Enriching Digital Twins with Linked Data Event Streams
A Guide to Embed and Visualize Real-Time Linked Data Events in a Digital Twin
Digital Twins are becoming increasingly important for decision-makers to help understand and manage real-world assets and processes. Creating a digital replica of the physical world enables real-time monitoring and analysis of data, providing a complete picture of the system.
Linked Data Event Streams can be used to enrich these digital twins by adding real-time data to provide even more insights into the system. Here we explore the role of digital twins and how Linked Data Event Streams can be used to enhance the digital replica.
Create a Digital Twin
Cesium-3D is an open-source JavaScript library for creating 3D globes and maps, which makes it an ideal tool for developing digital twins. Developing a digital twin using Cesium-3D is a powerful way to represent a physical object or environment visually. By integrating various data sources, such as real-time sensor data, CAD models, and geographic information, a digital twin can be developed that provides a highly detailed and accurate representation of the physical object. For example, New York City has developed a digital twin of the city using Cesium-3D. The digital twin allows city planners and decision-makers to test different scenarios and make informed urban planning and development decisions.
Embed real-time linked data
Linked Data Event Streams can play a crucial role in enriching digital twins in real-time.
GeoServer is an open-source server for sharing geospatial data, which supports a wide range of data sources, including databases like PostgreSQL. Publishing Linked Data Event Streams (LDES) into GeoServer after saving the data into PostgreSQL is a powerful way to make data available through a Web Map Service (WMS). The WMS service GeoServer allows developers to visualize this data in Cesium-3D.
To insert LDES into PostgreSQL, you can follow the same data flow as is described in this article:
The code snippet underneath shows how the WMS layer is added in the Cesium 3D code.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Hello World!</title>
<script src="Cesium/Cesium.js"></script>
<style>
@import url(Cesium/Widgets/CesiumWidget/CesiumWidget.css);
#cesiumContainer {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
margin: 0;
overflow: hidden;
padding: 0;
font-family: sans-serif;
}
body {
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
overflow: hidden;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div id="cesiumContainer"></div>
<script>
var widget = new Cesium.CesiumWidget('cesiumContainer');
var url='http://localhost:8080/geoserver/wms'; //Geoserver URL
var layers = widget.scene.globe.imageryLayers;
layers.removeAll();
layers.addImageryProvider(new Cesium.WebMapServiceImageryProvider({
url : url,
layers: 'LDES Demo'
}));
Sandcastle.finishedLoading();
</script>
</body>
</html>This code creates the virtual globe; whereafter it becomes possible to add air quality data, noise levels, etc., via WMS service, together with 3D models of the city.
The output of the DUET project is visualized underneath.
Full code
The full code is available on GitHub if you want to dive into this use case. Follow the instructions to visualize geospatial Linked Data Event Streams via GeoServer in WMS or WFS. Adding the WMS layers to the Cesium 3D globe becomes possible from there.
Conclusion
Digital twins have become vital for decision-makers looking to optimize operations, make informed decisions, and enhance performance. By creating a virtual replica of real-world assets, systems and processes, digital twins provide valuable insights and improve decision-making processes.
Linked Data Event Streams can enrich digital twins in real-time. This leads to better decision-making and increased efficiency.
If you like what you read, be sure to ❤️ it — as a writer, it means the world. Stay in touch by following me as an author.
Contributors to this article are ddvlanck (Dwight Van Lancker) (github.com), sandervd (Sander Van Dooren) (github.com) at Smart Data Space (Digital Flanders). In a rapidly changing society, governments need to be more agile and resilient than ever. As a strategic partner, we realize and supervise digital transformation projects for Flemish and local governments.
