“The technology that exists now to bring information to life in a 3D environment full of rich information, and the creativity with which it is being applied, is accelerating decision-making and analysis,” says Travis Brousseau, who leads JLL’s GIS (geographic information system) mapping capabilities across Australia and New Zealand.

Such is the momentum and possibility that even gaming and tech giants are getting in on the action.

Building information modelling (BIM) is one of the key tools used in digital mapping. While for many years it has provided construction professionals a collaborative and interactive way to plan, design and manage projects through a 3D building replica on screen, it is only more recently being adopted by the property industry in the shape of digital twins, which incorporate live building data into a digital replica.

Epic Games, the company behind the video game Fortnite, is providing grants for technology companies to integrate its Unreal Engine’s visualisation technology into their digital twin platforms. The overall aim is to diversify its revenue, while shaking up the construction, real estate and design sectors with its video-game-quality visualisation.

Computer and cloud behemoth IBM teamed with JLL to create the advanced digital twin platform Prism. The product was developed to support one of the largest digitisation projects in the world: capturing the status of a 48-building mixed-use development in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and aid the transfer of information into the operations stage.

“When you’re dealing with property sizes of several million square metres, it’s difficult to envision them with any real precision,” explains Ben Jackson, JLL’s head of project and development services at JLL Middle East and North Africa, of the decision to map the precinct digitally.

“Data is at different sites and in different systems and by the time you pull it all together into a single report, it’s already outdated.”