Wellington to develop underground digital twin

Wellington City Council in New Zealand has given approval for an initiative to create a digital map of buried infrastructure such as water assets, telecommunications cables and gas pipes

Moving away from legacy records and paper processes to a centralised and updateable digital map aims to increase safety for crews, improve certainty for planning, and reduce disruption related to installation, maintenance and repairs.

The Wellington Underground Asset Map (WUAM) programme “could be the start of a long journey towards a digital twin of the infrastructure under the city’s streets,” a statement from the city said.

The goal is to build a system and supporting compliance policies that can be scaled up for the whole of New Zealand.

Siobhan Procter, Wellington City Council’s Chief Infrastructure Officer, said that over the next few decades, billions of dollars will be invested in projects related to water, electricity, transport and cycleways, and capital projects such as housing developments and major upgrades to the Matapihi Central Library.

“We are embarking on an ambitious infrastructure construction programme with 30 years of development taking place over the next decade,” she commented.

“The Wellington Underground Asset Map will play a central role in making sure the variety of projects remain on track – reducing the impact on Wellingtonians and helping the city continue to function as we focus on making the city a great place to live, work and play.”

Fragmentation

Currently, there is no central record system for the infrastructure underneath Wellington’s – or New Zealand’s – streets. Data is held in the separate utility companies’ databases, all of which keep data in different formats to meet their individual needs.

“With data compiled manually for each job it is difficult to have a thorough understanding of the assets beneath the streets. Records from older pipes and cables are often missing or incomplete,” the city said.

The WUAM programme will develop a federated data-sharing platform showing subsurface infrastructure owned by the council and other utility operators. These users will feed their data into the platform, making it accessible to those who need it at any time.

Funding

There are similar platforms elsewhere in the world, such as the UK’s recently launched National Underground Asset Register and Scotland’s Vault system, as well as systems in Singapore and some states in the United States.

“This is a highly complex project that will require active participation from across the sector,” said Procter. “While we have the regulatory powers to make it happen, we will work collaboratively with the sector to bring about change.”

The WUAM project is funded through NZ$4 million (US$2.4 million) from the Department of Internal Affairs as part of the government’s Three Waters Better Off Funding.

The Three Waters Better Off Funding has been designated for projects focusing on climate transition, community wellbeing, or infrastructure and services projects that support the community.