Digital Twins
RO-Crate is used to describe digital twins in a number of projects studying earth systems and biodiversity. These include DT-GEO, BioDT, EDITO-infra, and Destination Earth.
DT-GEO
A Digital Twin for GEOphysical extremes (DT-GEO) is a European project that aims to analyse and forecast the impact of tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, and anthropogenic seismicity.
RO-Crate has two uses in DT-GEO.
The first use is generating the metadata of experiments that are run using COMPSs. This is directly supported in COMPSs, so the Digital Twin Components (DTCs) that use COMPSs in their implementation are able to automatically generate metadata with RO-Crates following the Workflow Run Crate profile.
The second use will be an integration of RO-Crate in the EPOS metadata schema to describe prospective provenance of workflows (i.e. the plan for a workflow execution before it happens), which will also be used by DT-GEO. EPOS mainly uses DCAT and CERIF metadata formats to describe the digital assets of type datasets and software (code + services), and uses Common Workflow Language plus RO-Crate for the abstract representation of workflows.
Resources
- DT-GEO WorkflowHub team
- EOSC and the Digital Twins session at EOSC Symposium 2024
- DT-GEO slides: A Digital Twin for GEOphysical Extremes
BioDT
The Biodiversity Digital Twin (BioDT) project provides advanced models for simulation and prediction of biodiversity dynamics. It provides insights and tools for conservation and restoration efforts.
RO-Crate is used in BioDT to create FAIR exports of workflow executions, as well as describing workflows uploaded to WorkflowHub. In particular, the prototype digital twin for Crop Wild Relatives exports workflow executions to the Destination Earth Data Lake.
Resources
- BioDT WorkflowHub space
- Example Workflow Run Crate for Crop Wild Relatives pDT (and corresponding workflow)
- Practical web-based FDOs with RO-Crate and FAIR Signposting: Training material featuring a demonstration of RO-Crate and FAIR Signposting in biodiversity
- BioDT - FAIR: Examples, resources, and other materials related to FAIR in BioDT
- Bridging Data Standards and FAIR Principles in biodiversity digital twinning: Prototyping, Challenges, Lessons Learned, and Future Plans: talk recording by Sharif Islam
- DestinE User eXchange Day 1: Agriculture and biodiversity: Talk recording by Claus Weiland on BioDT’s use of DestinE
- EOSC and the Digital Twins session at EOSC Symposium 2024
- BioDT publications relevant to RO-Crate
EDITO-Infra
The EDITO-Infra project is building the public infrastructure for the EU Digital Twin of the Ocean (EDITO). EDITO is using the Autosubmit workflow manager, which can export Workflow Run Crates.
Resources
- Unifying EDITO-MODELLAB and EDITO-Infra for a seamless virtual environment
- EOSC and the Digital Twins session at EOSC Symposium 2024
- EDITO-Infra slides: EPSC and Digital Twins, DestinE+DTO: Iliad, AquaINFRA, DTO-BioFlow, EDITO
Destination Earth
Destination Earth (DestinE) is developing a highly-accurate digital twin of the Earth to model, monitor and simulate natural phenomena, hazards and the related human activities.
DestinE’s Digital Twin Engine uses the Autosubmit workflow manager to orchestrate the Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin. Autosubmit can export Workflow Run Crates.
Resources
- DestinE User eXchange Day 1: Agriculture and biodiversity: Talk recording by Claus Weiland on BioDT’s use of DestinE
EOSC and the Digital Twins session at EOSC Symposium 2024
- Destination Earth slides: Destination Earth: A novel information system for a resilient society
Publications on Digital Twins and RO-Crate
BioDT publications
Jonas Grieb, Claus Weiland, Alexander Wolodkin, Julian Lopez Gordillo, Sharif Islam (2025):
Implementing FAIR Semantic Mappings Leveraging on RO-Crate
International FAIR Digital Objects Implementation Summit 2024, Berlin, Germany, 2024-03-20/–21.
Open Conference Proceedings 5
https://doi.org/10.52825/ocp.v5i.1179
Julian Lopez Gordillo, Sharif Islam (2025):
FDO As an Interoperability Framework for the Biodiversity Digital Twin Project
International FAIR Digital Objects Implementation Summit 2024, Berlin, Germany, 2024-03-20/–21.
Open Conference Proceedings 5
https://doi.org/10.52825/ocp.v5i.1190
Claus Weiland, Daniel Bauer, Erik Kusch, Desalegn Chala, Dag Endresen (2025):
Crop Wild Relatives and Destination Earth : Benefits and Lessons Learned
BioDT final conference, 2025-04-02/–03, Rome, Italy
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15322593
Leyla Jael Castro, Stian Soiland-Reyes, Jonas Grieb, Claus Weiland (2024):
Practical Web-based FDOs with RO-Crate and FAIR Signposting
Training material presented at International FAIR Digital Objects Implementation Summit 2024, 2024-03-19, Berlin, Germany.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10892090
Souza, Jussi Talaskivi, Gleb Tikhonov, Aurélie Vancraeyenest, Ari Lehtiö (2024):
Prototype Biodiversity Digital Twin: Real-time bird monitoring with citizen-science data.
Research Ideas and Outcomes 10:e125523
https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.10.e125523
Simon Rolph, Chris Andrews, Dylan Carbone, Julian Lopez Lopez Gordillo, Tomáš Martinovič, Nick Oostervink, Dirk Pleiter, Kata Sara-aho, John Watkins, Christoph Wohner, Will Bolton, Jan Dick (2024):
Prototype Digital Twin: Recreation and biodiversity cultural ecosystem services.
Research Ideas and Outcomes 10:e125450
https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.10.e125450
Desalegn Chala, Erik Kusch, Claus Weiland, Carrie Andrew, Jonas Grieb, Tuomas Rossi, Tomas Martinovic, Dag Endresen (2024):
Prototype Biodiversity Digital Twin: Crop Wild Relatives Genetic Resources for Food Security
Research Ideas and Outcomes 10:e125192
https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.10.e125192
Jonas Grieb, Claus Weiland, Alexander Wolodkin, Leyla Jael Castro, Stian Soiland-Reyes, Maya Beukes, Martin Jansen (2024):
Using Webby FDOs to Integrate AI Taxon Identification and Citizen Science
Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 8:e134757
https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.8.134757
Claus Weiland, Jonas Grieb, Daniel Bauer, Desalegn Chala, Erik Kusch, Carrie Andrew, Dag Endresen (2024):
Dataspace Integration for Agrobiodiversity Digital Twins with RO-Crate
Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 8:e134479
https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.8.134479
Tomáš Martinovič, Kata Sara-aho, Ondrej Salamon, Simon Rolph, Allan T Souza (2024):
Graphical User Interface for Biodiversity Digital Twins: Data Challenges
Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 8:e135092
https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.8.135092
Sharif Islam, Julian Lopez Gordillo, Dag Endresen, Carrie Andrew (2024):
Bridging Data Standards and FAIR Principles in Biodiversity Digital Twinning: Prototyping, Challenges, Lessons Learned, and Future Plans
Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 8:133089
https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.8.133089