Tasmania is on a ‘ground-mapping’ mission to help save lives, save
money and improve planning.
In an Australian first, the whole of Tasmania will be digitally mapped
from the air, to a detail never previously imagined.
The life-scale 4D map (known as Digital Twin) can be used to help
prevent and respond to natural disasters (eg. bushfires and flooding),
guide remote rescue missions, and ensure new infrastructure and
developments end up in the right location at the best price.
Virtual Tas director, Kelly Walker, said Digital Twin will use aircraft laser
scanning annually over the next 10 years to create and enhance the
Digital Twin.
“This is about helping to build a better Tasmania, protecting and
saving lives and working smarter” Ms Walker said.
“It’s about Tasmanians having the best data models in Australia for
preventing and tackling natural disasters, safely exploring our island,
and building more efficiently.
“In recent years, we’ve seen the devastating impact of fire and flood
across Australia. The kind of detailed 4D models achieved by Virtual
Tas will become a key weapon in how we prevent, plan, rescue and
fight back into the future,” she said.
Virtual Tas director Ian McLeod, said Digital Twin will use
annually-captured Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), as well as
weather, land and enterprise data to update the model in real time.
“This has practical application for asset management, risk and defect
management, vegetation management, network design, measuring
under clearances, and job scoping,” Mr McLeod said.
“This technology has been used for specific purposes within Australia
and worldwide, but this will be the first time a whole state has been
captured at such high resolution for the specific purposes of
supplying high quality data and services across multiple business
sectors enabling greater cross sector collaboration. Digital Twin again
shows Tasmania can lead the way in technology and innovation,” he
said.
Digital Twin will be the flagship product of Virtual TAS – a new
joint-venture between the Tasmanian IT business, 42-24, and
knowledge and technology company, Enzen. It’s expected to deliver
between $160m to $320m of benefits to Tasmania over the next
decade.
The Virtual TAS project will support other initiatives, such as the $2.6m
Disaster SMART Tasmanian Communities project which is being
funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Agency’s Preparing
Australian Communities funding program. This project will deliver
greater community and infrastructure resiliency to bushfires and
floods.