Leveraging BIM and GIS Integration in Architecture and Planning

ADAM SJODIN: Hello. Welcome to my Autodesk class Leveraging BIM and GIS Integration in Architecture and Planning. My name is Adam Sjodin. I'm an urban planner and digital strategist at Sweco architects in Sweden-- Stockholm.

I work with all different types of urban planning projects, all different scales, from early stage property development up to master planning and regional planning. I work a lot both in Sweden and outside of Sweden, mostly in China outside of Sweden. I also have a role as a digital strategist here in the Stockholm office for our architects, so I focus on finding new ways of using technology, making sure our colleagues have the best tools available to them, and the best ways of working.

As I said, I work at Sweco. We're a big architecture, engineering consultancy firm in the Nordics. We're about 20,000 architects and engineers, we have over 100 offices worldwide, and we have over 50,000 projects carried out in 70 countries.

And I'm in the architecture division of Sweco, and I think we're the fourth largest global architecture practice. We have over 1,400 colleagues. We have architects mostly in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Poland, Belgium, and Norway.

But today, I'm here to talk about BIM and GIS for architects, and how architects can harness the power of GIS. So I got into GIS a couple of years ago and felt like it was being underutilized by architects. It can be used more by architects to make our projects better and have our architects better informed.

So I'm going to show a couple of ways of using GIS in architecture projects. And since we work with architecture, we work a lot with BIM. So we have worked a lot trying to figure out how to fit GIS into our BIM workflows and our regular workflows, and how to get our models to talk to each other. So I will show three different projects in Sweden where we work with this methodology.

I'm going to speak about using BIM and GIS as a project platform where you can gather project data. I'm going to show how you can use BIM and GIS to provide a city-wide context for a project to visualize a BIM project in its context. I'm going to show a project where we more coordinate and visualize data for several stakeholders, and how it can be used to test and validate design options.

So this is the architecture and design process as envisioned by Autodesk and Esri, where we have the kind of design and build phase, which traditionally is quite BIM-focused. And we have the more planning and operation phase, which traditionally is more focused. But I think what we can see today is BIM being available, and coming earlier and earlier into the projects, and staying on longer and longer into the projects. And the same with GIS staying on longer, being able to deal with the more detailed information in 3D. So these half circles start to blend, and architects are very much involved in this inflection point, in the blending point between BIM and GIS.

And for some local context for Sweden, why we focus on BIM and GIS integration a lot is that there's a big focus on the digitalization of the entire urban planning process being carried out by the Swedish government. A lot of emphasis is being put on this because there's been a report from the Swedish mapping cadastral and land registration authority, where they identified that there's a lot of money to be actually saved in the business by having more digital workflows and a more unbroken flow of information, where they see that they are over 40 billion Swedish krona-- around $4 billion USD to be saved every year by having more efficient workflow and sharing data in a better way across a project's life cycle. And a lot of the savings-- around $20 to $40 billion, is in the build phase project, which is later stages than what I will show examples of today. But to be able to reap the benefit further down the line, you have to be in the right way of working from the beginning. So that's what I'm going to focus on-- the kind of early stages from regulatory, permitting, master planning into the early stages of the design work.

So this is the kind of vision that the Swedish authorities have of this unbroken flow of information and one source of truth of data in the entire process. Sweden is actually now developing a national platform for all geo data in the construction and planning process in Sweden, which this database is slowly being built up over time, focusing on layer by layer. The first one, the layer that's live and working in this database, is the zoning laws and the detail plan as we call zoning in Sweden. But we're not quite there yet because we have a really digital process today.

In our architecture and engineering projects, we do a lot of really advanced analysis. And we create really advanced 3D models in BIM programs. And we do the wind analysis and noise analysis-- all these very advanced and digital kind of analysis in projects.

But they have a tendency to end up in a PDF in the end. And that has a tendency to end up in a file drawer, either a physical one or a digital folder somewhere. And that leads to a fragmentation of the building process, where a lot of data gets lost between project phases, which leads to double work, can lead to errors in projects, and just not a very efficient way of working. So we're actually quite far, I would say, from this vision of an unbroken flow of information.

