What Is a Venue Digital Twin?
A to-scale, living model of a venue. What it is, how venues use it to sell, and how planners use it to plan.
This post explains what a venue digital twin is and how it differs from a photo tour or a 3D model. It lists what a twin should hold and shows how venues sell with one and planners plan in one. It ends with six questions to ask any venue about its twin.
A venue digital twin is a to-scale model of a venue kept in step with the real building. It holds walls, exits, columns, rigging, power and capacities, measured and updated at a stated frequency. A photo tour shows what a room looks like. A twin tells you whether a layout fits in it. So venues use twins to sell, and planners use them to plan.
Tour, model or venue digital twin
The Digital Twin Consortium set the bar in December 2020. It defines a digital twin as "a virtual representation of real-world entities and processes, synchronized at a specified frequency and fidelity." In plain words, the copy must match the real thing, and you must know how often and how closely. Three different things are sold under the name.
- Built from. 360-degree photo tour: Panoramic photos. 3D model: Drawings or one survey. Digital twin: Drawings, scans or both.
- Measured for planning. 360-degree photo tour: Only if the venue says so. 3D model: Once. Digital twin: Yes, with stated accuracy.
- Kept up to date. 360-degree photo tour: When reshot. 3D model: Rarely. Digital twin: At a stated frequency.
- Best for. 360-degree photo tour: Showing the room. 3D model: Design reference. Digital twin: Planning in the room.
The three-way test checks whether it was measured, whether its accuracy is stated and whether its last update is dated. Three yeses make a twin. Anything less is a tour or a model, however good it looks.
Where the digital twin idea came from
Michael Grieves introduced the concept in 2002, in a University of Michigan presentation on product lifecycle management. He credits the name "digital twin" to John Vickers of NASA (Grieves and Vickers, 2017). Buildings followed with the Gemini Principles, published by the Centre for Digital Built Britain in December 2018. They set out nine principles, grouped under purpose, trust and function.
What is inside a venue digital twin
A twin worth planning in holds these ten things.
- floor geometry to scale, in stated units
- walls, columns, doors and exits, with clear widths
- ceiling heights, including the lowest point under beams and ducts
- rigging points and their safe working loads
- floor loading
- power and data points
- fixed seating
- capacities by configuration
- finishes and materials, for renders
- the date of the last survey
The method sets the accuracy. A twin built from CAD or BIM drawings is only as good as those drawings. It also depends on how closely the building still matches them. Laser scanning measures the room as built and produces a point cloud, which is millions of measured points. Photogrammetry builds geometry from overlapping photographs. Its accuracy depends on the photos and on reference measurements.
If all you have is a PDF, start with how to read a venue floor plan.
How venues use a digital twin to sell
Sales teams use twins for remote site visits. They also use them to compare rooms side by side and to show capacities for each setup. ICC Sydney is a public example. Its 360 Interactive Tour is built on Matterport capture, with an interface by Phoria. The venue presents it as one of the world's largest 3D digital twins. It lets organizers judge scale, room links and attendee flow before they visit (TTG Mice).
That is selling with a twin, which means showing the room. Planning in it is a different job. It needs measured geometry the planner can build on.
How planners use a venue digital twin
Planners use a twin to test a layout in the real room before the site visit. They check exits, columns and sightlines against the actual geometry. They show the client their own event in the room, so the client approves the room as it will be. Then they brief the crew from the same model the client approved.
The last two steps cut back-and-forth. A client who has seen the layout in the real room has fewer reasons to ask for another round. The crew builds what was signed.
Venue digital twins in Monet
Monet's venue digital twins show a planner's own layout in the room, to scale. The layout starts from a brief. It sits on a plan from Monet's library or on your own PDF or DWG upload, and it comes back in minutes. The same model gives 3D renders and walkthrough videos of the event in the real room. It also gives production-ready plans and elevations.
Layout checks re-run after every change. They cover exit clearance, temporary structures in the main walkway and crowd flow. They also cover noise on nearby booths, a carbon estimate per layout and spatial occupancy.
There are limits. Renders cannot be set to the view from one specific seat. Custom objects such as signs, ramps and props are not added.
Six questions to ask any venue about its digital twin
- Was it measured from drawings, a laser scan or photographs?
- When was it last updated?
- What accuracy is stated?
- Are exits, rigging points and power in it?
- Can I export the geometry?
- Can I place my own layout in it?
The twin that matters
A venue digital twin earns the name when a layout tested in it works in the room. Ask for the survey date before you trust the pictures.
Frequently asked questions
Is a 360-degree virtual tour a digital twin?
Only if it is measured for planning and kept up to date at a stated rate and accuracy. Many photo tours are great for showing a room. But they often come with no stated accuracy. So ask the venue what was measured, how, and when it was last checked.
How is a venue digital twin made?
There are three common ways. A twin can come from the venue's CAD or BIM drawings. It can come from a laser scan that makes a point cloud. Or it can come from photogrammetry, which builds geometry from photos. Many twins mix methods, and the venue should say which it used and when.
What is the difference between BIM and a digital twin?
BIM is a 3D model of a building that carries data, such as sizes and materials. It is usually made to design and build the building. A digital twin is a model kept in step with the building while it is in use. A venue's BIM model is often where its twin starts.
Can I see my own event layout in a venue's digital twin?
It depends on the platform. Many venue tours only show the empty room. Planning tools such as Monet place your own layout in the venue model to scale. Renders and drawings come from the same model, so the client sees the event in the real room.
To see your own layout inside a venue digital twin, to scale and in minutes, you can try Monet free on a plan from its library or on your own upload.