A Digital Twin provides a digital copy of reality through a 3D map environment. It combines a large amount of information and tells you exactly where buildings and roads are located, or trash cans and lampposts are placed. Increasingly, the 3D map is being combined with dynamic information from sensors, so that you get a picture of what is happening outside. By combining data sources, you can, for example, see how the shade of the trees changes during the day or when a traffic jam threatens to arise in the city. A Digital Twin not only offers the possibility to view all kinds of information in context, it is also easy to investigate different spatial scenarios, such as the effects of a new residential building, a road diversion or a windmill on the environment.

 

A good example is the "Green Benefit Planner" developed by RIVM. This uses, among other things, the geobasic registrations and can be used in Digital Twin solutions to calculate and view the benefits of greening measures in three dimensions.

 

With a Digital Twin you get a coherent picture of the public space and you can anticipate problems, disruptions or crowds in the city more quickly. For example, Digitwin from Argaleo combines a large number of data sources to manage public order and safety. In the Living Lab Scheveningen, this solution was used with pedestrian data and bicycle data to better manage peak crowds.

 

The deployment of a Digital Twin is also valuable for involving citizens in the intended changes. For example, you can use a simulation to show residents what effect windmills have on their environment or what the new layout of a street will look like. Visualizing these kinds of changes to the public space makes it tangible for those involved. It lowers the threshold for citizens to participate actively.

 

The added value of Digital Twin stands or falls with the quality, standardization and management of the available data. WeCity helps organizations throughout the entire process: from the selection of solutions, the storage/processing to the disclosure of data according to (inter)national standards. So that the same data can be easily reused for various applications.

 

Together with its partners, WeCity offers solutions that help in the development of a Digital Twin. The catalog of data sources, sensors and innovative solutions and the Service Portal support the phased development of a Digital Twin for any organization. Do you want to make better use of the possibilities in your city? Please contact us. We are happy to help you create a tailor-made approach for your organization.