Integrated Spatial Information Platform through BIM-Based Digital Twin

[2023 – 2024]

Developing a next-generation BIM-based digital twin that fuses building geometry, spatial acoustics, and semantic data for real-to-virtual integration.

Digital twin technology is gaining attention as a foundation for reproducing and utilizing physical space in cyberspace across the entire building lifecycle—from design and construction to operation and maintenance. At Tsukada Lab, we are advancing research on BIM-based Digital Twins, combining Building Information Modeling (BIM) with dynamic sensor data, spatial audio, and semantic metadata to build an integrated information platform.

In our work on building management, we designed a web-based digital twin platform that extends traditional BIM by incorporating real-time environmental updates. While BIM offers static geometry and semantic information, it lacks adaptability for dynamic indoor environments. Our system addresses this by enabling live updates, user-friendly visualization, and flexible data interaction. User evaluations highlighted its potential for supporting building operation and facility management.

Extending BIM-based digital twins into the audio domain, we implemented a 3D audio visualization system using AR on smartphones. By leveraging Visual Positioning System (VPS) for accurate localization, the system maps spatial audio sources into the real world and visualizes them in augmented space. This approach brings a novel dimension to BIM, incorporating spatialized sound into the built environment’s digital representation.

To support interoperability and reusability across diverse and heterogeneous data assets, we proposed a semantic metadata schema and implemented a viewer interface. This Semantic Digital Twin framework allows unified description of dynamic behaviors across entities such as building components and human movement. It significantly enhances the generality and interoperability of BIM-based digital twins, paving the way for future applications in smart buildings, infrastructure management, and metaverse-linked systems.

Publication

• Design of Digital Twin Architecture for 3D Audio Visualization in AR
  Takada, Tokio, Nakazato, Jin, Orsholits, Alex, Tsukada, Manabu, Ochiai, Hideya, Esaki, Hiroshi. The 2nd Annual IEEE International Conference on Metaverse Computing, Networking, and Applications (MetaCom 2024), Hong Kong, China, 2024 [Proceedings Article]BibTeX
• Web-Based BIM Platform for Building Digital Twin
  Furuta, Satoru, Nakazato, Jin, Tsukada, Manabu. 3rd Annual IEEE International Conference on Digital Twins and Parallel Intelligence (DTPI 2023), Florida, USA, 2023 [Proceedings Article]BibTeX
• Semantic Digital Twin for interoperability and comprehensive management of data assets
  Inokuchi, Kazuma, Nakazato, Jin, Tsukada, Manabu, Esaki, Hiroshi. IEEE International Conference on Metaverse Computing, Networking and Applications (IEEE MetaCom 2023), Kyoto, Japan, 2023 [Proceedings Article]BibTeX