F1 Grand Prix Through Autodesk Build and Autodesk Forge

FERNANDO MALARD: Hello, and thank you for attending this case study at Autodesk University 2022. My name is Fernando Malard. I'm a civil engineer and CTO with Ofcdesk. Here is a case study about F1 Grand Prix through Autodesk Build and Autodesk Forge. Also, I would like to introduce our CEO, Mauricio Ritzmann, which joined us today.

MAURICIO RITZMANN: Hi, Mauricio Ritzmann here. I'm based out of Naperville, Illinois. I'm an architect and serving as a CEO for Ofcdesk since 2005.

FERNANDO MALARD: OK. Thank you, Mauricio. So this case study will be presenting how Ofcdesk helped Miami Grand Prix's race track construction process by creating a set of software solutions, integrating Civil 3D to Autodesk Build, custom mobile application, and viewer using Autodesk Forge. We will also explore all project challenges, aspects, and solutions.

I would like to begin with a reminder of this case study learning objectives. And we are going to talk, of course, about the Formula 1 track construction process. This is a mission critical project, and you're going to understand why we're considering these tasks, Autodesk Build Asset Management, which is the essential key for this project, Autodesk forge customization possibilities, its set of APIs and how they leverage the solution, and we're going to also learn about custom software for the field, both mobile and desktop solutions.

MAURICIO RITZMANN: But before we get started with the race track project, let's talk a little bit about the F1 history and our inspiration for this project. Here's a great quote from Walt Disney that truly represents what happens in projects like this. In order to be success, this project requires a lot of talented people, from engineers and construction workers, through F1 staff, race track teams, and of course, amazing drivers.

At Ofcdesk, we have a mission critical team. It's a team that has no problem being anywhere at any time. It's also important to them to have a skill set to perform under a lot of pressure. F1 started in 1950 with a seven-races championship when Nino Farina from Italy, driving an Alfa Romeo car, won three races and became the first world champion.

In 2021, Max Verstappen won 10 of 22 races and became the first one world champion for the first time driving a Red Bull car. You can see points changed a lot, but competition is still there. Last year was amazing.

Through all the years, there were several different drivers in teams, and this board shows how we talented drivers and constructors are. We can see Michael Schumacher is still the driver with more championships, seven. We can also see that Ferrari is by far the most successful team. Lewis Hamilton, from England, holds amazing stats.

F1 is a passionate sport in Brazil, our home country, as its apogee between '70s and '90s. Brazil won eight world championships in 20 years with three different amazing drivers. Ayrton Senna, my favorite, did some remarkable races. From these pictures, you can see how these race cars and tracks evolved a lot during the last 20 years. Safety has become a concern once drivers are dying, and we lost 32 of them.

Only 1952, helmets become mandatory. In 1967, seat belts became too. In 1970, fans had to stand 3 meters away from the track, and barriers were introduced. You can see here how cars become safer compared to '50s. And '80s, a hospital and a rescue helicopter were also mandatory. Unfortunately, in 1994, two drivers died in a single-race weekend, one of them, my favorite, Ayrton Senna. It is still considered the darkest week in Formula 1. After that, more and more safety measures started to play out.

In 2006, Tech Pro barriers start to be used. They can absorb 40% more energy compared to tire piles. In 2018, the halo cockpit protection became mandatory, and you can see in this picture that it actually works.

FERNANDO MALARD: Thank you, Mauricio. Now, that we saw how competition and safety are key elements in Formula 1, let's talk about the Miami Grand Prix project. So to start, let's take a look at the stats of this race. So our client, Apex Circuit Design, they hired us to create this project. They also had to manage their subcontractors. Project time was about four months, so we started by December of last year. The project has a really tight schedule, so mission critical, as we said.

The race weekend is going to happen by May 6 to 8, and now, of course, we need to have everything working and testing way before that because we have lots of logistics coming in. You have staff, you have equipment, so it was a very, very tight schedule. The back end of this project was composed by Autodesk Build and our Ofcdesk systems integration hub. Deliverables are going to be a simple mobile app for the field team, Civil3D plugin in a web portal with a viewer for managers there and stakeholders.

Here's a Google 3D image of the track. As you can see, it was very challenging since and it's been constructed around a stadium. On the upper left corner, you can see that even the track intercepted a bunch of ramps and bridges on the Miami Turnpike, and that was also very challenging. The circuit construction time is really short and asset management is a key element in the process. And of course, you can't postpone the race. You have a date, and that must happen at that specific date.

