Imagine a major city where traffic congestion, wasted resources and inefficient public services are a thing of the past. Bicycle lanes and green spaces have replaced roadways and parking spaces. Public buildings are run entirely on electricity to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions and support city-wide carbon neutrality goals. There’s no need to imagine; cities like Ithaca, NY, and others are already using digital twin technologies at the urban edge to drive sustainability.
Digital twins are a remarkable bridge between humans and data. By creating virtual replicas of physical systems and presenting them using immersive technologies, digital twins can revolutionize the way we interact with data, with a profound impact on the human-data connection that will facilitate more informed decision-making toward the development of a more sustainable society.
Digital twins make data more consumable for humans
In our digital era, humans are faced with an overwhelming volume and complexity of information. The main challenge is that data was not inherently created for humans to interact with. It uses structures that prioritize efficiency and accuracy, representing information in formats that can be easily processed and analyzed by machines. Thus, the modern onslaught of large volumes of raw and complex data is not immediately meaningful or accessible to humans. Most current methods of data representation fall short of conveying the intricate relationships and insights buried within the data, creating a divide between humans and the valuable knowledge data holds.
Digital twins serve as a transformative bridge, enabling humans to connect, interpret and harness the power of data effectively. Employing artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) techniques such as data visualization, modeling and simulation, and natural language processing, digital twins can present data as three-dimensional graphical worlds with user-friendly interfaces that create a shared language for humans to engage with data in a more natural and meaningful way. Because of these capabilities, digital twins play a vital role in helping humans engage with, understand and make informed decisions based on massive amounts of data.
Digital twins advance sustainable societies
When humans can easily collaborate with machines, they can achieve outcomes that are more accurate, efficient, innovative and impactful. This partnership empowers individuals, organizations and governments to address complex challenges, make data-driven decisions and create positive societal change. Digital twins have the potential to transform urban sustainability by providing a comprehensive understanding of systems, facilitating predictive analytics, optimizing resource management, enhancing collaboration, simulating sustainable innovations and fostering public engagement. By leveraging digital twins, city officials could make more informed decisions, optimize resource utilization and work toward a more sustainable future.
Urban implementations of digital twins are inherently edge deployments. The ability to analyze and act on data near its point of creation is a key element in enabling digital twins for urban edge use cases. In addition, digital twins excel in their ability to integrate real-time data streams from sensors, devices and simulations throughout a cityscape. This dynamic connection between the physical system and its virtual counterpart means digital twins reflect the latest state of the system. As the physical system evolves, the digital twin updates in real time, providing users with immediate feedback. This real-time connection empowers decision-makers to respond swiftly and make data-driven choices for sustainable development.
Digital twins also foster collaborative data exploration and knowledge sharing among multidisciplinary teams. By providing a common platform to interact with data, stakeholders can collaborate, exchange insights and collectively work towards sustainable solutions. This shared understanding strengthens the human-data connection, fostering collective intelligence and driving innovation. For instance, researchers, policymakers and industry experts can collaborate within a digital twin environment to analyze energy consumption patterns, identify inefficiencies and develop strategies for energy optimization in buildings.
Predictive analytics optimize decision-making
Predictive analytics within immersive digital twin environments empower users to anticipate future outcomes and optimize decision-making. By simulating various scenarios, policymakers can explore the potential impact of actions on sustainability metrics, promoting proactive strategies for building a sustainable society. For example, urban planners can use digital twins to simulate the impact of transportation policies on traffic congestion and air pollution, enabling informed decisions on more efficient or sustainable methods of transportation.
Digital twins hold immense potential to bridge the gap between humans and data, creating a symbiotic relationship. Leveraging digital twins could provide a faster, more cost-effective and scalable approach to addressing sustainability challenges, enabling us to accelerate efforts toward a sustainable future.
Digital twins at the edge unlock data-driven insights, yet effective implementation remains a key challenge for municipalities worldwide. Dell Technologies helps cities capitalize on AI-enabled digital twins at the edge with the broadest portfolio of purpose-built edge hardware, software and services. Cities can leverage AI where it is needed, simplify edge environments and protect edge data to overcome key challenges faster. Our interconnected systems empower governments, city planners and authorities to transform urban environments, support sustainability initiatives and improve quality of life for citizens.
Digital twins are one of the most natural ways for humans to understand complex data. The graphical representation of a digital twin creates a virtual environment that resembles the physical system it replicates, making it highly intuitive and relatable for humans to interact with. Thus, digital twins empower individuals to comprehend, interpret and make informed decisions based on complex data, ultimately helping accelerate the development of a sustainable society.
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