AEC technology company spokespeople weigh in on what their predictions are for 2017, with their thoughts on “going digital,” virtual and augmented reality, smart cities, “assembled architecture,” drones, self-driving cars, big data and much more.
Stay tuned for some very insightful comments on the state of industry going forward this year.
Self driving electronic computer car on road, 3D illustration (courtesy Bentley Systems)
Smart Cities
City of Helsinki – Helsinki 3D+ Helsinki, Finland. Image Courtesy of City of Helsinki
“A smart city is a visionary statement for urban development that aims to converge information technology, operational technology, and engineering technology to better manage a city’s assets, and ultimately improve the quality of life for all. Technology is the enabler for smart cities around the globe, spanning mega projects to smaller scale initiatives that focus on streamlining processes, realizing efficiency gains, and improving services to its citizens. To realize the potential of a smart city, a concerted focus is being placed on a digital strategy that will enable comprehensive project delivery and enhanced asset performance for the supply chain and asset owners that build, construct, and operate and maintain infrastructure.” — Aidan Mercer, Industry Marketing Director, Government, Bentley Systems
The 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas attracted over 165,000 people this month, with 3800 companies doing product launches.
Erek Dyskant, co-founder of BlueLabs, an analytics and technology company dedicated to harnessing the power of data to produce meaningful two-way engagement between people and organizations, spoke at CES. Dyskant aims to empower individuals to take steps that “make their political voice heard, improve their health, and strengthen their financial security.” (more…)
Most of what AEC professionals need and want is how to get their designs expressed, realized and built efficiently, accurately, quickly and on budget. The solutions to these challenges can be provided with a mix of software, cloud and gadgetry, much of which you will find here.
It’s difficult not to be inspired when attending the Bentley Year In Infrastructure Conference, with so many talented professionals gathered to show off their infrastructure projects.
Innovation in Building Winner: Morphosis – Hanking Center Tower. Image Courtesy of Bentley Systems
In early June, Topcon Positioning Group and Bentley Systems unveiled a new level of direct communication between Bentley’s design applications and Topcon’s mobile work force products found in the forthcoming release of its MAGNET 4.0. With direct communication from MAGNET Enterprise to Bentley’s ProjectWise, users of Topcon’s family of MAGNET and 3D-MC software solutions can now, while working in the field, access or receive i-models created by Bentley’s OpenRoads design modeling technology. To find out more about the agreement and how MAGNET works with Bentley applications, AECCafé Voice spoke with Dustin Parkman, Bentley’s vice president of product development.
At the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2016 Convention this week held in Philadelphia, keynote addresses spanned the gamut from host and executive producer of NPR’s Fresh Air, Terry Gross’ interview with Julia Louis-Dreyfuss of the iconic TV sitcom Seinfeld and now the series VEEP to Israeli-born architect, designer and MIT professor Neri Oxman’s highly inspirational presentation on “material ecology.”
On Monday, Autodesk announced the availability of AutoCAD 2017. The latest release makes the promise of being “faster and smarter across connected desktop and mobile solutions, and makes it easier to collaborate with colleagues, create personalized design experiences, and stay up-to-date with the newest features and updates.” The AutoCAD 360 Pro mobile app is subscription based and allows you take AutoCAD with you.
The construction industry is driven by documentation in the form of submittals, contracts, record sets, and RFIs. While this is still a priority, the design teams are adopting BIM, and there needs to be a way to consolidate all the information coming from various stakeholders on the project.
View and navigate 3D models, access object properties, use sectioning tools and explore models with gravity-based walkthroughs.
Autodesk’s BIM 360 Docs web service was just made available as a commercial product. Designed for the entire construction project team, BIM 360 Docs ensures that the entire team works from the correct version of documents and plans. Addressing the entire AEC lifecycle, BIM 360 Docs includes tools for publishing, managing, reviewing, editing and approving all project plans, models and documents from the beginning stages of the project all the way through owner occupancy. The cloud-based service is available on all devices or desktop, so that it is a complete collaborative tool.
Quickly navigate between 2D plans and 3D models on any device, without having to close the viewer.
Unlike typical document management platforms available on the market, which are generally in the form of document management platforms, AEC drawing viewers or model viewers, and project management apps, BIM 360 Docs goes beyond the focus on specific people or goals to putting the project at the center of the technology instead. The single cloud-based repository holds all project documents, models and plans for the entire project team.
