Urban India’s 3D digital twins are on their way to be born

BENGALURU : India may soon join the ranks of cities and countries such as Singapore, Yingtan in China, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Auckland, Helinski, and US states such as Boston, Colarado and Orlando that have built digital twins to enhance their efficiency, coordination and governance. Mumbai-based Genesys International, a geospatial products and solutions firm that announced plans to create a Digital Twin of India’s top 100 cities about 18 months ago, hopes to complete 20 digital twins by the end of 2024. This March, CE Infosystems partnered with Dassault Systemes to create a "virtual twin" for India’s digital urban infrastructure development. “MapmyIndia Mappls Maps are ready for Virtual Twin technology and use cases with the most comprehensive, and high-definition, geospatial coverage in 2D, 3D, 4D, HD and 360 degree, captured through advanced sensors, on-ground through moving vehicles and in the sky, including from drones, and processed, productized and published in near-real time using cutting-edge AI/ML, computer vision, data analytics and geospatial technologies," said Rohan Verma, CEO and Executive Director, MapmyIndia Mappls. That said, according to PwC's 'How digital twins can make smart cities better' 2022 report, countries will need a "robust accountability framework" to encourage data sharing, while offering sufficient protection to those parties doing so, and also establish "consistent data standards and rules" for collecting data.