Editorial View – Charting our course, July 2020

The history of creating models as representations of architecture and infrastructure has provenance dating back over 7000 years with early examples recorded in areas such as Gumelnita (now known as Bulgaria) in 4600 BCE. 

In the centuries since then the accuracy of these models have changed greatly thanks to modern methods but the principles have remained the same. Digital Twins provide us the next opportunity not just because it has the potential to produce a near idetic representation of as-built infrastructure but also to dynamically update the model to reflect changes within the system. As with physical modelling this is going to be a process that continually evolves and will be refined over time.

For the Hub and the National Digital Twin programme it is essential that we are able to understand what the current maturity of digital twin practices looks like and the intentions that exist. To this end we have established a Digital Twin Register https://digitaltwinhub.co.uk/dtdb/ which will perform a vital role in allowing us to see the current state and the evolution of landscape. To date we have only had a few submissions to this area of the site. To better facilitate the inclusion of register entries we have created a exemplar entry with some explanatory prose to aid with completion of the register. It is important to note that this isn’t just for completed Digital Twins but also for usecases or early stage developments. The programme will be able to use this work to chart a course and providing support as appropriate to aid the members.  

I am writing this editorial to request from you, our members, to provide entries for the register and to allow us to perform some initial analysis. If we can reach a sufficient level of entries we will then be able to start providing more targeted resources to the community and also allow you to review what other similar activities maybe taking place across the built environment. Add your digital twin here.