Binding Sensors and Colors

Bind sensors to Digital Building Twin objects and define color rules — turn a 3D drawing into a live operational view.

This is the step that makes a Digital Building Twin worth building. Up to now the model is a 3D drawing of a facility. Binding sensors turns it into a live operational view: a sensor reads "occupied" and the desk it's bound to turns red; a probe reports 14 °C and the cold store it's bound to turns from green to amber.

A binding connects one sensor reading to one or more objects in the model, plus a set of color rules that decide what color those objects show at any given value. This page covers building that connection.

Opening the Sensors panel

On the bottom toolbar, click Sensors. The Sensors panel opens, headed Source. This is where every binding is configured.

The Sensors panel open on the right of the editor, headed Source, with Add datasource and the GPS Anchors section

Step 1 — Add a data source

A data source is a device.

Click Add datasource. A new data-source card appears.
Click Choose device and pick the device whose readings you want to use.
The card now shows the device name. Add as many data sources as you need — one per device.

Step 2 — Add a metric

Each data source exposes the device's individual sensor readings as metrics.

On the data-source card, click Add metric.
In the Device metric dropdown, choose the reading you want — temperature, occupancy, fill level, status, and so on.
Repeat to add more metrics from the same device.

Each metric is one binding. A device with a temperature sensor and an occupancy sensor gives you two metrics, and you bind each to different objects.

Step 3 — Bind the metric to objects

On the metric, click Configure. The metric enters binding mode and its editor expands.
The editor shows the prompt Click objects on the scene to bind them.
Click any object in the 3D model — a desk, a parking spot, an AC unit, a wall, a whole floor zone. Each object you click is added to this metric, and appears in the editor's Bound list.
Bind as many objects as the reading should drive. To unbind one, remove it from the Bound list.
When you're done, click Done.

One metric can drive several objects at once — bind a single zone-temperature sensor to every desk in that zone and they all recolor together. The metric's Bound count shows how many objects it currently drives.

Step 4 — Define the colors

A binding's editor carries the color rules. Two things control what an object shows:

Default color — the color used when no condition matches. Set it with the color picker in the binding editor.
Conditions — the rules that map readings to colors. Click Add condition to create one. Each condition has:
- a color,
- a Name (a label like "Occupied," "Breach," "Warning"),
- a Data type — Number, String, or Boolean,
- and a value test that depends on the type:
  - Number — a From / To range. The condition matches when the reading falls inside it.
  - String — a single Value. The condition matches when the reading equals it exactly.
  - Boolean — a True / False setting. The condition matches when the reading matches it.

Conditions are evaluated in order, and the first one that matches wins. If none match, the object shows the default color. This is the same conditional-color system used by the Last Data, Chart, and Image widgets — see Conditions for the full reference.

Step 5 — Test it

A binding's editor includes a Value slider. When the bound sensor isn't sending live data yet, drag the slider and watch the bound objects recolor in real time — it's the fastest way to confirm your conditions before the model goes on a dashboard. Once the device is reporting, the binding shows the real Current value and the model reflects live readings.

Worked examples

Parking availability. Bind an occupancy sensor's status metric to a parking spot. Add two String conditions: occupied → red, vacant → green. The bay shows its real-time state; a lot full of these reads at a glance.

Cold-chain compliance. Bind a temperature probe to the cold-store zone. Add Number conditions: 2–8 °C green ("Compliant"), 8–12 °C amber ("Warning"), set the default color red for anything above. A supervisor sees compliance status without opening a single device page.

Equipment and HVAC fault visibility. Bind a status sensor to an AC unit or a pump. A Boolean condition — fault true → red — turns the equipment red in the model the moment it faults, so the failure is located as well as flagged.

Facility occupancy. Bind motion or occupancy sensors to the desks or zones of an office floor. Occupied desks shade one color, free desks another — space utilization becomes a picture instead of a report.

These four are a small sample of what binding makes possible. Any sensor in your deployment can drive any element of the model — if you can describe what a reading means for a place, you can make the twin show it. Let your own deployment suggest the rest.

Tips

Name objects clearly in the Scene panel before you bind — clicking the right desk is much easier when it's called "Rack B7."
Bind one metric to many objects when they share a reading; bind separate metrics when each object has its own sensor.
Use the test slider to prove every condition before you save.
Keep conditions few and meaningful — three bands (good / warning / critical) usually communicate more clearly than ten.