Once upon a time GIS sat in its own little bubble – mapping the world obliquely, orthogonally and with untold potential for data integration, location-based intelligence gathering and analysis, and so on.
Today that little bubble has burst opening new windows of opportunity that couples the visual power of high resolution GIS imagery with the evolving needs and mandates that drive the AEC industry – sustainable design, an increasingly visually-oriented workforce and a utilities infrastructure system in desperate need of an overhaul.
In light of these drivers, GIS and AEC folks are marrying up big time. Take for example a quiet little union that is happening at Autodesk. According to industry publication, GISCafé, in the past year Autodesk has quietly, yet deliberately, disbanded its GIS division and moved it under its AEC Solutions division, once the official headquarters of AEC flagship products such as Revit and Civil 3D.
Talking to GISCafé about the rationale behind this move, Autodesk’s chief GIS specialist, Geoff Zeiss, explained that “…architects needed to be educated about ‘what's in the world.’ They design usually in an abstract space that doesn't have relationship to where a building is placed geographically. That part comes with land planning or city planning. ‘The fact that we're now in AEC is the best thing that could have happened’.”(Source: Tracking Down Geospatial at Autodesk).
Peeling back the layers a little more, GISCafé lists five factors that are driving Autodesk’s bridging of the gap between AEC and GIS functions:
- Sustainable Design – Government mandates for sustainable design building codes are nothing new but more and more architects are recognizing the need to be able to “…visualize and know where things are in the geographic space that is to be sustainably designed, the environment’s characteristics, such as water sources, power sources, and so on.” Zeiss explains.
- Ease of Integration – Open source technology means that GIS data can be easily integrated into BIM (building information modeling) and other AEC design technologies.
- The Visual Impact of GIS – Seeing the visual impact of a project, before it is built, thanks to high resolution GIS imagery will be a big deal for all stakeholders.
- Retiring Workforce and Incoming “Video Generation”- Referencing the fact that “45% of workers” will retire in the next 10 years, Zeiss points to the inevitable fact that these will be replaced by a generation of designers, architects and engineers who understand the potential of real-world imagery and 3D design tools.
- Lack of Geo-Data about Infrastructure – According to Zeiss, “…in the U.S. the geolocation information for most infrastructure is abysmal.”However, the process of re-surveying the nation’s utilities infrastructure “on-the-ground” is a huge expense, but with high resolution photogrammerty – it can be done from an office for less than a tenth of the cost.
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