But now I will show some examples of how we've been trying, in three different projects, to gather data in a more efficient way and sharing data by using BIM and GIS integration in early-stage architecture and planning projects. So this is a case study of three projects. It's one project in Alster and in Karlstad in Sweden where we used BIM as a project platform for the project, where we gather all the technical investigation that was being done during the project so that everyone involved in the project-- from our client to the municipality to our own organization, Sweco, could access the data in an easy navigational way, and an easy way to get to the data.

I will also show Trangkaren in Stockholm. That's actually the block of the Sweco headquarters where I'm sitting right now, where we used BIM and GIS to visualize a potential development of this block. And we used it to visualize the block in its context, because Stockholm is a very historical city.

So in large urban planning projects here in Stockholm, the views and the skyline of the city is very important, and something you have to investigate in all projects where you build taller buildings. So there, we used a BIM and GIS platforms to visualize our BIM models in a city wide context to address the visual impact on city image and skyline. And I will also show a project in Ornsberg in Stockholm, which is a transformation area. It's going from an light industry area to a mainly residential area, where we used BIM and GIS platform to visualize quite detailed BIM models from several different architects in an urban planning project. I think there were about eight different architects involved in the project, and we used this platform to coordinate and visualize all the models in one place.

So the first project, Alster in Karlstad, is an early stage architecture and planning project. It's right outside the city limit of Karlstad. The client is a private client-- Lantmannen.

And here, Sweco had quite wide scope of work. We did the architectural concept for the site. We helped with all the studies that needed to be done for the zoning-- the detailed plan. And we did a lot of technical investigations-- geotechnical, risk, noise, ground polluting, stormwater, et cetera.

And here, we used a combination of Revit, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online for this web model that we're about to look into. And the models were shared in Autodesk Construction Cloud. I think back here, when this project was being done, it was in BIM 360.

So I will give a quick demo of the project. So here we are in the ArcGIS online web GIS environment, where we coordinate all of our data. So you can see, we're in Sweden here-- here in the middle of Sweden here in Karlstad. Here is Karlstad city. And project here is right outside.

So we started with getting in basic information in the beginning. The property lines-- so this is the property here inside the big one. And we started gathering different data layers. So we could see, for example, this is in a cultural heritage protection area, right next to it. So this data is actually being streamed from the government agencies in Sweden that control it.

We started gathering information early. We wanted to get some information about underground piping. But in the beginning, we didn't have access to any schematics.

But we actually got some hand sketches from a property manager out here. He did some just hand sketches. And we thought it's better to put it in the digital platform than it ending up in a drawer somewhere, so we could actually have these sketches in the 3D model. But then when we came a bit later in the project, we actually got the full DWG of the piping network.

And then we started doing lots of analysis in the area. So we, for example, did a noise analysis because there's a railroad in the south and there's a highway in the north. So we did lots of different noise analysis in the project, and we gathered all the information in this platform.

We did geotechnical surveys where we sent out the people with the big drills drilling into the ground, finding out the geotechnical conditions for the site. You can see where the drill points were, and you got some information of the drilling. But in that one, that actually resulted in a report that said the area was good. It was stable, except for along this river here. There's quite a steep slope that we wanted to keep away from.

So they said for us to keep 50 meters away from this slope, but that was only as a line of text in a report. So then we visualized it actually here in the model, so we could see exactly where is this line that we should try and stay behind this. We did some stormwater analysis and early-stage identifying low points where it can be water gatherings in torrential rains.

We did ground pollutions. We were out on site, tested for ground pollutants. And here we could see some sites that they found some pollutants. And then you can go in, and see exactly which kind of pollutants, which levels they were at. And we did some just initial mapping.

There's, like I said, a big road in the north and a railroad in the south, where there's safety distances that you can actually be within these. But then there are other laws and requirements that you have to think about. So we had all the background data gathered in this project, so that could then help us when we started developing the architectural concept, and also when we did a volume study, here done in Revit.

So we did just a simple volume study in Revit. We got the volume study in here to provide some context. And then we actually have-- this is quite powerful, I think a point cloud.

