Debate Continues: BIM versus GIS

I recently had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion entitled, “The Great BIM versus GIS Debate”. This 90-minute session in front of a packed room was moderated by Matt Ball (@SpatialSustain) and proved to be a lively (and sometimes heated) discussion between myself (@engis), Pete Southwood (@Geo_Pete) and members of the audience. Issues addressed in the debate encompassed technology; data accuracy, access, integration and analysis; collaboration and efficiency; and the future of GIS and BIM.

I introduced this debate during a previous blog post which you can find here. However, if you were unable to attend or simply want to review some of the highlights, I encourage you to check-out the following:

Dale Lutz (@DaleAtSafe) posted his thoughts on the debate here. Although there was no clear knock-out punch by either opponent, he did include a list of the best (and some would say hilarious) “zingers”.

Matt Ball (@SpatialSustain) posted his thoughtful perspectives of the debate here. His great summary covers “Concepts or Tools”, “Point of Truth” and “Integrated Infrastructure Information”.

I’ve also posted a replay of “The Great BIM versus GIS Debate” to YouTube. For those of you wanting to review the debate in its entirety, I’ve made a recording of the complete 90-minute session which I divided into chapters which you can access via the links below:
Session Introduction and Overview (3:37)
The BIM Perspective (5:42)
The GIS Perspective (9:09)
Who are the BIM and GIS Users? (Part 1: Panel Responds) (5:05)
Who are the BIM and GIS Users? (Part 2: Audience Responds) (3:24)
Who are the BIM and GIS Users? (Part 3: Audience Responds) (12:40)
What are potential accuracy issues? (8:19)
What is the role of modeling/analysis? (Part 1: Panel Responds) (6:36)
What is the role of modeling/analysis? (Part 2: Audience Responds) (11:34)
What is the role of modeling/analysis? (Part 3: Audience Responds) (14:49)
Collaboration, integration and the future of BIM & GIS (7:09)

Better Infrastructure Planning with AutoCAD Map 3D – AU Virtual

If you are unable to travel to Las Vegas to attend Autodesk University in person this year, you can still participate virtually by registering for AU Virtual. It’s free and only takes a moment to register.

And while on-line with AU Virtual, why not make a point of catching my virtual session, entitled “Better Infrastructure Planning with AutoCAD Map 3D”. Attend this session to see how you can turn today's planning and design challenges to your advantage with Building Information Modeling (BIM) and a more powerful and productive AutoCAD Map 3D.

BIM for infrastructure is creating a cultural shift in infrastructure planning and design workflows. Increasingly, infrastructure planning and geospatial professionals working on transportation, utility, and other infrastructure projects are being asked to integrate planning data with BIM models to more directly represent as-builts and better leverage "GIS ready" design data. Attend this virtual session and discover how AutoCAD Map 3D can help.

AU Virtual, Class GS5581. Tune in on November 29, 2011.

Model Your World

Last year, in honor of GIS Day, my colleagues and I created a webcast that highlighted Building Information Modeling (BIM) and its impact on the geospatial community. I also blogged about this topic a short time later via GIS User.

This year, for GIS Day 2011 and consistent with the BIM and GIS themes, I created an on-demand webcast that highlights Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler – a new geospatially enabled, 3D conceptual design tool from Autodesk.

With Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler, explore “what could be” in the context of “what is” whether you’re:

• An architect interested in site development and the placement, orientation and shape of a new building
• A municipal planner examining the impact of new land use and zoning policies on the city skyline and local neighborhoods
• A transportation planner or civil engineer exploring options for a new highway corridor
• A campus authority looking for more compelling, non-technical ways to communicate proposed re-development ideas to project stakeholders
• Someone involved in conceptual design, 3D GIS, or BIM

View this webcast to see how you can incorporate existing 2D CAD, GIS, BIM, and raster data to quickly create 3D models that more realistically depict the local environment.

Learn how you can easily evaluate multiple design alternatives in the context of the existing environment by overlaying GIS data and using infrastructure sketching and proposal management tools.

See how you can communicate visually rich proposals of these alternatives with interactive navigations, rendered images, and recorded videos.

Follow this link to access the on-demand webcast and learn more about how you can explore “what could be” in the context of “what is” with this new software from Autodesk: http://www.autodesk.com/modelyourworld

Visualization and BIM: A Powerful Combination

Explore, validate and communicate model based designs before they’re real.

