The Dirt

Las Vegas Valley Water District Integrates GPS, CAD, and GIS

Check out this great article “Betting on Technology” about the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD)! The LVVWD has integrated GPS, CAD, and GIS into an extremely efficient solution. With the explosive growth that Las Vegas continues to experience, LVVWD had to do something innovative to integrate the three technologies that they use every day. Seriously, read this and think about how your organization could benefit.

BIM and Civil 3D

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about the dynamic civil modeling capability in Civil 3D.  At one point in the conversation, I mentioned BIM and how it had much in common with Civil 3D. To my surprise, he said he had never heard of BIM. This was one of those moments where my BLOG instincts kick in. If this guy (who I have known for years and who I consider a giant in the civil industry) has not heard of BIM, then I should assume there are others who would appreciate an explanation.

BIM stands for building information modeling. It is a concept spearheaded by Autodesk in 2002 (yes, by architects) that suggests building designs should consist of 3D models that understand that design changes will cause drafting changes, scheduling changes, time to construct and cost changes.  When design changes occur, the model, the drafting and subsequent reports and schedules update dynamically.  This keeps the architects, the drafters, the clients, and the contractors all on the same page. The benefit of BIM is a better design achieved in less time with little-to-no opportunity for miscommunication between the stakeholders. 

Sound familiar?  It should, because this is the way that Civil 3D works. The dynamic civil model allows Civil 3D users to explore “what if” scenarios in real time. As options are explored, the drafting components update dynamically. Furthermore, the design is three-dimensional, so costly mistakes, drainage errors, clash detection of pipes, etc. can all be identified early during the design phase, instead of during construction where it can get very expensive to remedy.

Having trouble dealing with the fact that BIM is an architectural initiative?  Try this. Replace the word building (noun) with building (verb) and you have an acronym with more AEC appeal!

Want to know more about BIM? There is a ton of information HERE.

3D Modeling on Rapa Nui

The Chilean government has historically used 2D surveying and mapping technology to inventory, monitor, and map archeological sites on Rapa Nui.

The process typically begins with taking a single point at each archeological site. All relevant attribute data is then associated with the point. Hand drawn sketches are also created, scanned, and archived. The points gathered in the field are then downloaded to ArcView where 2D digital maps are produced. By taking a single point per site, the numerous sites on the island can be surveyed and mapped quickly. However, the disadvantage of this method is that the sites can’t be modeled accurately—the maps produced are 2D, are only accurate to 1 meter in the x and y axes, and have much worse accuracy in the z axis.

To my good fortune, as you already know, local officials welcomed me to Rapa Nui to demonstrate the advantages that a 3D, survey grade (+/- 1cm) process could provide.

 
Topsoil, silt rich run off draining to the sea in Hanga Roa

Their need to monitor both the erosion of the land and the archeological sites requires 3D models. The topography, the ahu (platforms), and the moai (statues), etc. are all affected by the elements, time, and tourism. Using Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 and Trimble GPS gear, I created survey grade, georeferenced, 3D models of two sites, and then overlaid these models on the base map of the entire island that I also created. As additional models are gathered, they too may be overlaid over existing models to monitor change over time. LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology is capable of sub-millimeter accuracy and is well suited to this task. More on that in a later post.

3D DTMs (Digital Terrain Models) are commonly used to study drainage, erosion, and slope analysis. Furthermore, they are ideally suited for 3D mapping of sites and the artifacts they contain—a traditionally 2D, manual process.

Surveying Ahu Tepeu. Note the erosion to the fallen moai

Survey data may be seamlessly imported and exported from any GPS system. In a standardized environment where a survey field coding standard (a layer standard that determines colors, symbols, text styles, etc.) is used, linework, symbology, and attribute data can all be imported directly from the survey equipment and the drawing/models can create themselves automatically.

This 3D process has significant advantages over the less accurate 2D process. By its very nature, a 3D model provides visual clues that a 2D map cannot. By adding the 3rd dimension, items like profiles, cross sections, hydrology, slope and elevation analysis can all be completed.

