Aside from developing one of the sought after building information modeling (BIM) software in the industry today, you’ve got to hand it to the Revit product managers over at Autodesk—they listen.

Whether you’re a civil engineer, CAD manager, or anyone working on a digital design project, one thing is certain – you’re never the sole collaborator in the process. Contractors, AEC firms, field personnel, even facilities managers, have their hands in the mix too. And that creates a problem for version control and the potential for incorrect information in the field. How do you know you’re working with the most current information? If you’re using traditional non-digital workflows, it’s a problem you likely encounter once too often.

If you’re fairly new to Autodesk Revit and looking for ways to quickly get up to speed, Autodesk put together a great webinar that offers tips and tricks to get the most out of your user experience. Topics included:

• How does it differ from AutoCAD?
• What do I need to know to get started?
• What are some best practices for working in Revit?
• What are families and how do I use them?
• Where to learn more and how to get support when problems happen

The use of building information modeling (BIM) data by building owners and facilities managers is on the rise, a survey by DLT partner, IMAGINiT Technologies reveals. Compared to 2016, the percentage of owners integrating BIM data into facilities management (FM) systems has increased by almost 9%. Yet challenges remain. Many organizations aren’t prepared or equipped to make the process and technology changes required for BIM adoption.

Urban development is a big challenge for governments and project owners. Urbanization, combined with overall population growth, could add another 2.5 billion to the world’s urban centers by 2050. For the infrastructure sector, this means providing the essential utilities and transportation systems to support these dense over-crowded areas – while doing more with less.

It doesn’t matter whether you work in the federal, state or local government, rolling out any new software to your workforce can be a challenge. This is especially true of CAD software. Oftentimes, a department may upgrade from AutoCAD to a discipline-specific tool like AutoCAD Civil 3D or Revit, or depart radically from an old way of doing things with new software.

Team leads or CAD managers face several challenges. Standards must be reviewed and modified, staff must be trained, trial projects must be identified, and user/management expectations met.

Did you know that construction is anticipated to be the largest use case for commercial drones?

Drones can collect a site’s progress with a degree of accuracy previously unseen in the industry and reduce the amount of building site materials that end up in landfills. Furthermore, that sensor data can be turned into 3D models, maps, and volumetric measurements (which can help monitor and track costly gravel and sand inventory).

Making the move to AutoCAD Civil 3D is a big step up for many agencies and public sector teams. Whether you’re coming off using Land Desktop or AutoCAD for your civil infrastructure projects, Civil 3D can seem like a daunting leap forward, despite the many benefits the software brings in terms of greater efficiencies, long-term cost-savings, and reduced errors. It’s something we often hear from our government clients.

We frequently write about BIM principles, use cases and best practices here on the DLT blog, but one area that often goes neglected in BIM are the soft skills or people skills. What is the role of a BIM manager anyway? How can you better achieve your project goals as design technology managers or support your personnel?

Look out for the pot hole! Did you know that one out of every five miles of highway pavement is in poor condition and in need of rehabilitation? If you’re a civil engineer, you’re probably not surprised. The bulk of highway system funding goes towards highway repair, and with good reason.