Digital twin technology-enabled real-time data of river water levels and quality on display in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. Korea Times file

Road maintenance and infrastructure renovation will be digitally managed and mediated by artificial intelligence (AI) and digital twin technologies to improve the accuracy of natural disaster predictability, the land ministry of South Korea said, Friday.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Gyeonggi Provincial Government and Gwangju Metropolitan City to establish standardized digital road registers for more effective and integrated statistics-based road maintenance platforms.

Anchoring the AI-powered administrative drive is digital twin technology.

The term digital twin refers to a virtual representation of a real-world physical system. It can serve as an indistinguishable digital counterpart of real world features for practical purposes such as running simulations, integration, testing, monitoring and maintenance, according to industry watchers.

The technology can help improve the accuracy of simulation models enabled by the fuller integration of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Also bolstered is the effective management of state resources, leading to an improvement in public safety and security, city planning, disaster prevention and capabilities to overcome environmental challenges.

Municipalities that signed the MOU with the ministry will provide an AI-run automatic pavement damage detection system whereby images taken from patrol vehicles are analyzed and sent to road repair authorities for immediate renovation planning.

The device-processed images will be cost-effective and accurate compared to work done by civil servants, the ministry said.

"We will strengthen the digitization system for fast repair and better-integrated management of roads and other key infrastructures, to bolster safer driving," it said.