So there's a point cloud for all of Sweden. It's not super-highly detailed. But there is actually one point cloud for all of Sweden, where we went in the GIS and filtered out the vegetation.

So this was actually being used here, since I said this was a cultural heritage area. That has to do a bit with there's an old historical building here. That's quite important.

So then we had meetings with the municipality. And they were wondering about the visual impact of this new development from this historical site, where we could then go in the model and show that it should be quite all right, actually, with the vegetation cover. And they could themselves go into the model and check this.

And me working as the coordinator for all these digital files, I didn't have to be in the meetings with them, because these kind of web platforms are quite easy to navigate. So if you can navigate Google Earth or something, you can navigate this platform. So then the project manager from Sweco could use it by herself, or the municipal municipality could use it by themselves, to go in and study the model deeper. So that was the Karlstadt project.

So the next project, I will show a bit about this, like I said, Trangkaren. This is the site of the Sweco head office. It's an early-stage architecture and planning project. It's located right in the center in Stockholm on Kungsholmen. The client is the property owner of the property Arheim.

And here, Sweco was responsible for the architectural concept for half of the site. This was a joint architecture venture with another architect firm that did one of the buildings, and Sweco did one of the buildings, in these early stages for the zoning for the detailed plan. So I will show that quickly now.

And so again, we're back in the same type of web model here, where we can zoom in to Stockholm here. Here, we can see, we have a 3D model of all of Stockholm, which actually Stockholm municipality-- Stockholm City. They share openly. It's open data to get this building layer.

So then this is the block here. I'm sitting in this building right now. This is the Sweco head office-- this entire big building here. And like I said, in this project, the city image and the skyline was a very important issue that we could use this model to investigate.

So in the beginning of the project, there were identified some important view points that are going to be very important to follow during the project's development, how these different architectural proposals would be visible from these points. So we gather them. And actually here also, right to the north here, we have Bromma airport, which is a city airport of Stockholm. And the in-flight flying is right over this site, actually. So we also have some height restrictions from the Swedish Aviation Agency.

And I've only seen it displayed as a 2D map with some lines that says the heights. But we could actually then put those heights into the 3D model and have a visual impact of where the height limitations of the flying for this airport is, so we could all see how we adjusted to that. And then we can see, here are some of the examples of how this block could be developed. It's not finalized yet. It's still in the process. It's out for public consultation right now.

But then, we could have these volumes in. We can turn them off. And we can go to different sites in the city that we prepared here-- these viewpoints that we set earlier.

Then we could save those sets as bookmarks. So we go into one place. Turn on the two proposals. And during the working process, this was actually being used to try different alternatives and see their impact on the skyline.

So we did different detailing. I think we did a lot of different proposals, actually, during this project. And all of them could be studied in detail, then, in this model by the urban planners of the municipality themselves. So they didn't need us to sit in on on all the meetings. They could themselves go in and see how these buildings affected the skyline from different views.

And like I said, this project is still ongoing. And if it were to continue sometime, this platform is quite powerful, even when it comes to more advanced BIM models. And since we're here right at the Sweco office, I tried putting in our actual BIM model of the Sweco office, so that when you come further in a project like this, you could actually start having the full detailed BIM models in these kinds of web platforms as well, and use that to go deeper and investigate the models more in detail, where you can go in.

And like I said, this is our BIM model of the office where we actually have-- we use it for of furnishing and everything. So we have tables and chairs and furnishing and everything in this model. So it's quite powerful to be able to have these very detailed BIM models in this contextual model of the whole globe, essentially.

So then the last project I will show is Ornsberg, another project here in Stockholm. It's a detailed plan project. Like I said, it's a transformation of a light industrial area into residential. Here, Sweco were responsible for helping the city with the zoning, the detailed plan. And also, we did the architectural program's design guidelines for this area-- architectural design guidelines.

And here, we used a BIM and GIS then to visualize all these different architectural companies' BIM models together, because the city planners from the city at one time in the project were having difficulty to grasp the project as a whole, since most of the architects presented just their building and how it looked. But they needed to see all of them in the context. So we used this model to put all of them together. And here, we actually used Autodesk Forma, formerly known as Spacemaker when we did this project, to do some quick site studies as well. So I will show that quickly now.

