Digital Twin Technology in Geospatial Science: Trends, Applications and Challenges

This book explores utilization of digital twin technology and geospatial science for the digital transformation of urban planning, environmental monitoring, infrastructure, and disaster response using a series of present tools of data collection and applications. It covers transformational impact of digital twins, from their origin to their real-time applications in various domains. It presents real-time case studies focusing on real-world outcomes while addressing the potential risks. It also covers challenging issues related to geospatial twin technology and its solutions to handle relevant challenges. This book comprises several chapters that provide an overview of basic concepts from historical background and architecture twin technology with geospatial data, highlighting its capabilities for modeling, simulation, and optimizing complex systems. It also investigates the technical and ethical barriers to the widespread adoption of digital twin technology in geospatial science. It is a valuable source for students, engineers, professionals, researchers as well as organizations.

Dr. Lavanya Sharma earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Uttarakhand Technical University, India, in 2018, specializing in Digital Image Processing and Computer Vision, and her M.Tech in Computer Science in 2013 from MDU Rohtak. She is currently an Assistant Professor grade III in the Department of Information Technology, Research & Innovation at New Delhi Institute of Management, Delhi. A certified professional with over 20 certifications, including from ISRO, her research focuses on computer vision, motion-based object detection, and smart video surveillance. She has authored and edited 8 books, published over 90 research articles, and holds 8 patents in Computer Vision, Image Processing, Machine Learning, and Medical Imaging. Dr. Sharma has received several academic awards and has contributed extensively as a conference chair, reviewer, and academic leader, with research interests in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, IoT, Remote Sensing, and GIS, and a vision to advance teaching and research for societal development.

Prof. P K Garg worked as a Vice Chancellor, Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun (2015-2018). Presently, he is working in the department of Civil Engineering, IIT Roorkee as Emeritus Professor. He has completed B.Tech (Civil Engg.) in 1980 and M.Tech (Civil Engg) in 1982 both from the University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee). He is a recipient of Gold Medal at IIT Roorkee to stand first during M.Tech programme, Commonwealth Scholarship Award for doing Ph.D. from the University of Bristol (UK), and Commonwealth Fellowship Award to carry out post-doctoral research work at University of Reading (UK). He joined the Department of Civil Engg at IIT Roorkee in 1982, and gradually advancing his career, rose to the position of Head of the Department in 2015 at IIT Roorkee.

Prof. Martin Kappas received his PhD in Environmental Sciences/Climatology from the University of Mannheim in 1993. After his PhD  Martin started a six year running “habilitation” program at the University of Mannheim to obtain the international “venia legendi” for Geography in 1998. Since 2000 Martin has been a University Professor of Geography and the head of the Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing Section of the Georg-August University of Göttingen. His Remote Sensing laboratory is a full member of EARSeL (European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories) and takes part as active member of DGPF (German Society of Geoinformation. Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing). His research interests are broad and include topics such as landscape evaluation using techniques of Geoinformatics and ground truth data collection (e.g. field spectrometry). His main research theme is the use of remote sensing and GIS to study land cover / land use change dynamics.