UK’s underground digital twin offers city benefits

The UK’s Geospatial Commission has launched the first phase of the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), a digital map that is expected to “revolutionise the way we install, maintain, operate and repair the pipes and cables buried beneath our feet.”

It aims to expedite projects like new roads, houses and broadband, and the deployment of infrastructure for electric vehicle charging and flood management.

Over four million holes are dug in the UK each year – many in the wrong place – and the annual economic cost of accidental utility damage is estimated at around £2.4 billion (US$2.98 billion). Unforeseen underground conditions are also a major obstacle to construction and housing p...