Recently, Singapore completed work on the world’s first digital twin of an entire nation. Bentley Systems tools accelerated the process of transforming raw GIS, lidar, and imagery data into reality mesh, building, and transportation models of the country. 

“We envisaged that these building blocks will be part and parcel towards the building of the metaverse starting with 3D mapping and digital twins,” Hui Ying Teo, senior principal surveyor at the Singapore Land Authority, told VentureBeat.

He says he thinks of digital twins as a replication of the real world through intense digitalization and digitization. They are critical for sustainable, resilient, and smart development. His team has been developing a framework that enables a single source of truth across multiple digital twins that reflect different aspects of the world and use cases. 

Singapore is an island nation, and rising sea levels are a big concern. An integrated digital twin infrastructure is already helping Singapore respond to various challenges such as the impact of climate change. A single, accurate, reliable, and consistent terrain model supports national water agency resource management, planning, and coastal protection efforts. 

The digital twin efforts are also helping in the rollout of renewable energy. An integrated source of building model data helped craft a solar PV roadmap to meet the government’s commitment to deploy two gigawatts peak (GWp) solar energy by 2030. 

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