Proposed transportation networks, above and below ground infrastructure, neighborhood developments and other major municipal projects are often subjected to great scrutiny. Being able to use model based designs to generate high quality visualizations can help engineers, architects and others improve stakeholder communications, better convey design intent and expedite approvals.

As discussed in a previous post, Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a process that leverages model based designs throughout the entire municipal lifecycle. Visualizations are an important part of that process. Accurate, photo realistic renderings, as well as, drive-through, fly-over and animated simulations can be used to explore design options clearly and accurately, validate designs and detect errors before construction.

For example, check out the Alaskan Way Viaduct animation as released by the Washington State Department of Transportation. The video shows the drive-through experience after proposed changes to this major Seattle transportation corridor have been completed. In addition to communicating design intent, this type of visualization helps validate the design. Note proposed lane configurations, exit ramps, and tunnel lighting. Also, note the potential impact of buildings, signs, barriers and other visual obstructions on sightlines.

Visualizations are also useful in clash detection scenarios where the individual design elements of a BIM model are checked for interference with one another. Identifying and documenting clash related problems prior to construction can significantly reduce construction costs by reducing the number of RFIs and change orders during construction. For example, this video posted by CivilFromTheGroundUp shows how clash detection can be used to identify the clash between an underground utility and the surface of a roadway.

Construction sequencing which is demonstrated in this video is another useful type of visualization that aims to show how a design will be built over time and can be used to help coordinate multidiscipline construction projects.

Furthermore, BIM models can be used to create 3D visualizations to enhance the experience of a project before its real. With 3D movies such as “Avatar” and the release of 3D televisions, the importance of a 3D experience as it relates to design will undoubtedly increase. For example, check out this stereoscopic anaglyph animation of a water treatment facility. This video was created using Autodesk 3DS Max by my colleague Louis Marcoux. You will of course need special glasses to view the 3D effect. Get the glasses with the red/cyan lenses.



In summary, visualizations and BIM are a powerful combination that can have a profound positive impact on your business:

• Become more competitive
• Win more RFPs
• Identify the best design alternatives
• Accurately convey design intent
• Improve public and stakeholder communication
• Reduce construction costs
• Improve coordination of multidiscipline teams

Dispelling the Myths of CAD/GIS Integration

Psst - it's no secret! CAD and GIS technologies have advanced considerably in the last couple of decades. However, in spite of these advancements, there is still an outdated view of GIS software that is closely integrated with CAD technology. Myths regarding the integration of these two technologies also continue to exist. Unfortunately, the perpetuation of these myths can negatively impact data quality, process efficiency and ultimately an organization’s bottom line.

During the last several months, I tweeted using my Twitter name @engis about the top myths which I feel continue to prevail about today’s CAD in spite of many technological advancements. I have collected these tweets (modified slightly for improved readability) below.

How many of these myths are still prevalent or being perpetuated in your organization?

• Myth: CAD cannot do geospatial topology.
  Reality: Today’s CAD supports both CAD and GIS topologies including node, network and polygon topology and analysis.


• Myth: You can’t query a CAD drawing.
  Reality: Today’s CAD supports geospatial queries including both geographic and attribute based filters.


• Myth: CAD doesn’t do geospatial analysis.
  Reality: Today’s CAD supports topology analysis including overlays, dissolves, buffering, tracing and more.


• Myth: CAD doesn’t do thematic maps.
  Reality: Today’s CAD does support theming. Stylize points, lines, polygons, text without affecting source data.


• Myth: CAD only supports simple points, lines and text.
  Reality: Today’s CAD also supports complex GIS features (eg networks, nested polygons, surfaces and more).


• Myth: CAD is single file, single user.
  Reality: Today’s CAD supports multi-file, multiuser access; object locking; databases; long transactions and more.


• Myth: CAD doesn’t do 3D surfaces.
  Reality: Today’s CAD supports flood plain analysis, slope analysis, volume calculations, draping, overlays and more.


• Myth: CAD data is file based.
  Reality: Today’s CAD supports storing data in files, SQL databases and external GIS data repositories like Oracle.


• Myth: CAD is for creating paper drawings.
  Reality: Today’s CAD merges design and GIS data with outputs to paper, desktop, Internet and mobile.


• Myth: CAD does not support raster.
  Reality: Today’s CAD supports raster/vector overlays, vectorization, image processing and GIS analysis.


• Myth: CAD doesn’t understand geographic coordinates.
  Reality: Today’s CAD supports thousands of datum, projection and coordinate systems.


