An infrastructure digital twin is possible now.

SUMSF welcomed President of Lux Modus, Joseph Hlady, to speak on March 22, 2022. His livestream presentation was on creating a 3D infrastructure digital twin. 

An Infrastructure Digital Twin, or IDT, is a virtual representation of real-world processes and entities. Creating an IDT involves locators, constructors, stakeholders, and advocates. Holiday spoke about the Digital Twin Consortium and how Lux Modus has been involved since the consortium was founded. 

Hlady discussed problems faced by the utility mapping industry and what changes are needed. He spoke about how democratization can improve utility mapping, and dove into discussing the IDT, how it is created, and gave examples of an IDT. During the presentation, Hlady also spoke about data sharing, aggregation, and access. 

A few of the problems were current methods, keeping data, and controlling data.  Hlady said those involved need to move away from the monopoly in the mapping industry, and a changed skill level is required and should make mapping easier. When data is easy to collect, and technology easier to use, collecting data will have a lower cost, as well as the overall effort  to collect data will decrease. Hlady also said there is a need for an open data format. 

Democratization and crowdsourcing will help keep costs low so collecting and aggregation large amounts of data is possible. 

Hlady wanted to leave participants with three important ideas. The first idea was an IDT must result in effective action. 

“You actually have to do something,” he said.

The second idea was the importance of using current and historical data, and the third was to remember an IDT is outcome motivated. 

A deep, heartfelt thank you to Lux Modus, a Gold Sponsor for SUMSF, 2022 (The Subsurface Utility Mapping Strategy Forum).

You can watch the live-streamed presentation on Youtube below.