New digital tool for Sydney homeowners and developers provides easy planning

Imagine a virtual model of a real city where you can plonk a proposed renovation next door to your home and see the impact it will have on your sunlight.

Or if you want to put a new kitchen into your home, you can see exactly how it will fit.

The cost? It's free.

The NSW government's Spatial Digital Twin will soon provide a 4D model for the entire state after receiving a $40 million funding injection from the NSW Digital Restart Fund.

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Digital and Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello said the technology is an evolutionary leap in shaping communities and boosting productivity, allowing customers, developers and planners to see into the future.

"This digital architecture makes it possible to visualise a development digitally before it is physically built, making it easier to plan and predict outcomes of infrastructure projects, right down to viewing how shadows fall, or how much traffic is in an area," Mr Dominello said.

"In the last 12 months, the Spatial Digital Twin has received 18 million requests for access to 3D datasets.

"We are creating a digitally cutting-edge state that will benefit from all the productivity advantages and job creation this technology brings."

The Spatial Digital Twin brings together data sources from across government, including spatial, natural resources and planning, and integrates it with real-time feeds from sensors to provide insights for planners, designers and decision-makers across industry and government.

At the moment, the twin hosts a virtual representation of eight high-growth council areas: Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Liverpool, Penrith and Wollondilly.

Next, it will be rolled out to the rest of metropolitan Sydney and across the state over the next two years.

"By boosting access to the Spatial Digital Twin through smartphones and tablets, the NSW Government is making it easier for customers to collaborate and gain planning information about their streets, neighbourhoods and communities," Mr Dominello said.

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This has been done in conjunction with the CSIRO's data and digital research team, Data61.

Dr Laurence Troy, a lecturer in urbanism at Sydney University's School of Architecture Design and Planning, agreed such tools are useful in helping people understand how development could affect their community or neighbourhood.

But he warned there are other concerns.

"One of the biggest fears or anxieties at the minute is the actual outcome of the buildings and making sure they are of high quality," Dr Troy said.

"And you know what you're walking into when you walk into a new apartment.

"That there's not going to be major defective issues and that's a very live issue at the moment in NSW."

Asked if access would result in more objections and delays to development applications, Mr Dominello said information is power and the technology would make planning faster, more accurate and more efficient.

He said the digital twin would help with decisions such as where to put a crane on a building site and help mums and dads picture suburban renovations.

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The Spatial Digital Twin forms part of the newly launched Live.NSW program, which will create new avenues for residents to access data.

The $40 million investment in the Live.NSW program will include the development of a new customer platform early next year to deliver a simplified user experience that allows the community to search for information based on their needs and places of interest.

It will bring information together to inform people about local schools or a proposed hospital, creating a snapshot of what exists and what is planned.

"Now, no matter where you are in the State, Live.NSW will make it easy for the community to see infrastructure and its impact before it's built and ensure new projects keep the community at their heart," Mr Dominello said.

$2.1 billion will be invested over four years into digital transformation projects through the Digital Restart Fund.

More info on the Spatial Digital Twin is available on their website.