Rapid Development of A Spatial Digital Twins Using Open-source Solutions

Abstract

City-model spatial Digital Twins are a three-dimensional virtual self-updating twin of a city which is updated by real-time data. This paper explores the effectiveness of open-source data and tools that can generate a Digital Twin to be hosted on a distributed system. A spatial Digital Twin was successfully generated from a city-model made from open-source spatial data with access to real-time data. The Digital Twin application was hosted on a three-tier systems architecture. The exception to the open-source data was a Digital Surface Model (DSM) obtained from a private source. However, the DSM was an optional component. The output only met the minimum requirements of a Digital Twin while the visualization was basic where the live data was limited to global weather data rather than city-specific data. The investigation indicated that even with little data, generating a 3D city scene with an automated live data flow meets the spatial Digital Twin’s minimum requirements according to Piroumian (2023). The main contribution of the study is highlighting methods for generating and hosting a spatial Digital Twin and its associated data onto the web through using a three-tier architecture to store, host and display the Twin onto the web. The areas identified for further research include investigating variations in the distributed systems for hosting and publishing a spatial Digital Twin onto the web. A secondary subject of investigation is exploring methodologies for improving the detail of the spatial Digital Twin’s data for areas that do not receive much live data.