far from a true digital twin. It's like having a beautifully rendered butterfly wing and claiming to understand the entire creature – its physiology, behaviour, and even its thoughts.That building "skin" tells us nothing about the complex systems within – the HVAC, plumbing, electrical, structural elements, the materials used, and how occupants interact with the space. It's that other 99.9999% of the volume that makes a building function and where a true digital twin proves invaluable.
- Hype and Misleading Claims: Marketing teams often leverage the "digital twin" buzzword to generate excitement and attract attention, sometimes making exaggerated or misleading claims about the capabilities of their products or services. This can lead to confusion and disillusionment among potential clients when the actual offering falls short of the hyped promises.
- Lack of Clarity and Precision: In the rush to capitalise on the trend, many marketing materials fail to provide a clear and precise definition of what a digital twin is and how it differs from other digital representations. This lack of clarity can further perpetuate misconceptions and create unrealistic expectations. ?
- Focus on Visual Appeal: The marketing emphasis often centre’s on the visual appeal and aesthetic qualities of 3D models, neglecting the underlying data, analytics, and real-time connectivity that are crucial to a true digital twin. This focus on superficial aspects can overshadow the actual value and potential of digital twins.
- Ignoring the Complexity: The creation and maintenance of a true digital twin requires collaboration across various disciplines, including engineering, data science, and software development. However, marketing materials often simplify the process, neglecting the complexities and challenges involved in developing and implementing digital twins.
This all leads leads to confusion, unrealistic expectations, and ultimately hinder the adoption and development of true digital twin technologies. AD3d digit twin can be a starting point, but it HAS TO BE POPULATED? by subject matter experts who can give it the ‘intelligence’ and links to data base that are clean and useful.
Here's a list of authoritative articles on the concept of a digital twin written by people far more knowledgeable then myself you can Guugle or Duck thing, providing valuable insights from reputable sources.
- McKinsey:What is digital-twin technology? This article offers a comprehensive overview of digital twins, their applications, and benefits across various industries. It also highlights the challenges and considerations for successful implementation.
- IBM:What Is a Digital Twin? IBM's article provides a clear and concise definition of digital twins, explains how they work, and showcases their potential use cases in different sectors
- Gartner:Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2017: Digital Twin (Gartner subscription required) This report recognises digital twins as one of the top strategic technology trends, highlighting their transformative potential and impact on businesses.
- Deloitte:Industry 4.0 and the digital twin This article explores the role of digital twins in the context of Industry 4.0, emphasizing their ability to optimize manufacturing processes, improve product quality, and enable predictive maintenance.
- Forbes: What Is A Digital Twin? This article provides a concise overview of digital twins, focusing on their applications in product development, manufacturing, and asset management.
- MIT Technology Review: How Digital Twins Are Transforming Manufacturing This article highlights the impact of digital twins on the manufacturing industry, showcasing real-world examples of how they're being used to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance innovation.
- World Economic Forum: Digital Twins for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure This article discusses the potential of digital twins to address the challenges of aging infrastructure and climate change by enabling more efficient and sustainable management of critical assets
These articles represent a diverse range of perspectives and applications of digital twins, offering a valuable resource for anyone seeking to understand this transformative technology and its implications for various industries.
It's important for both professionals and consumers to be critical and discerning when encountering the term "digital twin" in marketing materials, seeking clear definitions, understanding the limitations of different digital representations, and focusing on the underlying data and capabilities rather than just the visual appeal.
Your point clouds and meshes may look great but a?Ferrari without an engine is great to look at but it is ultimately pretty useless if you can’t move it off the drive.
LAND SURVEY SUPERVISOR at Montgomery County
2 个月I remember first crossing paths with the "smoke and mirrors" idea of digital twins with a local company getting tens of thousands of dollars of GIS grant money in the early 2000's to create a digital 3D tein model of street facades and building "skins" in specialized software to model the downtown of Hagerstown , Md USA. Needless to say the city got basically nothing and lost out on about $50,000 of grant money that could have been used for a more effective GIS.
Consulting Archaeologist and Heritage Adviser, XR Developer, Cyber Security Governance, Aerial imagery analyst
2 个月Great article Barry. I have been arguing this for years. The term that has come out of fashion is digital triplet, which is the digital information beyond the 3D digital replica.
Voice of 3D industry | Co-founder of a 3D conference 3DISE | 87K+ followers | CTO at Overhead4D we do reality capture | 3D scanning, as-builts, augmented reality, virtual reality
2 个月That's very accurate assessment of where digital twin term is misused. Very similar to when apple calls their ToF sensor a Lidar. Technically they are right, but the market perception is expecting a laser beam coming from the box with term lidar. I would love to point out one important thing though. A 3D model of any kind is not a digital twin per se. However original gangsters of digital twins refuse to accept, that a 3D representation, in any kind, is a vital part of digital twins. If not, it is like a car without the hood. Let me pin here the poll I did about how my audience is looking at what role does 3D representation play in digital twin. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/michalgula_3d-digitaltwin-laserscanning-activity-7239605170249105408-ZnC6
Principal BIM Manager at Costain Group PLC
2 个月Unfortunately I don't think this misrepresentation from vendors actually matters as much as we hope it should. As Steve Bury said, there are very few true digital twins in operation as a percentage of projects. Anyone who actually plans to implement a DT on their asset will be focussed on the purpose and the benefits it provides, not just because it is one of the latest industry buzzwords. As such, they will engage with companies that can built a DT for them or have an in house resource to do it. Unfortunately I think the only people that actually care about the misuse of the term is people like us. In the big picture, this doesn't actually matter. It's all short lived until the next bandwagon for technology vendors comes along...... It's amazing how many AI powered solutions there actually are now! I wonder how many of them are even utilising machine learning, let alone AI. ??
The proper kind of surveyor who measures stuff for a living
2 个月As always, an interesting article Barry Bassnett. I’m not convinced the words digital twin have been hijacked by marketing teams but they can certainly be blamed for making the phrase so ubiquitous. And here we all are discussing and analysing it - which is just what they want us to do to boost sales further! ?? My take on it remains that it doesn’t really matter a fig what we want to describe as a digital twin. Anyone who wants such a thing will just write their specifications and ask for the necessary information to be supplied to them so they can compile it. That’s true whether it’s a DT as you describe it, a mesh model or a scan to Revit measured building survey. What you like to describe as digital twins are happening at the design stage these days and in some (but by no means all) cases are being used to operate a building. But the cost of compiling DTs by far outweigh the benefits of retrospectively creating DTs for most existing buildings. Some clients may want such things but no one wants to pay for it! How many of us can honestly claim we are actually creating these kinds of fully comprehensive digital twins today and, more importantly, making money from it?