What Is a Digital Twin? How Creative Crowd Recreated Skellefteå in 3D
A digital twin is an interactive digital copy of a real place or system. Through its GIS-Data to Reality project, Creative Crowd in Skellefteå, Sweden, uses real-time game technology and geographic data to build digital twins that people can explore in 3D, including a model of Skellefteå and the Skellefte River.
From map data to an explorable world
Most geographic information is stored as maps, tables and technical files. These are useful for experts but hard for others to read. GIS-Data to Reality takes this data and turns it into a dynamic 3D environment that anyone can move around in.
Creative Crowd builds these environments from GIS data such as terrain models, aerial imagery, LiDAR scans and infrastructure data. Swedish open data from Lantmäteriet, the Swedish mapping, cadastral and land registration authority, can be a starting point.
The Skellefteå digital twin
Creative Crowd's digital twin of Skellefteå recreates the city and the Skellefte River in 3D. Instead of looking at a static map, users can explore streets, landscape and water from different angles, switch between data layers and compare situations.
Where digital twins are useful
Digital twins built with game technology can support:
Urban and regional planning
Communication of plans to residents
Education and training
Public engagement and citizen dialogue
Because we run on game engines, the same environment can be adapted for screens, the web, events and virtual reality.
