Project Summary

The World Avatar (TWA) is an innovative digital ecosystem that utilises semantic knowledge graphs to connect data and software across different sectors. The project aims to integrate routing agents into TWA, which will operate under constraints. These agents will use semantic road network descriptions to simulate flooding events as road closures and evaluate their impact on routing. In situations of extreme weather, cascading failures can occur, which worsen delays when transport users switch to alternative routes or modes of transport that may also fail subsequently. This approach is ideal for modeling reactionary delays as it allows for the modelling and storage of asset connections. TWA could potentially capture transport network connectedness with Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) assets and energy networks in the future, particularly in cases where physical access during extreme weather is essential.

Project Achievements

Computational Modelling Cambridge Ltd (CMCL) Project Achievements: We successfully connected cross-sector datasets, and applied routing agents to answer relevant queries. We have connected the routing work to the other capabilities within The World Avatar, and have begun identifying potential areas for solution deployment in the future. We have had valuable engagements with high-level challenge owners, and look forward to building these relationships after the project’s conclusion. A particular highlight was a visit from Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge where we could exchange ideas on our work and transport challenges in the local area. Conclusions: We have upskilled our internal technical team when developing transport modelling and are exploring new tools to integrate into the digital ecosystem, further boosting its capabilities. We successfully perceived novel queries, as an initial step towards a complete routing offering as part of The World Avatar ecosystem marketplace. We learnt valuable lessons surrounding the accessibility of routing and traffic data, and have better positioned ourselves to breakout into this market. CMCL are contributors to The World Avatar, a digital ecosystem that aims to connect knowledge across sectors to improve the liveability and sustainability of our environment. CMCL have contributed to the technical development of CReDo, the Climate Resilience Demonstrator. It securely combines cross-sector data from the climate, power, water, telecoms and healthcare sectors through distributed architecture. Feedback from end users included a desire to see whether they could access sites that the tool highlighted as being potentially vulnerable. The inspiration for this project came from seeing how a lack of interoperability both within the transport sector and across other sectors was hindering innovation. A comparison of 2-minute isochrones from a hospital before and after a flood Project Summary Transport Resilience to Severe Weather and Flooding

Conclusions

Computational Modelling Cambridge Ltd (CMCL) Project Achievements: We successfully connected cross-sector datasets, and applied routing agents to answer relevant queries. We have connected the routing work to the other capabilities within The World Avatar, and have begun identifying potential areas for solution deployment in the future. We have had valuable engagements with high-level challenge owners, and look forward to building these relationships after the project’s conclusion. A particular highlight was a visit from Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge where we could exchange ideas on our work and transport challenges in the local area. Conclusions: We have upskilled our internal technical team when developing transport modelling and are exploring new tools to integrate into the digital ecosystem, further boosting its capabilities. We successfully perceived novel queries, as an initial step towards a complete routing offering as part of The World Avatar ecosystem marketplace. We learnt valuable lessons surrounding the accessibility of routing and traffic data, and have better positioned ourselves to breakout into this market. CMCL are contributors to The World Avatar, a digital ecosystem that aims to connect knowledge across sectors to improve the liveability and sustainability of our environment. CMCL have contributed to the technical development of CReDo, the Climate Resilience Demonstrator. It securely combines cross-sector data from the climate, power, water, telecoms and healthcare sectors through distributed architecture. Feedback from end users included a desire to see whether they could access sites that the tool highlighted as being potentially vulnerable. The inspiration for this project came from seeing how a lack of interoperability both within the transport sector and across other sectors was hindering innovation. A comparison of 2-minute isochrones from a hospital before and after a flood Project Summary Transport Resilience to Severe Weather and Flooding

Next Steps

The next steps for us are to build upon this demonstrator and connect with challenge owners across the UK. We are confident that we can leverage our experience across TRIG and other projects to identify challenge owners who would benefit from The World Avatar ecosystem and its new capabilities. The increased credibility within the Transport sector as a result of this project has been valuable, and we have already had high-level conversations with stakeholders across the country. A measure of success would be via a challenge owner integrating the tool into business-as-usual activities. We are aiming to initiate a small-scale project with a local government body, and we look forward to exploring opportunities with more groups across the sector.