Eric Suesz
Last year at this time, I was riding a bike along the canals of Glasgow, tagging along with an extremely talented film crew from BBC StoryWorks to help document the incredible progress Scottish Canals has made in revitalizing their waterways. The film that came out of this trip, Europe’s First Smart Canal, is beautiful. We’re extremely proud to have partnered with everyone involved to tell this story.
This story has legs
We’ve seen this story written about in multiple places since the release of that video, most recently this week in Informed Infrastructure magazine. The article, Sea to Sea on the Scottish Canals: Centuries of Infrastructure Innovation Culminate in the Ever-Changing Now, talks about how the canals were abandoned, unsafe, and prone to flooding.
In the story, Scottish Canals interim CEO Richard Millar explains how all that changed when they undertook a revolutionary task to outfit the canals with sensors and bring it back into navigational and recreational use. They did it using tools like InfoWorks ICM and ICM Live to collect weather and sensor data that can automatically draw down the water before it rains. A simple idea, yet one that is quite difficult to achieve on such a large scale without the right tools and planning.
As part of this story, Informed Infrastructure interviewed Autodesk Innovyze Vice President Colby Manwaring about the project, which you can watch right here. Colby always has a great way of breaking things down and making it clear and simple why these kinds of projects are so important. Give it a watch.š
Digital twins don’t just happen
This dream of digital twin realization was in some way made possible by our software, of course. But when it comes right down to it, these kinds of large-scale, innovative water projects only happen because of the determination of water professionals who care deeply about the communities they serve. Many thanks to Scottish Canals and Informed Infrastructure for continuing to spread the word about this inspiring project.