So again, we're in the south of Stockholm, right outside the city center. So here, all of these different buildings are being done by different architects. So the planners that the city had had difficulty understanding the full impact of this. And they wanted to visualize the buildings in their context to be able to have these models in meetings to be able to go around, have discussions in meetings, set which were going to be crucial angles to be studied further, or where to do real architectural renderings later on in the project.

So like you can see here, there are quite detailed, actually, BIM models of most of the blocks here. And it could, as the previous model, also be used to try different alternatives-- different heights of different buildings. And they could use this to evaluate different options. And also, we did a quick-- this is a building that's being saved-- an existing building.

But in one stage in the project, they started discussing what if we develop this site as well. What would happen? Then we could go in and do really quick volume studies in Autodesk Forma which is like a parametric design tool for these early-stage building volumes.

So then we didn't have to worry about the context model in Forma. We could focus on the block. We could do some different alternatives. And we could quickly and easily get them into this overall model, and see the impact of what it would be like developing this block. But it's decided to keep this.

And what was actually quite good here is, since we were doing the architecture program as well, we could use this model when we were going to develop our illustrations for the architecture program. So here, we could use the BIM GIS model as a base for making all of our illustrations, describing important factors and important design concepts in the project. So these, we got more or less straight out of the BIM/GIS model, and just highlighted some of the lines in Illustrator.

And the same when we were going to do these large landscape sections, to show the project in a wide context. We could slice this in the BIM/GIS model as well, which was really quite nice. Then you can do more or less how big sections you want. And these were also more or less live screenshots-- live exports from the BIM/GIS model, where we went in Illustrator and just highlighted the edges.

So that was for some kind of different ways of working with BIM and GIS in these early-stage architecture projects. Because I think when we see BIM and GIS being shown and being demoed, we see a lot of these big infrastructure projects where it can provide lots of good insights and give context as well. But I wanted to show that actually, it can be used in smaller planning projects and architecture projects as well.

And I think one of the big conclusions that I've experienced from working with this project. This is both an opportunity and a success factor for this. It's communication. It's helping people to communicate in the projects to be able to sit around the same model and have different types of data in one model.

And like I said, I think communication is also a success factor to make this work because it can be quite complex, different file formats, how they integrate. And especially in these very early stages of projects, maybe a lot of people don't work with BIM manuals. Everybody-- especially when there's lots of different maybe architects involved, lots of them work in different ways.

Then communication is very important as well. The early stage in the beginning of the project, sit down with the people involved, explain and talk about how everyone is working, what programs they are working in, what file format they can use to import or export. So that's, I think, a really good benefit.

It's easier to communicate, but it's also a necessity when you want to start combining BIM and GIS data is to communicate with all the parties involved in the project to make sure that everyone understands what we want to do, and to find the most efficient ways of doing this. Because if you just spend some time in the beginning of the project talking with an open mind, I think there's ways of working with this that it doesn't actually have to add any hours to the project. The opposite-- it can actually save hours.

But I think another big conclusion-- I see that this can kind of lead to a big democratization of data. Today, when we see these really advanced BIM models or GIS models in the desktop software, the desktop softwares are becoming really powerful and really advanced, but also then maybe quite hard to use for some people. And maybe when you work with municipalities, for example, a lot of them don't have access to BIM software. So working with these kinds of cloud platforms, web viewers, it's a really good way of democratizing the data, making sure that everyone involved in the project can access the data.

But I think one of the biggest realizations and conclusions for us is it helps us create context-aware architecture. We can make sure that our architecture and our proposals fits in the environment that they adapt, and that they kind of respond to analysis, to cultural heritage, to existing buildings, to surroundings. So I think this is a really important conclusion, because sometimes, maybe some architects have a tendency to forget that there's things going on outside of the building as well.

And this is a really good way of making sure everybody realizes and reminds themselves that the buildings that we draw and produce are actually in our context. They're in a city. So working with this more in the future, I hope it will continue to help us creating better architecture in our projects, because that's what we ultimately want to do.

So that was it for me. Thank you for listening. I hope you have a great conference and see other interesting presentations. So thank you.