Great Britain is planning to create a digital twin of itself in order to better deal with the consequences of climate change and inevitable problems, such as overpopulation.Thanks to that, it is able to test its own immunity towards these threats and work on possible solutions.

Creation of a complex copy of the whole British infrastructure is certainly not a simple task. However, public and private sector collaborate on this project quite intensively.

What Is the Application of Digital Twins? We Already Find Examples in Towns.

A digital twin is a computer simulation of something else which can help the user to get underlying data and detailed understanding of anything what it represents. It enables testing a myriad of possible scenarios and thus, find out what works and what doesn’t.

We can simulate products, services, business infrastructure or, as Great Britain plans, a whole country. As Matthie Francoz, the entrepreneur in the area of smart city technologies, states: “Our digital twin is the first in the world for an entire city region and it’s going to be a game changer.”

The project of an urban digital twin already exists, specifically in Newcastle. It is a project of Newcastle University and a waterworks company which strives for creating a digital town replica. The objective is to enable testing the town’s toughness in various situations. Examples of that include floods, extreme weather swings or population growth. Thanks to a digital town replica, it will be possible to try things that can’t be done in reality and then watch what happens.

Urban Digital Twin. What Benefits Does It Bring?

Digital representation of a town finds a whole spectrum of applications. It enables urbanists and also the town’s council to achieve maximum effectivity in energy consumption, it also helps, for example, businessmen to optimize operation of their stores depending on the analysis of steps sounds in near surrounding or tweak public lighting depending on the current light conditions.

In a global perspective, the application is even wider. From the possibility to prepare whole regions to potential floods, draught or extreme weather strike to planning the best way to deal with, or even prevent blackouts.

It’s evident that utilization of digital twins is not just for the industry. Thanks to the options it brings to users, it is a technology popular in both private and public sector.