Tech. For Good

The untapped data gold mine from the low-earth orbit

Digital elevation models (DEMs) are terrain maps of the earth's surface captured by satellites in the low-earth orbit. The ubiquity of satellites make it possible for operators to capture images of any part of the planet, at any time of day while accounting for cloudy, foggy, rainy, and showy conditions, post-process those images and provide them to us for free for a resolution of 10m (and a few thousand Rupees for 1m resolution per square kilometre).

For the uninitiated, DEMs are a treasure-trove of data, they provide information like terrain elevation, land cover (forest, desert, snow, etc.), land use (human infrastructure like buildings, roads, etc.), and extrapolated data like direction of air/water flow. DEM data creates a strong foundation to build digital twins for categories like public infrastructure, industrial complex, energy, transport, and communication sectors.

Adding a layer of DEM on Fabrik's Digital Twins unlocks new information that was previously in silos, with limited access to a few experts.

Making accessible geospatial digital twins

The solution is an aggregation of data sources layered on DEMs to create a geospatial digital twin with the context of infrastructure of interest, for e.g., traffic intersections, hydrology maps, etc. Our solutions are used by ground/operations teams for daily activities and hence it is designed for access at scale with dynamic updates. The solution takes inputs from multiple sources and as close to real-time as needed by the solution to update information on the digital twin.

There are many applications in areas of public infrastructure. Here are three that are close to our hearts.

1. 360 audits for roads - a simple and effective solution to audit road infrastructure using a 360 camera and Fabrik digital twin solution. The app brings all stakeholders together, track progress, and establish accountability on assigned jobs. A typical audit contains many kilometres of roads and hundreds of comments made at various points of audit. These are kept track with handwritten notes (since it's a physical job with a lot of movement) and photos on smartphones. And most of these points are not addressed or fall through the cracks given the volume of data generated. Fabrik effectively creates digital twins of sensitive points on roads to ensure quality and safety of roads are maintained.
2. Grassroot traffic simulation at intersections - while we have Google Maps to tell us traffic density while driving, this is just one data point. There are many more like cycle time of traffic lights, surveillance feeds, and quality of roads/encroachment that determines the actual speed of traffic movement. Fabrik's digital twins for intersections capture these data points in addition to traffic density to create an lightweight accessible twin for traffic management teams on the ground get visibility on adjacent intersections and take effective action to ease congestion or ensure smooth traffic movement.
3. Flood maps with open source data - flood/hydrology maps are necessary to determine the likelihood of a neighbourhood getting inundated during a given rainy day. Given this power to municipal authorities, better interventions are made. There is enough data available to determine the likelihood and the quantum of flooding for a given area in the grid and we are presently piloting this solution for Bangalore city. Follow us for updates.