Twin it to win it

Real-time digital versions of the physical world have exciting potential as a tool in the climate fight – especially for involving communities in adaptation and emergency response planning. WSP digital advisory principal Kerri Gray explains.

New Zealand | Monday, 23 October 2023

The Australian state of Victoria is vast by global standards. Larger than many countries, it’s home to tens of thousands of native plants and animal species, a bevy of outstanding natural landscapes, over 6.7 million people, and dozens of city and regional areas.

Victoria has invested in state-wide 3D digital datasets about land and built form in a digital twin that citizens, government, and industry can use to explore solutions to environmental and social issues. Bringing together approximately three thousand local, state and national datasets, it’s been a huge benefit for authorities who work with communities to plan, manage, and build the future of the state.

Real Time Data

Aotearoa New Zealand doesn’t yet have this kind of digital twin but could benefit from one. They’re extremely useful in helping plan and prepare communities for the impacts of climate change and natural hazards – among other things.

Joining up screeds of data to create live digital versions of the real world, including natural environments, buildings, infrastructure assets, and transport networks, gives us the ability to model and communicate the effects of hazards such as floods, storms, droughts, and sea-level rise — simulating potential outcomes from the safety of a computer screen.

Victorian flood study

Modelling Flood Response

Victoria’s Department of Transport and Planning have previously used the state’s digital twin to model how a township might appear if it was developed in a certain way. The model included features like hospitals and schools and was used in a flooding scenario to see how lifeline utilities would be affected. They also modelled the potential to invest in land to divert floodwaters away from critical infrastructure.

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words

Representing information in digital twins opens a world of opportunity in engaging communities. A picture tells a thousand words; but a digital twin tells a thousand more. Crucially, Victoria’s digital twin has been used for public community engagement – including on West Melbourne’s Sunshine Precinct. Planners visualised in 3D how a proposed transport hub would sit in the context of the existing area and made this available to the public.

In essence, Victoria’s digital twin is being used in multiple ways to explore important planning scenarios and their consequences – harnessing technology to help with more informed, community-centered decision making.

Communities can utilise Digital Twins to make informed decisions for effectively adapting to climate changes; such decisions have never been more crucial than they are now, as we strive for proactive protection in our collective climate future.

Applying Digital Twins in New Zealand

New Zealand should follow their lead. How might that look in the climate adaptation realm? Well, coastal, land and weather-related datasets held by public sector agencies and other organisations could be included to 'virtually' predict significant climate impacts that might affect small and large communities.

As a predictor of potential outcomes, climate scenarios can be visualised and shared with community audiences to illustrate how their land and built environment could change and best be fortified. It's essential to analyse these scenarios from different perspectives, considering, for example, the impact on vulnerable residents, and local iwi on the frontline of hazards; as well as civil, fire, and emergency or incident response teams.

Virtual Reality

In conveying how objects occupy three dimensions of space digital twins can reveal how far storm surge may penetrate or how deep floodwaters may get. That's no small thing for New Zealand, where almost 750,000 New Zealanders and 500,000 buildings worth $145 billion are exposed to flooding in the event of extreme weather events.

The sky's the limit, literally - but in New Zealand our ability to create real-time, 3D digital representations of objects and our ecosystem still isn't very advanced. There are examples of where organisations are taking great steps in this space; however, we’re largely reliant on 2D, static data to show where things are located and how they behave.

Sharing is Caring

It's important for the benefit of communities that New Zealand’s public and private sector organisations better embrace the development of digital twins to analyse and model our places and spaces. Key to this is collaboration and a more open approach to data sharing.

There's no shortage of open data portals that anyone can access for free. It's a straightforward way to share data without requiring a lot of technical effort. Surprisingly, not many organisations are taking advantage of this opportunity, even though New Zealand has strong open data policies in place.

Encouraging the sharing of information through open data is highly beneficial. We are a risk averse nation, but we can take steps to make more of our data available for everyone to use and gain from. This will help quickly advance the development of digital twins that communities can use to make the best decisions for adapting to climate changes - decisions that are more important than ever for proactive protection in our shared climate future.