Location Digital Twins for National Mapping Agencies

The term Digital Twins ("DTs") is commonly used to describe a digital representation of a physical object or system where the digital and physical are connected. This connection facilitates timely interventions and better outcomes from decision-making (Sharp, 2022). National Mapping Cadastral

Agencies ("NMCAs") are responsible for the creation and management of national mapping data which provides location context to digital twins. However, there remains a lack of understanding of how location experts, such as NMCAs, and the data they hold can fully engage with digital twin initiatives (Ellul et al., 2022).

It is widely believed that NMCAs are well placed to address DT-shaped problems, as the primary issues are inherently the same as in the Geospatial domain. For example, how to spatially represent the physical world, the ability to integrate data from diverse sources and building a data infrastructure that is interoperable

(EuroSDR, 2022). Despite this, the challenges of dynamic data and lack of standards are highlighted by NMCAs as barriers to realising their value or the opportunities within DT initiatives (Ellul et al., 2022). This research will seek to bring clarity to the role of NMCAs in the development of digital twins across all scales. It will review the development of digital twins such as

the National Digital Twin Programme in the UK (Centre for Digital Built Britain, 2018), and examples in Europe to understand the existence or non-existence of "location-awareness" and propose new approaches to model and measure the value of geospatial data in digital twins. Objectives: 1. Define the main components of a Location Digital Twin

2. Propose an approach to model, measure and adapt the Data Value Chain for Digital Twins 3. Define the value of connecting digital twins from domains Proposed Methodologies This research project will use a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches to better understand the role of NMCAs and their data in DT initiatives.

These approaches will uncover the opportunities and challenges for NMCAs in DT initiatives as well as using quantitative value modelling to define an appropriate data value chain for Digital Twins. Technical developments will be undertaken as appropriate to prove concepts and test hypotheses