The Victorian government has announced it will fork out just shy of AU$35 million to build a digital twin of Victoria to help it improve the way it approaches future urban planning projects.
Known as Digital Twin Victoria, the data-based digital replica of the state is expected to provide digital spatial data and models of built and natural environments, including utilities infrastructure, farmland, and cities.
The state government has appointed the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to build the online platform that will host Digital Twin Victoria.
According to Victoria’s Minister for Planning Richard Wynne, the data will be accessible to planners, engineers, and builders who will be able to use Digital Twin Victoria to model different scenarios, test the feasibility of proposals, troubleshoot potential issues, and share information across sectors and workplaces more easily.
“Once this platform is established, real-time data can be collected at an astonishing rate and absorbed into the Digital Twin to support informed planning decisions and share important information with communities,” he said.
“With the convergence of big data and advanced technology, Digital Twin Victoria will enable us to do in minutes and days things that used to take weeks, months, and even years.”
Establishing Digital Twin Victoria follows the footsteps of the New South Wales government, which announced at the start of last year it was launching a similar platform to transform urban planning and infrastructure across Western Sydney.
Delivered in partnership with CSIRO’s Data61, the NSW Spatial Digital Twin provides 3D and 4D digital spatial data and models of the built and natural environments. The interactive tool includes 22 million trees with height and canopy attributes, almost 20,000km of 3D roads, and 7,000 3D strata plans and 546,206 buildings.
