Opinion
Digital twins: the case for open-source In order to achieve sustainable infrastructure digital twins, it is imperative that you build your systems around open-source technology so the keys to your destiny remain in your hands, writes Keith Bentley, founder and CTO, Bentley Systems
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digital twin is a realistic and dynamic digital representation of a physical asset, process, or system in the built or natural environment. As was the case with BIM nearly 20 years ago, digital twins are now reshaping the built world in terms of how infrastructure is designed, constructed, and operated. The industry has always faced challenges managing the volume and variety of data, as well as the varied ways it changes over time. This can be overwhelming for infrastructure professionals, whether their specialty is in project delivery or in operations. The advent of digital twins has helped the industry advance existing BIMcentric processes by improving data quality and accessibility. Importantly, infrastructure digital twins can be achieved “in place,” without having to disrupt or replace existing workflows or systems. Regardless of infrastructure type, over time the digital twin of an asset or a project will become both its lifeblood and its central nervous system. That is — it’s going to be really valuable. We believe that to achieve sustainable infrastructure digital twins, it is imperative that you build your systems around open-source technology so the keys to your destiny remain in your hands. You are not going to “buy” your digital twins from a single vendor. Instead, you’re going to assemble, build, customise, and evolve your twin from pieces from many vendors, the mix of which will change over time. Each of them will tell you how “open” they are. Only those who are open sourced (meaning you have the ability to use your digital twin 24
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and the source code that powers it without a fee) really mean it.
form that is relevant for many different use cases. Our platform handles some important and difficult tasks such as perBuilding the foundation for iTwin.js sistence, visualisation, scalability, securiWhen we announced iTwin.js, we ty, and interoperability. Of course, your described that the foundadigital twins will have diftion upon which it is built is ferent mixes of data sourcthe most open, productive, es and features depending intuitive, and powerful on the type of asset. development environment The goal of an open platfor capital projects and form is to allow anyone infrastructure assets, ever. working on one aspect to The iTwin.js library easily combine their efforts (itwinjs.org) is a comprewith people working on hensive collection of other aspects. That means JavaScript packages that the whole thing doesn’t build on the most open, need to be written all at popular, and flexible stanonce and from one vendor. dards for modern cloud and In the software world You are not web development. Though there are many data going to “buy” it can be used from any prosources. An open platform your digital gramming language, it is helps us to combine everytwins from a written in TypeScript (my thing we use with little favourite programming effort. A good infrastrucsingle vendor. environment ever, by far) Instead, you’re ture digital twin platform and leverages open technolshould do the same. going to ogies including SQLite, By building your platassemble, build, form on open-source techNode.js, NPM, WebGL, Electron, Docker, customise, and nology, you provide your Kubernetes, and of course and others who will evolve your twin users, HTML5 and CSS. The same extend the platform, with codebase can produce cloud from pieces from the ability to change it. services and web, mobile, many vendors, They can copy the proand desktop applications. the mix of which gram source and access The source code is hosted their data without paying will change on GitHub and is distributed a licence. over time under the MIT licence. (N.B. An open-source stratefull disclosure – there is a gy has worked extremely native Node.js module that well in other industries, Bentley builds and distributes via NPM but it has yet to be fully adopted in engifor each platform. It is not open source but neering, BIM, or CAD. The reason is that is delivered with a right-to-run). there has not been a meaningful platform By leveraging these open technologies, open enough to allow people to layer on we have created the Bentley iTwin plat- it, and even enable competitors to create
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02/10/2021 15:57
