Esri: GIS meets BIM AEC Magazine talked with Marc Goldman, director AEC Industry Solutions at Esri about how the company is working with BIM developers to better integrate GIS for AEC professionals
AEC Magazine: Why should your average architect be interested in GIS? Marc Goldman: In my short stint as a designer (I can’t call myself an architect or engineer because I don’t have licences nor ever did) I recall the challenge of putting my first line on paper or screen. Having geographic context allows you to overcome that inertia, provides you with greater understanding, brings insights to the surface, and allows designs and engineered projects to begin with the most amount of valuable information to be accessed, managed, and used for decision-making. AEC: Revit is a key application for readers of AEC Magazine. On a technical level, how does ArcGIS work with Revit data – both in terms of geometry and attributes? MG: In ArcGIS Pro we can import RVTs, store the geometry and attributes in a geodatabase that captures some of the semantics of the Revit file, and then use the geometry and attributes in GIS workflows, such as by converting them to I3S Building Scene Layers that can be streamed over the web to mobile and desktop experiences. AEC: The first stage of the Autodesk / Esri partnership was about connecting 48
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MG: Let me first talk about civil BIM and then get onto the “building” BIM side. On the civil BIM side, within [AutoCAD] Civil 3D and Infraworks, engineers have access to the layers and data you’d use or manage in ArcGIS Pro, or which you’d visualise and MG: We’re working on a interact in ArcGIS Online. cloud-to-cloud integration One benefit is streamlining which will allow GIS workflows, so as data is coldashboards, maps and lected in the field with Esri analysis to be performed field-based apps, that data using any files and data in appears in real time on the BIM 360, and from other engineer’s desktop in Civil cloud environments. This 3D or Infraworks. We’re experts in ‘cloud to cloud’ communiAs to improving quality, cation, whereby the data using distributed in Civil 3D and Infraworks in either cloud is accessihave access to the GIS processing and you ble to users in browsers data layers to better underand mobile apps, opens to deep learning for stand the project’s conobject detection, straints. All this means door to workflows we’ve only dreamed of in the individuals and teams can classification, AEC industry. informed design and terrain analysis, make engineering decisions by and change AEC: Esri previously told visualising collaboratively, us that BIM / GIS integrathe Infrastructure and GIS detection on tion isn’t just about giving data directly. any scale BIM models a GIS context, Looking at Building Marc Goldman BIM, once the BIM (RVT or it’s also about giving AEC firms access to Esri servicIFC) has been imported to es. Can you explain more ArcGIS Pro, the informaabout these services and how AEC firms tion is managed like other geodatabase or can benefit? And what are the challeng- shapefile data sources. This allows the es of big data? BIM objects themselves to be understood Autodesk’s desktop applications to ArcGIS. But the real prize comes from cloud — connecting Esri ArcGIS and Autodesk BIM 360. What’s the latest on this and why is it so important to AEC firms?
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01/06/2020 11:26
