Infraworks & Urban Planning

by Richard Robertson 

Cadline has started working on a pilot project with support from Autodesk and Ordnance Survey to understand how organisations can use data and technology to work collaboratively on Infrastructure projects and maintain an accurate record for the future.

Using Autodesk Infraworks 360 as the technology engine, it is quick and easy to visualise geographical areas in a 3D environment and bring in real data, including OS MasterMap Topography layer (plus Height data), Aerial Imagery, Roads and Bridges (from AutoCAD Civil .imx files), Flood Plain data (from .shp, .tab, .dwg).

This allows us to build a 3D model of a location, make it relevant to senior management, urban planners, facility managers, designers within a local authority. As well as the internal stakeholders, this model can be shared with residents for public consultation. Also, contractors during the design phase and using field based visualisation and annotation for pre- and during construction phases.

All of this data can be held centrally in the spatial database, to ensure there is only “one source of truth” and a clear audit trail when relevant stakeholders make concept changes and designers create the detailed change.

The opportunity to use this model for feasibility studies, accurate record keeping and the added potential for incorporating socio-demographic data is huge.

We believe that by bringing CAD and GIS together we can achieve a level of collaborative BIM for “horizontal” projects