AECCafe Voice Industry Predictions for 2022 – Part 4

This is our final week of AECCafe Voice Industry Predictions for 2022, which brings us to some exciting merging with other technologies such as GIS technology in the digital twin arena. Construction has been slow to adopt in past years, but the advent of augmented reality is changing that paradigm. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are part and parcel of the digital twin, so we will hear more from them in 2022. And what about construction project management software? Can it become easier to use, without undue training costs, and render a quicker return on investment? Take a look at what these professionals are predicting for 2022….

Mohammad Hammoud, Senior Manager, Khatib & Alami

Khatib & Alami

The most exciting solutions tend to fit neatly under the “smart city” umbrella – this is an area in which clients are putting increasing focus in their quest to reap the benefits of the vast data available at a city or community level.

The digital twin concept has evolved and improved massively over the last couple of years, and is already on the shopping lists of many clients. In simple terms, a digital twin is a virtual representation of real-world objects, processes, behaviors and relationships, and is used nowadays to represent any city to realize its initiatives and improve the lives of its citizens. GIS has an important role to play in maximizing the value of digital twins, regardless of the setting – from individual buildings to entire cities. A recent K&A project involved creating a reality model of 250 sq km of mixed terrain in Muscat, Oman, integrating ArcGIS and Bentley ContextCapture. We captured 330,000 drone images in 90 days, resulting in outstanding quality and accuracy at reduced costs. This project was among the first of its kind for us, but demand is expected to keep growing this year.

Similarly, the integration of GIS with IoT sensors is enabling clients to track their assets and staff, and to constantly manage their environments. They can therefore respond to issues and threats in a timely way. This data is used to better manage resources, assets and services and improve operations. Additionally, Artificial Intelligence (AI), will enhance this ability even more. Linked to this theme, K&A has been involved in the development of increasing numbers of command and control centers for government clients, and we expect demand to strengthen in 2022.

The construction sector tends to be slow to adopt new technologies, but I’m excited by the potential of Augmented Reality (AR) to transform the way people work on sites. AR provides a user-friendly means of zooming in and out while looking at BIM and GIS models, making it really easy to observe any mismatches between model and reality. I expect to see increasing use of AR applications, allied with GIS and BIM, for activities such as Project Status tracking, on-site construction documents, on-site clash reviews and “platform as a vision”, whereby all BIM and GIS data will be integrated into an open AR platform. This will enable the visualization of hidden infrastructure, as well as speeding up the availability of information to those who need it on site, improving collaboration and reducing the potential for mistakes.

I expect 2022 to be an exciting year for the sector. Importantly, client organizations are more aware than ever of the benefits which emerging solutions can deliver, and are therefore more keen to invest. We’ve seen the momentum grow over the past few years, and now things are really moving at pace.

Mohammad Hammoud, Senior Manager, Khatib & Alami is an experienced engineer with around 15 years of consulting, technology selling, and technical advising expertise. He has a broad engineering capability and knowledge of a wide range of operational systems, as well as business development experience.

Mohammad is particularly interested in software application, location based services, Cloud and smart city solutions, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to drive innovation inside commercial and governmental entities. In his role as K&A, he has proved to be successful in building valuable business relationships through his technical knowhow, combined with exceptional customer engagement and strong communication skills.

Through his experience with multinational companies, Mohammad has worked with teams across Europe, the Middle East and South Africa.

He is passionate about giving back to the community – he volunteers in several NGOs and supports students with innovation and entrepreneurship graduate programs.

Dr. Aaron Morris, co-Founder of Allvision

Allvision Industry Predictions for 2022

Digital twins have long been the obvious and inevitable future for those in AEC, GIS or reality capture for as long as I been in this industry. The digital twin, the notion there exists an up-to-date, high-definition digital version of the physical world, has been “right around the corner” for at least a decade.  Standing firmly in 2022, however, we are still confronted with out-of-date GIS databases; as-designed documents being treated as as-builts; and responding to same RFPs that assume a one-time collection will create a database that will serve as a representation of real-world conditions for the next two-to-three years.

Such a mindset would be fine if it were not for last five years of investments in innovation such as autonomous vehicles, 5G, smart cities, smart buildings, electrification, IoT, and so on. For these transformational technologies to become reality, all of them will require a digital twin. Full stop, no if’s, and’s, or but’s. As these innovations move out of the conceptual phase and into use, the ever-increasing need for digital twin will become paramount. Therefore, 2022 is the year the “digital twin” gets the buzz and attention it deserves.

AI is popping up everywhere and in everything. What started as a novel parlor trick for finding cat photos on the internet, has now matured into a necessary component in all software offerings. In addition, the pandemic and associated labor shortages, have push the need for automation everywhere, or as some call it, hyperautomation.

The need for more frequent and accurate digital representations of reality will also fuel the fire for automation in GIS applications. Therefore, 2022 will be the year AI, backed with machine learning (ML), will demonstrate unequivocally its value to the creation and maintenance of GIS databases and the AEC industry.

Dr. Aaron Morris is an entrepreneur, roboticist, and a seasoned veteran of reality capture technology. Aaron obtained his doctorate in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2007 where he researched and developed 3D computer vision systems and self-driving, map-making robots. After graduation, Aaron founded and became CEO of Allpoint Systems, a company that commercialized computer vision solutions for the architectural, engineering and survey markets. Allpoint was acquired by the world’s leading design software company, Autodesk, in late 2012 where he supervised Autodesk’s Reality Solutions division. He left in 2017 to co-found Allvision, a startup creating digital replicas of cities and roads for better planning and management of critical asset infrastructure. Visit www.allvision.io to learn more. 

David Ward, CEO, Safe Site Check In

Safe Site Check In

“In 2022, AEC professionals will demand faster and more demonstrable ROI from their investments in construction technology, with a particular focus on project management software. What often gets overlooked in the buying process is the company’s internal learning curve once they subscribe and install the technology. It takes time to learn and manage the software, sometimes up to two years. Meanwhile, a lot of construction projects are completed in that period of time making it even more challenging to figure out just how much value the project management software is contributing to the company’s bottom line. To help solve this issue, the AEC community will be looking to streamline their construction tech investments and acquire only those that are a) easy to use with no significant training or deployment costs; and b) prove their ROI extremely quickly – in under a month, if not sooner.”

– David Ward, CEO, Safe Site Check In

Tags: 3D, 3D cities, AEC, architects, architecture, artificial intelligence, BIM, building information modeling, facilities management, GIS

Categories: 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21/CMP11, 2D, 3D, AEC, AECCafe, architecture, BIM, building information modeling, civil information modeling, Cloud, construction project management, drones, engineering, field solutions, file sharing, geospatial, GIS, project management, reality capture, rendering, simulation, virtual reality, visualization

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