City Digital Twins: their maturity level and differentiation from 3D city models

ABSTRACTThe emerging field of City Digital Twins has advanced in recent years with the help of digital infrastructure and technologies connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). However, the evolution of this field has been so fast that a gap has opened in relation to systematic reviews of the relev...

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Main Authors: Homa Masoumi, Sara Shirowzhan, Paria Eskandarpour, Christopher James Pettit
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2023-01-01
Series:Big Earth Data
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20964471.2022.2160156
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author Homa Masoumi
Sara Shirowzhan
Paria Eskandarpour
Christopher James Pettit
author_facet Homa Masoumi
Sara Shirowzhan
Paria Eskandarpour
Christopher James Pettit
author_sort Homa Masoumi
collection DOAJ
description ABSTRACTThe emerging field of City Digital Twins has advanced in recent years with the help of digital infrastructure and technologies connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). However, the evolution of this field has been so fast that a gap has opened in relation to systematic reviews of the relevant literature and the maturation of City Digital Twins on an urban scale. Our work bridges this gap by highlighting maturity in the field. We conducted a systematic literature review with bibliometric and content analysis of 41 selected papers published in Web of Science and Scopus databases, covering five areas: data types and sources, case studies, applied technologies and methods, maturity spectrum, and applications. Based on maturity indicators, the majority of the reviewed studies (90%) were at initial to medium stages of maturity (up to element 3), most of them focused on 3D modelling, monitoring and visualisation. However, digital twins cannot be limited to 3D models, monitoring and visualisation, for they can be developed to include two-directional interactions between humans and computers. Such a high level of maturity, which was not found in the reviewed studies, requires advanced technologies and methods such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, BIM and GIS. We also found that further studies are essential if the field is to handle the complex urban challenges of multidisciplinary digital twins . While City Digital Twins extend by definition beyond mere 3D city modelling, some studies involving 3D city models still refer to their subjects as City Digital Twins. Among the research gaps we identified, we’d like to highlight the need for near-real-time data analytics algorithms, which could furnish City Digital Twins with big data insights. Other opportunities include public participation capabilities to increase social collaboration, integrating BIM and GIS technologies and improving storage and computation infrastructure.
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spelling doaj.art-9eb9beaaccc84ba484087bc6597768f12023-01-12T05:47:32ZengTaylor & Francis GroupBig Earth Data2096-44712574-54172023-01-0114610.1080/20964471.2022.2160156City Digital Twins: their maturity level and differentiation from 3D city modelsHoma Masoumi0Sara Shirowzhan1Paria Eskandarpour2Christopher James Pettit3Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, IranSchool of Built Environment, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, AustraliaFaculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, AustraliaFaculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, NSW, AustraliaABSTRACTThe emerging field of City Digital Twins has advanced in recent years with the help of digital infrastructure and technologies connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). However, the evolution of this field has been so fast that a gap has opened in relation to systematic reviews of the relevant literature and the maturation of City Digital Twins on an urban scale. Our work bridges this gap by highlighting maturity in the field. We conducted a systematic literature review with bibliometric and content analysis of 41 selected papers published in Web of Science and Scopus databases, covering five areas: data types and sources, case studies, applied technologies and methods, maturity spectrum, and applications. Based on maturity indicators, the majority of the reviewed studies (90%) were at initial to medium stages of maturity (up to element 3), most of them focused on 3D modelling, monitoring and visualisation. However, digital twins cannot be limited to 3D models, monitoring and visualisation, for they can be developed to include two-directional interactions between humans and computers. Such a high level of maturity, which was not found in the reviewed studies, requires advanced technologies and methods such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, BIM and GIS. We also found that further studies are essential if the field is to handle the complex urban challenges of multidisciplinary digital twins . While City Digital Twins extend by definition beyond mere 3D city modelling, some studies involving 3D city models still refer to their subjects as City Digital Twins. Among the research gaps we identified, we’d like to highlight the need for near-real-time data analytics algorithms, which could furnish City Digital Twins with big data insights. Other opportunities include public participation capabilities to increase social collaboration, integrating BIM and GIS technologies and improving storage and computation infrastructure.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20964471.2022.2160156City Digital Twinsbig dataIoTartificial intelligencecity information modelling
spellingShingle Homa Masoumi
Sara Shirowzhan
Paria Eskandarpour
Christopher James Pettit
City Digital Twins: their maturity level and differentiation from 3D city models
Big Earth Data
City Digital Twins
big data
IoT
artificial intelligence
city information modelling
title City Digital Twins: their maturity level and differentiation from 3D city models
title_full City Digital Twins: their maturity level and differentiation from 3D city models
title_fullStr City Digital Twins: their maturity level and differentiation from 3D city models
title_full_unstemmed City Digital Twins: their maturity level and differentiation from 3D city models
title_short City Digital Twins: their maturity level and differentiation from 3D city models
title_sort city digital twins their maturity level and differentiation from 3d city models
topic City Digital Twins
big data
IoT
artificial intelligence
city information modelling
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20964471.2022.2160156
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AT pariaeskandarpour citydigitaltwinstheirmaturitylevelanddifferentiationfrom3dcitymodels
AT christopherjamespettit citydigitaltwinstheirmaturitylevelanddifferentiationfrom3dcitymodels