Digital Twins of Cities in Virtual Reality – ISCN Global Mixer

You can find a recording of her keynote and the short “flight” through the “cave” of the Digital Twin below:

The subsequent brief Q&A brought up questions on the data integration and challenge of inconsistencies, as well as on the transferability of such a detailed and powerful Digital Twin solution to potentially less resourceful environments.

Ms Kern pointed out that inconsistencies are addressed in two ways in their case. On the one hand alignment is in part the responsibility of input-giving parties, on the other hand software is also able to sufficiently harmonize inconsistencies in many of the data sets. For the transferability Ms Kern explained that, interestingly enough, the generated twin doesn’t necessarily have to use sophisticated infrastructure such as a five-sided cave. Dependent on the demands and levels of detail it can be also used with workstations and desktop monitors or head-mounted displays. She thus stressed an often overlooked flexibility and adaptability of digital twin presentation.

Another interesting aspect and learning brought forward by Ms Kern was that Digital Twins are not employed only as “expert technology” for closed planning and steering processes. Rather it is very often used with the intention to support and enhance empathy and participation on behalf of the citizenry when it comes to developments in (smart) cities.
In an ironic twist of Platos cave one could thus say that the cave at HLRS and many other Digital Twins aspire to meaningfully enhance an individuals’ relation to the living and commonly created environment, not obscure it.

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