A business case for state-wide implementation of the New South Wales Government’s 8,300km² spatial digital twin is in development, iTnews reports.

The spatial digital twin was launched in February 2020, giving government planners, private developers, spatial data providers and others access to a virtual representation of eight local government areas in Western Sydney.

The NSW Government sees the digital twin helping it realise multiple strategies and plans, including its State Infrastructure Strategy, Future Transport 2056 and Greater Sydney Regional Plan 2056, and helping it respond to the 2020 NSW Bushfire Inquiry.

Ernst & Young is working on components of the business case for the state-wide spatial digital twin implementation, for the NSW Department of Customer Service. This work includes a cost benefit analysis for provision of 3D imagery and elevation data. This analysis is due in June 2021.

The NSW Government has also issued a tender for technical components of the business case. The application period closes on June 2, 2021.

The tender lays out four critical technical capabilities to be proven to beta implementation level. This includes development of simple, efficient and effective self-service delivery channels for all spatial data and services.

The tender also calls for an automated pipelines for utility and government infrastructure asset data. This will provide a reliable, single source of truth for utility and structure infrastructure for emergency services organisations, among other goals.

Another component of the tender is the provision of a whole-of-government automated imagery and elevation data pipeline. This would incorporate remote sensing data from satellite, aircraft, remotely piloted aircraft and terrestrial sources.

The state-wide implementation of the spatial digital twin is in part a response to recommendations in the Final Report of the NSW Bushfire Inquiry.

The inquiry called for “significant improvements to the range, quality and timeliness of imagery provisioning for emergency management,” the NSW Government tender states.

“There is a requirement to develop simple, rapid and repeatable imagery processing pipeline that minimises the period between acquisition and operational provisioning.”

Work is underway in relation to some of the inquiry’s recommendations, which include a call to accelerate the building of the state’s digital twin.

The inquiry also recommended revision of regulatory frameworks for the provision to government authorities of information about all critical public and private infrastructure.