So some other stats, circuit name is the Miami International Autodrome. First race was held this year. They have a 10-year contract. Frankly, it's around 5,000 kilometers, around 3,200 miles. There are 19 turns in this track.

Race this year has 57 laps with a total of 308 kilometers, and a lap record was made by the winner, Max Verstappen, 1 minute 31 seconds and 0.361 milliseconds. Second place was made by Charles Leclerc from Ferrari, and third, by Carlos Sainz, also from Ferrari. You see by the times, the pretty tight race, and it was amazing see that race happening around the stadium and all the venues they created.

Now, let's explore problems and goals of this project. Let's start with the problems. So managing thousands of assets in this case is not easy, especially with a tight schedule like this. This type of construction managing, multiple super contractors and different levels of digital adoption, it's also challenging. As this project involves people from different countries, different time frames, and different time zones, it was very complex to manage all of them together. At the same time, managing all the equipment and the staff coming in from the Formula 1 and inspections from FIA and all other surrounding interactions with the Miami city.

So finally, providing constant progress of the track construction to managing stakeholders, it was also a problem because usually, they don't have any CAD skills, and they need to have a way to keep up with the project progress in a simple manner.

So the goals of this project was a way to interact our assets and make them integrated with the process. We're using Autodesk build, using a simple mobile app, mobile app for the field guides, and also managing issues. Sharing projects to a simple viewer was a deliverable.

They need to provide a feedback from whatever is happening throughout the construction days. And of course, we need to empower the engineers with the Civil 3D extensions and plugins to integrate with Autodesk build. So the reports that you can generate help them to track all the installation process, even internally or with their subcontractors.

So what were the existing technologies we have used? So for this project, of course, we use the Autodesk technologies. First of them is Autodesk Construction Cloud, also known as ACC, and their Autodesk Build Module that allows us to manage assets and issues. Civil3D, as their design software also needs to be integrated with the process using Autodesk Forge API, to both integrate Civil3D to ACC, but also, the mobile app to ACC as well in a way that we can reuse all the information in ACC and leverage all these other solutions.

But we also have our systems integration hub that are working together with Forge, allowed us to extend all the core functionalities, creating custom reports, accessing metadata, and provide really simple experience to the field teams. Our hub can integrate Forge with other systems like Salesforce, Excel, Google Maps, Dropbox, and any other system that does have an API. And that's where we can consolidate information coming from clients database or legacy systems to the process and make them all together in a cohesive way.

For this project, we used three of our services inside our systems integration hub. First one is the authentication service that provide us to use a unique log in, validating users from both Civil3D and mobile apps to ACC. Of course, we need to be compatible with the permission set and granting access inside ACC so each user is subjected to their access information inside ACC.

The viewing services that allow us to communicate with the portal and provide a viewing experience using ACC data, but also, using client's information. And finally, report services that allow us to create custom reports for the customer, clients, and subcontractors. By using these tools together, they were able to track the process, generate reports, in process accountability, responsibilities, and make everybody work a cohesive team.

So the solutions we created specifically for this project using these technologies were inside Civil3D first. We created a plugin. This plugin helped them to leverage the content of the track project. Of course, we need to sync this content with the expected assets inside ACC and use these blocks as the graphical representation of these assets. We did that thinking about how we are going to expose that in a viewer for managers and stakeholders.

Next part of this process, it's within Autodesk Build. We need to prepare the data to be in sync with those assets, so we need to determine the ideal categories for those assets, matching elements in the track design. So we have barriers, we have fences, we have tech pro barriers, we have big assets like bridges and stands. So everything needs to be mapped inside Autodesk Build in order to feed all the other elements like the mobile app and Civil3D plugin.

And of course, through our hub, we are able to compile all this information and format in a way it's friendly with all the other endpoints. Then we need to understand then the map how we would identify those assets in the track. Our idea is to use QR codes, and we did that. Of course, they need to be weather resistant. The track, it's an open air, so we need to be resistant to rain, hot sun, and all other elements that can damage those QR codes.

