With a solid foundation in the manufacturing sector, it’s now time to analyze the transition of digital twins to a spatially enabled world – out of the factory to the streets, cities, countries and globe.  The World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC), along with buildingSMART International, the International Standards Organization (ISO) Technical Committee (TC 211), the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) will be hosting a virtual event on April 5, 2022 on “Spatial Digital Twins: Trends, Opportunities and the Way Forward” (https://www.assetmapping.events/spatial-digital-twins). At the event, the WGIC will be launching its 2022 policy report titled, “Spatial Digital Twins: Global Status, Opportunities and the Way Forward”.  The report explores the implementation of Spatial Digital Twins around the world, their trends, opportunities, and recommendations for the way forward.  

The concept of Digital Twins is seeing an increased interest from industries globally. Thanks to improvements in technology and reduction in costs of sensors for data capture, a convergence of the digital world with the physical world is now a reality. Leading organizations around the globe are trying to quantify or estimate the benefits of Digital Twin adoption, which drive productivity, reduce costs and provide an improved understanding of the performance of physical assets and systems. 
 
We are also witnessing new opportunities to create and utilize Spatial Digital Twins within the geospatial ecosystem. Public authorities and governmental and multilateral agencies are an increasingly important driving force in the funding and development of Digital Twins to serve a wide variety of business needs of public interest. Technology providers and industry participants continuously adapt existing solutions, services, and innovations to allow more comprehensive Digital Twin solutions. 
 
The World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC) undertook research to assess the current affairs on Spatial Digital Twins. For this study, WGIC has considered the offerings from WGIC Members and the industry at large. It also evaluated global initiatives and investments by the Public Agencies. 

An outcome of the research is a report on Spatial Digital Twins with recommendations for authorities, standards development organizations, and the geospatial industry on guidelines, best practices, and standards related to Spatial Digital Twins. The report also articulates the value proposition of Spatial Digital Twins regarding return-on-investment, socio-economic impact, and support of the UN-adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 
 
At the April virtual event, speakers from industry, academia, and the public sector, many of whom contributed to the Report, will explore these topics, and others in more detail, followed by a series of robust discussions with the audience.  Event attendance is complimentary, and all event attendees receive a copy of the report.

For more info and to register for the event, visit https://www.assetmapping.events/spatial-digital-twins