The HAS Green Academy and Tygron have entered into a partnership to provide education about digital twins, specifically aimed at the living environment. These digital replicas are becoming increasingly important in spatial planning, helping to analyze and visualize areas based on GIS data. Construction plans can be entered and their impact immediately calculated.
This technological progress requires a new working methodology. In this partnership, both students and professionals will be trained to master this approach. The collaboration therefore includes both vocational training and regular education at HAS.
Vocational training: From GIS to Digital Twin
Professionals can take special courses on creating and using Digital Twins. Monique Schoofs, Senior Business Training Advisor at HAS Green Academy for professionals, sees many opportunities in the collaboration with the business training courses that HAS offers: “HAS Green Academy offers various courses and programs in the geo-field. The Digital Twin is a relevant and current topic. Policy makers and administrators want to be able to make decisions based on current geo-information.”
The HAS and Tygron have developed a course for GIS professionals. Monique: “GIS employees can use Tygron to calculate existing and future plans to demonstrate and explain the impact of these scenarios. This offers added value for both GIS employees and policy officers and administrators. That is why it is a logical step to develop the course together with Tygron.”
More information about the courses can be found on the HAS website: https://www.has.nl/bedrijfsopleidingen/cursus-van-gis-data-naar-een-digital-twin/
HBO Applied Geo-Information Science course is receiving more attention for Digital Twins.
For regular students, the partnership includes knowledge sharing, guest lectures and internships within the field of digital twins. In addition, from the 2024-2025 academic year, the Tygron Platform will become a permanent part of the four-year Applied Geo-Information Science course, where the use of spatial data for social issues is central. Through the Tygron Platform, students are given the opportunity to conduct complex spatial analyzes on themes such as climate, housing, nature and the environment.
According to Erik Dietvorst, Senior Lecturer in Applied Geo-Information Science at the HAS Green Academy, the students are enthusiastic about the collaboration. “In the beginning, they have to get used to the platform with their GIS knowledge. But once they master the basics, things flow smoothly. Initially, it is the visual aspect that appeals to them, later also the possibilities to integrally calculate the impact of spatial interventions. The available models, computing power and the design of complex analyses make Tygron an added value for our AGIS education. And, not unimportantly, it comes much closer to the experience of this generation.”
Under the hood
Maurits Dorlandt, Lecturer & Relation Manager Applied Geo-Information Science at the HAS Green Academy, also sees many advantages in the new partnership. “The added value is further enhanced by the possibilities to calculate different scenarios and view the outcomes through the lenses of different stakeholders. This opens the eyes of students who are still exploring these perspectives. And it teaches them that they have to look critically under the hood, otherwise they cannot explain what they have done. This technology is necessary to meet the challenges of tomorrow.”
Since its founding in 2005, Tygron has always paid a lot of attention to collaboration with education. General Manager Florian Witsenburg emphasizes the importance of learning to use technology at an early stage. “The way of working in governments and companies is mainly focused on departments. We see that a new generation of professionals is needed to make these different islands within organizations work truly integrated. That is why it is so important for us to work together with education to ensure that the professionals of the future are trained in the technology of the future.”
Supercomputer
The Tygon Platform has been developed to integrate and analyze large amounts of data. For this purpose it uses supercomputers with the same underlying technology as, for example, ChatGPT. Florian Witsenburg: “The Tygron Platform has been specially developed to carry out large spatial analyses. And it works, our platform is used in more than twenty countries and more than 30,000 projects run on it. And why not? Who wouldn’t want to work directly on a supercomputer?”
Maurits Dorlandt emphasizes the power of visualization within the Tygron Platform. “You can now really make the world very transparent for the people you want to participate. And generalists who have to make decisions without domain-specific knowledge can see and feel the effects at a glance. In short, I can finally explain to my councilor the urgency of this policy!”
Logical choice
Erik Dietvorst foresees an even broader use of the Tygron Platform in education. “As a program, we want to continue to innovate to prepare our students for the future. We see that Tygron is increasingly being used in the geo-working field, which is why this is a logical choice. In addition to students in the Applied Geo-Information Science course, the HAS Green Academy will also offer the Tygon Platform for other relevant vocational courses.”
