Hemsö continues to develop its digital copy of the property portfolio, which now includes both buildings and outdoor environments. We had a chat with Anna Ågren, digitalisation leader, and Anders Lahti, technology developer, to gain a better understanding of how digital mapping of outdoor environments enables better planning and maintenance at the property company.

"There are many benefits to having the outdoor environments mapped in the digital twin, both for management and for us as a company," says Anders Lahti. 

So far, a total of 261 of Hemsö's buildings have been digitised in Vyers' platform (approximately 1.3 million square meters) which is now used by more than 450 employees in operations and management. 

Currently, they are focusing, among other things, on developing the digital copies by mapping outdoor areas in the properties to facilitate the maintenance of the outdoor environment. 

"It has been a wish from management for a long time. In certain regions, we have drone images that can be transformed so we can directly input outdoor areas into the digital twin. What we are missing, we can then mark out ourselves in Vyer," says Anna Ågren. 

Precision in procurement and maintenance

The mapping of outdoor environments is more than just a visual overview. It provides property owners and managers with exact figures and details about the areas that facilitate procurement and planning.

What is important for you to know regarding outdoor environments? 

"Firstly, it is important for us to be able to see square meters to achieve a more accurate pricing if we are going to procure a new contractor for outdoor environments. Then we want to know how much area of different materials is involved, as they require different types of maintenance," says Anna Ågren. 

"Procurements are expensive for management to carry out, so having these documents with square meters and surface layers greatly facilitates the dialogue and saves time and money."

How does this contribute to streamlining processes in management?

"Knowing exactly how many square meters of hard surfaces or grass areas there are will minimise costs in operational procurements for outdoor environments. Procurements are costly for management to conduct, so having these documents with square meters and surface layers greatly facilitates the dialogue and saves time and money," says Anders Lahti. 

Another practical advantage is the ability to quickly update snow removal maps.

"With the digital twin, we can quickly update where we have different surfaces and give clear instructions to those who will clear the snow. This saves both time and resources," adds Lahti.

Integration with maintenance systems

Hemsö is also actively working to integrate the data collected in Vyers' platform with other systems to extract maximum benefit.

"It is very important that we keep track of these digital twins in the future. Vyer will be our gathering place for drawings, components, and surfaces,  and we will also use that data in other programs and systems in various ways," says Anders Lahti.

Among other things, the information is linked to a specialised maintenance system to enable more accurate calculations for future maintenance at Hemsö.

"We get better data for maintenance planning when we know exactly what it looks like and can set a time frame and a cost for the work to be carried out. For example, if we know the size of an asphalt surface, we can easily calculate what it will cost to redo it in ten years," says Anna Ågren. 

"The big win for us as a company is that we will become data-driven. We will be able to analyze data in our data lake in a completely different way and make good decisions based on the right data," concludes Anders Lahti. 

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