So we created a QR code standard in terms of how they match categories in ACC, and the process began with their installation, and also, at the same time, gluing those QR codes to the elements in the track, and they're using the mobile app to handle that. So after they install the assets, they used our mobile app created especially for this project, and they scan the QR code. The mobile app can then detect which category of asset, the type of assets for assets that repeat across the track, like barriers, for example. They have a sequential number that would allow them to identify them individually.

And of course, the UI, it's really simple. So workers using equipment and [INAUDIBLE] they can easily manipulate the software inside their mobile phones. And of course, we also plan to have this fully integrated with ACC-- same login, same security protocols-- to allow them to just change what they're allowed to do and what they're supposed to do in terms of workflows.

Further, inside this mobile app, we need to predict two types of assets. We have simple assets like barriers, fences, and these individual elements, but also, we have complex assets like bridges and stands. And for addressing these complex assets, that would take days to be fully installed. We created a checklist system also back ended by the Autodesk build, to allow workers to visit these assets on a daily basis and through a simple checklist to check the current status. And of course, all this information is going to be sent back to ACC.

As a final resource, we also implemented in the mobile app a manual entry because sometimes, the asset is too big and you can't find the QR code. So you can identify it visually, select the categories, and then select the element from the list.

Another final piece of this solution was a mobile viewer. It can be either desktop view through browser or in a mobile phone or an iPad. And this, of course, can be behind the customer website, where they can see the track, the progress and visually, just manipulate as a simple browsing experience and see via color-coded assets in the design coming from Civil3D, the current status of the assets.

So at any time from anywhere, they can visit this portal and see a color-code representation of each asset. And if they select them individually, they can even see the checklist status and how that asset is composed by its properties. Further, we also implemented a filter, so as you can see here in this image, you can just see the installed assets, assets with issues, and provide an easy way for anyone to quickly see what's happening to the track.

Further, we also add a report capability to this viewer, so they can use this tool to generate weekly reports and talk to their subcontractors and understand if they are reaching all the expected installation pace throughout the weeks and be able to even control payments for the subcontractors based on their performance. And these reports can be easily exported as Excel spreadsheets.

So there are some interesting discoveries throughout this project, something that we didn't expect at all. Let me show you a couple of them. First one was about the GPS precision. So we assumed that our mobile phones could do a great job identifying precise locations in the field, and using their native GPS, we start doing some tests. So for that, we create this grid with a 10-feet increment on each direction, and we ask the field guides to start visiting locations at the track construction site and start taking pictures and georeferencing those points.

While doing that, we understood that either the device hardware can make a difference, but also, the system can make also difference. So using both iOS and Android device with the multiple different devices, we collected results, as you can see on the image, on the below side of the right side. And then you can see that some of these identification points, they are not matching the blue rectangles that represent barriers.

So because of that, we drop the use of the GPS geolocation, and we start using the viewer to match, install the assets with ACC backend. And that worked, and we quickly improved the mobile viewer to be used in a mobile device. So they have the field guides using both the asset installation software, but also the viewer. So it worked quite well, and we are able to continue the project without any harm.

And the second interesting aspect is that we have this nominal dimension of the barriers, but the reality, once you install them, as you can see in this image, they have a little gap in between. That's a really small gap, so in around 13 feet bearer, you have a 0.07 gap, but that could be very important once you start stacking barriers. So in a long strait, and this track does have a big one, they start accumulating, and at the end, they had to install two additional barriers in the straight line because of this error accumulation.

So one thing we have learned is that the assets should be well-represented in the design time, matching the reality and not the nominal dimensions. So the mobile app, in this case, helped in one problem solving that we didn't expect, and we are very happy with that.

MAURICIO RITZMANN: Thank you, Fernando. What were the major results and benefits of this project? There were several, but we like to highlight these-- asset management with the multiple subcontractors; substantial time and cost reduction; quick response to last-minute change, inspection from FIA, for example; feed back to the manager and stakeholders; quick and easy rollout of updates, for example; reports to support project management and accountability; and centralized issue management.

FERNANDO MALARD: Thank you, Mauricio. We really hope you enjoyed this case study and it helped you to better understand the circuit design process, asset management, and how you can use Autodesk Build and Ofcdesk desk systems integration hub altogether through Forge API to leverage this solution and address a project like this, a mission critical project.

I really would like to thank you, and thank you, Mauricio, and thank you for watching this presentation.

MAURICIO RITZMANN: Thank you all.