What is a Geospatial Digital Twin?

During the #ISPRS2022 Congress in Nice there where a lot of discussions around geospatial digital twins and what exactly is behind this buzzword.

A digital twin in general is a virtual or digital replica of a real-world object. An object in this context can be everything from a small technical device to the whole world. It includes the basic structure as well as the actual state of the object and can be supplemented by environmental information. The term geospatial digital twin is related to digital twins with a strong relation to a geospatial location. The size does not matter here and can range from a small construction site to a global level. In recent years the digital twins of a city, also called an urban digital twin became more and more popular.

Having a closer look into the urban digital twin, what exactly is it and where does it distinguish from a 3D model of a city? Like in the real world the 3D model of the city provides the framework in with all action takes place. These are the more static objects like buildings, roads, trees etc. Within this framework the “real life” takes place and all the dynamic actions happen. So again, like in the real world, cars are moving along the roads or public transport brings people from A to B, also in the digital twin the real time aspect is key.

For the digital twin this means that the 3D model of all the static objects in an urban environment build a kind of base twin that brought to life by real-time information, like sensor data (IoT), weather data or up-to-date information from the public transport or electricity system. Having all this together will make a digital twin from a 3D Model and helps to understand and manage an urban environment.

This said means, all start with reliable and up-to-date 3D geospatial data of the city. Read more on how hybrid aerial sensor data can help to generate a geospatial base twin in my paper presented during the ISPRS congress in Nice 2022.