• Myth: CAD requires you to import/convert other CAD and GIS data.
  Reality: Today’s CAD supports connection to many data formats without import/export and conversion.

Avoid being a secret agent. Please check-out AutoCAD Map 3D and AutoCAD Civil 3D for more information about the reality of today's CAD and it's ability to integrate CAD and GIS data and workflows. Spread the word.

GIS Skills for the Engineering and CAD Professional

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Calgary, Alberta and facilitating a half-day seminar aimed at demonstrating the crucial GIS skills needed by engineering and CAD professionals. This well attended seminar, hosted by Pacific Alliance Technologies, highlighted the differences between CAD and GIS workflows, reviewed the obstacles to CAD/GIS integration and discussed the importance of an Engineering GIS approach.

I was expecting the audience to consist mainly of engineering and CAD folks. So, I was surprised to discover that there was a 50:50 mix of both CAD and GIS professionals. It turned out that some of the geospatial participants were looking for a better understanding of CAD related workflows. They also wanted information on how to work and better communicate with their engineering and CAD counterparts so that they could potentially simplify their geospatial data integration tasks and drive productivity. Similarly, some of the engineering and CAD participants were seeking pointers on how to overcome resistance to GIS within their own engineering organizations.

So, why is there this resistance to GIS by some engineering firms?

Well, engineering is about design; it’s about creating documents that have the exact amount of detail necessary to construct what was designed and then ensuring that construction proceeds according to specification. To these firms, construction represents completion and so their design documents and as-built drawings reflect that.

However, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the cost of inadequate interoperability for U.S. capital facilities during the operation and maintenance phases is estimated at $9 billion US. If you include infrastructure, like bridges and roads, then these costs sky-rocket even further!

Design documents and as-built drawings must be created with a new end in mind.

Engineering and CAD professionals must create their design documents in such a way that the embedded geospatial data can be utilized throughout the infrastructure lifecycle. Design data must be easily integrated with corporate databases so that this information can be used during infrastructure operation and maintenance activities. Engineering GIS can help.

As the original creators of our infrastructure data, I believe engineering and CAD professionals have a responsibility to ensure that this information can be easily integrated throughout the infrastructure lifecycle. To do otherwise, simply contributes to the billions of dollars already wasted due to the lack of interoperability and poor data integration.

3D GIS is Easy

If you thought 3D was hard, think again. Maybe a different point of view would help.

I recently had the pleasure of attending a seminar entitled “A New Dimension in GIS – 3D Analysis”, hosted by the British Columbia Chapter of URISA, in which a half-dozen speakers shared their 3D GIS experiences and insight during this one-day event.

Convergence: The opening keynote presentation by Doug Eberhard (Senior Director, Autodesk) set the tone of this event by providing us with an eye-popping vision of the future in which the convergence of design, geospatial analysis, simulation and visualization are fuelling the emerging business of digital cities. According to Eberhard, at the heart of digital cities are models. These models range from model agencies and model designers to model contractors and model operators. These models allow us to examine our world in new ways –ways that can help us become a model planet.

New Perspectives: Dan Campbell (Manager, Graphics and Communications, City of Vancouver) discussed the City’s experiences, gathered over the last 20 years, in working with 3D models. In fact, it was Campbell that said, “3D is Easy; it’s 2D that’s hard.” His point was that we live in a 3D world and no-one needs to teach us how to interpret this 3D world. And yet, when we work with infrastructure designs, architectural plans and maps we force our 3D world into a 2D abstraction. According to Campbell, this 2D abstraction for the non-professional is equivalent to trying to read hieroglyphics - misinterpretation and lost meaning is often the result.

Integration: Dale Lutz (Vice President, Safe Software) explored the topic of integrating CAD, Building Information Modeling (BIM) and geospatial data and discussed the role of CityGML, Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) and LandXML in the creation of 3D models. Various integration scenarios were also presented including the use of 2D CAD buildings with LIDAR to create 3D extruded buildings and the use of 3D geo-referenced BIM.

Key Takeaway: For me, one of the key takeaways of this seminar was that 3D GIS is about making it easier for the users of the information and not the CAD and GIS gurus. It’s about an easier way to analyze, visualize and communicate information about our 3D world. The boundaries between design, visualization and geospatial analysis are blurring. And yet, it’s the people and processes and not the technology that remain obstacles in realizing the vision of 3D digital cities. Data integration and an open, non-proprietary approach continue to be at the heart of the solution.

Until next time...