U.S. airport infrastructure is under pressure.

With a rebounding economy comes more air travel. This places more demand on airport operators to guarantee passengers and cargo carriers a safe, secure, and efficient experience. But in an increasingly merger-driven airline industry, where hubs are being consolidated at breakneck speed, keeping pace with change is a challenge.

Add to this the problems of public perception.

The dog days of summer are officially here. So what better time to brush up on your digital design skills. Here are some options for getting ahead of the curve this summer.

Reality capture technology as a means of capturing existing as-built conditions has been around for some time. Terrestrial laser scanning or LiDAR is just one example of reality capture (or recap) at work. But recap hasn’t always been easy. Scanning techniques are often expensive and the task of incorporating and manipulating large data sets (point clouds) during the design process is tricky.

Last month, Autodesk hosted a virtual conference – The Future of Making (now available on-demand) – focused on how AEC and manufacturing industries are capitalizing on new, disruptive technologies to innovate, enhance project design and delivery, and get more from existing investments (like AutoCAD) with learning, networking and cloud resources.

There are less than six months to go until Autodesk University (AU) lights up Las Vegas November 15-17, 2016 for its annual convergence of CAD professionals looking to learn, connect and explore the best in digital design.

But what do we know about the event so far? Here’s what:

Building Information Modeling (BIM) isn’t a concept that springs to mind for enabling the delivery of reliable, high-quality electric service. Yet, BIM is increasingly helping U.S. and global utilities deliver more reliable, higher quality service.

Technology advancements, aging infrastructure systems, and shifting populations are bringing more and more change to the infrastructure industry. It is important, and difficult, to find a balance among leveraging exciting new technologies, adhering to existing regulations, and keeping costs to a minimum to make the most of limited budgets. Keeping track of industry trends is essential in a rapidly changing field. Here’s a few you need to know about:

If you’re new to AutoCAD Civil 3D or looking to explore its many features for civil engineers, it’s always great to learn from the pros.

To help you on your way, we’ve compiled a top 10 list of “getting started” videos. From creating corridors and surfaces, importing survey and cloud data, to more sophisticated road design know-hows like creating roundabouts, we’ve got you covered.

Following on from two of our most popular digital design blogs, 8 How-To Video Tutorials for Transportation Infrastructure Designers & Engineers and 8 How-To Video Tutorials for Bridge Designers & Engineers, we’re back again with a new crop of training videos. This time we’ve focused on road and highway design.

Regardless of your competency level, or the software you use, check out these 10 design, engineering and productivity hacks!

Federal and state / local government agencies are increasingly moving towards requiring BIM on most of its building projects (GSA, ASCE, Veteran’s Affairs, Air Force and Coast Guard on the federal side and Wisconsin and Ohio at the state level to name a few).