Accuracy in Digital Twinning: an exploration based on asset location

Digital twins usually aim to develop a correct, encompassing, and well-aligned representation of any reality under consideration. However, digital twins can impossibly mimic actuality exactly; hence, it is essential to identify and find ways to deal with the inaccuracies involved in delineating an object/aspect system in the real world for the different perspectives involved. From a digital twinning approach, it is explored what the notion accuracy entails in asset loca(lisa)tion and in the digital models involved. Here, the overarching approach is to re-interpret the role that data and accuracy play – from a pervasive need for (more) detail, to instruments in purposeful decision making. This implies that the focus moves from achievable accuracy to required accuracy, allowing for different means to deal with accuracy and data resolution. An approach based on octrees demonstrates this, to stress that ‘more data is not always better’.