3D, 1cm accurate DTM of Ahu Tepeu

Ahu Tepeu - Elevation Study in Civil 3D 2007. The darker hues indicate the highest elevations

3D capability meets several significant needs on Rapa Nui. Increasing population, tourism, agriculture, and land development in such a fragile and archeologically-rich environment must ultimately be monitored, regulated, and controlled. A process for locating and archiving sites and then analyzing the effects of time, weather, tourism, agriculture, livestock, and land development on these sites can only be effective by adopting 3D mapping technologies. Furthermore, this technology can be used to educate the Rapa Nuians on just what a unique and beautiful home they have, how important it is to study, and ultimately to preserve.

POB Magazine Article on Machine Control and Civil 3D

I just read a really good article about machine control systems in the December 2006 issue of POB Magazine. This article not only shows a real world example of the growing demand for data prep services and how the savvy civil engineering firm can benefit from this technology, but also how Civil 3D with Trimble Site Vision Office proved to be the perfect tools for this kind of work. The article documents Cole & Associates migration from Land Desktop to Civil 3D, as well as the interoperability of both products with machine control systems.   

Enjoy!

The D’s are coming!

It’s true. Like it or not, the fourth and fifth dimensions are here and gaining a lot of momentum in the press and with software developers. Confused? Let’s start with some definitions.

3D is space.
4D is space and time.
5D is space, time and cost.

So how is this relevant to us folks who deal in dirt, you ask? Simple. Time and cost have HUGE implications throughout the design and construction worlds.

How cool would it be if our CAD applications could generate reports that estimate the time and cost to construct what we’ve designed? What if when we made the inevitable design changes the reports all updated automatically?

Here’s an interesting quote from Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel: “Innovation = 30% Technology + 70% Culture.” I love this guy! He’s not only absolutely correct, but he just validated my entire career. To be truly innovative, you’re going to need some amazing tools and technology. But more importantly, you’re going to need to overcome the cultural aspects (fear of change, etc.) of being innovative. Better mousetraps appear every day. Implementing the new mousetrap without any pushback from the staff is absolutely critical. Standardization, pilot projects, and training are how it’s done.

So no freaking out! Now that you know what 4D and 5D are and that they are going influence our processes in the future, you can lose the deer-in-the-headlights face when the topic comes up in conversation and, on a more serious note, start planning how to implement 4D and 5D into your standards, processes, pilot projects, and training programs.

Using GIS data BEFORE and AFTER Design

For most of us, it’s a fairly common practice to accumulate GIS data before we go to the expense of sending out a survey crew or having a site flown. It just makes good financial sense to see if useful data is available before starting a project. If you are not currently doing this, be sure to investigate the Map > Tools > Import command found in MAP 3D, LDT, and Civil 3D. Many state and local governments offer GIS data at little or no charge via their Web sites.

What about after a project is finished? By project’s end, you will have created a lot of georeferenced, survey-grade CAD data, right? If you’re using Land Desktop, Civil 3D, or MAP 3D, you can use Map > Tools > Export to export your data to many different GIS data formats.

If you are not currently using GIS technology as a central repository for your data, consider this: Autodesk MapGuide Open Source is FREE, folks. If the GIS terminology freaks you out, simply think of MapGuide as a Web-based data management tool you can use to archive, organize and manage all the valuable data you are creating anyway. It’s incredibly user friendly and takes about 10 minutes to learn. If you can surf the Internet, you can use MapGuide.

Here is one of my favorite MapGuide sites: Maricopa County Arizona (you may be asked to download a free MapGuide viewer). This county also offers up its survey control data via the same portal. Very, very cool.

As you can see from the Maricopa County MapGuide site, many state and local agencies may be very interested in your CAD and GIS data. I know of a few who pay for this information. If you cannot locate such an agency in your area, consider building a similar MapGuide site of your own to manage all of your archived drawings. The alternative is to let your DWGs sit on a server or in flat files somewhere indefinitely. What a waste!