Digital twins are emerging as an essential tool in construction and the built environment.
In fact, Las Vegas unveiled a digital twin of a 7-square-kilometer section of its downtown.
So what are digital twins and how are they used in the construction industry?
What is a digital twin?
A digital twin, also called data twin, is a digital representation of a real world object. Digital twins have many applications outside the built environment, and are used in the automotive, healthcare, systems engineering, and aerospace industries. For example, digital twin technology has been used to improve performance in Formula 1 racing and to improve care during surgery.
In fact, the first data twin was used in 1970 during NASA's Apollo 13 mission. When oxygen tanks exploded early into the mission, endangering the lives of the astronauts and the entire mission, it was a digital twin that helped Mission Control diagnose and solve the problem of the leaking tanks from 200,000 miles away.
