Geographic Information Systems and Building Information Modeling have developed side-by-side over a period of more than three decades, with civil engineers, architects and contractors using both types of data to better inform airport, transit, road and even general building projects.

尽管有这些相似之处，但吐温从未在这些年的发展中见面。GIS捕获并创造了分析空间和地理信息的机会，而BIM的相关参数则侧重于建筑物的容忍度和施工相位，捕获了建筑物及其基础设施的相互作用。

Autodeskand Esri—the company that invented Geomapping in the 1960s and has been the dominant player in GIS technology from its Redlands, Calif., campus—announced a new partnership in 2017 on workflows linking GIS and BIM. At its user conference in June this year, ESRI showed off a new product: ArcGIS GeoBIM. As the dominant GIS vendor, it’s a significant move for Esri to say it has built a web portal for connecting ArcGIS to Autodesk Construction Cloud.

Even though it’s just the beginning of the integration, such GIS-to-BIM workflows could eliminate the wholesale recreation of data from one system to the other that is currently required, a problem that has generated mountains of repetitive work for virtual design and construction departments over the years.

John Tocci，John Tocci，洛杉矶PCL建筑服务公司的VDC经理，竞争了古怪的美国调查FT，这是测量师在测量师中常见的标准测量单位，当时他正在为Los的合并租赁租赁设施工作时Angeles International Airport’s Landside Access Modernization Program. All of the survey data on the airport’s land was listed in survey ft, a measurement first adopted by the U.S. in 1866, which specifies that one meter is equal to 39.37 in. and 1,200 m is equal to 3,937 ft. To convert survey ft to meters, Tocci and his team had to divide those two numbers.

他说：“您提出的十进制位置有10个位置[.3048006096]。”“美国的调查脚不同于小数脚，因为有了小数十进制，它们只是将其截断为0.3048。”

Tocci says that what ended up happening was, since the survey ft doesn’t match up with a decimal ft but isn’t really used outside of surveying, the Autodesk software they used couldn’t handle the conversion.

“You end up with a shared coordinate system that’s actually inaccurate when you’re round-tripping data, just assuming a foot of one sort is the same as a foot of another sort, when your shared coordinate system is based on your survey coordinates,” he says.

当时唯一的答案是重新创建的those coordinates for the project in decimal ft.

去年，该调查FT最终作为Revit和Civil 3D的测量单位添加。但是Arcgis Geobim不仅可以解决此类小问题，也是多年工作的结果。Autodesk和Esri曾在开放API和更好的数据共享方面工作，但是Arcgis Geobim是两家供应商的工程师一起工作，融合调查和设计工作流程的第一批产品。

基于Web的服务仍在今年晚些时候发布之前进行测试，但是Enr与几位工程师进行了交谈，他们说，到目前为止，其工作流程是带来更好的GIS-TO-BIM数据体验的重要第一步新利luck。

HNTB的牙买加车站的5D数字双胞胎允许垂直和水平景观，突出显示阶段区域，并将其用作空间书签。
Screenshots courtesy of HNTB

“What we’re trying to create is a single source of truth access point for anyone on the team to see the latest design information, whether that’s coming from 2D civil [bird’s-eye view] as well as the 3D design aspects, which all need to be visualized in 3D vertically,” says Darin Welch, HNTB associate vice president and national geospatial and virtual engagement manager. “We need a way to see horizontal and vertical in a way that brings all of that information together in that single source of truth.”

Both horizontal and vertical views are needed for projects such as rail lines, train stations and airports since they show how a whole system interacts while also offering detail on individual components, such as stations and platforms. GIS and BIM data both have roles to play in this comprehensive view.

For the Long Island Rail Road’s Jamaica Station capacity improvements project, Welch and his team at HNTB put on their programmer hats and built a 5D digital twin that had design, schedule and cost estimates for the 10 main stages of the project and 29 sub-stages. The 5D model brought together data from 3ds Max, ArcGIS CityEngine, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Excel, Esri’s Javascript API and other sources. It was a lot of work, but the Jamaica Capacity Improvements Virtual Design and Construction Explorer has helped HNTB keep the project on schedule for completion later this year.

HNTB is the lead heavy civil engineer on part of the expansion of O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. The engineer is designing a central tunnel system for utilities, baggage and passengers. The total cost of the project is expected to be $1.4 billion. “The passenger tunnel is the one that we have been kind of slated to prototype our ArcGIS GeoBIM early adoption,” Welch says.

He says there is less dependency on 4D and 5D modeling on that project than on Jamaica Station, but more reliance on how HNTB pulls together source files from multiple consultants and contractors, along with the 3D BIM data. Airport officials have discussed bringing all project data into a single visualization product for coordination and clash detection. “This is a new underground tunnel,” Welch says. “It’s a pretty extensive underground utility at work at an airport.”

Welch explains that HNTB and the Chicago Department of Aviation have already determined the general tunnel location and are now refining functions and placements. “They have a Point A and Point B but we’re figuring out how it’s laid out in between and how we will allocate the spaces for cargo transfer versus passenger and intermix, all of that with minimal impact to things like utilities.”

After using ArcGIS GeoBIM, Welch sees it as a positive development for establishing a connection between GIS and BIM. “You are connecting directly to Autodesk Construction Cloud’s BIM 360 from ArcGIS Pro, or Autodesk Civil 3D is connecting directly to ArcGIS online or enterprise directly to those managed data services,” he says. “Where we aren’t quite [at] yet is being able to have that same true integration without translation [of the data]. That is not on the web yet. The promise, for us in ArcGIS GeoBIM is it’s the first really strong step toward true web integration.”

Another complex infrastructure project that required robust data from both GIS and BIM is HDR’s design of the $8.2-billion Ontario Line transit system in Toronto. As technical advisor, HDR was responsible for 10 miles of subway, 15 stations, 3D clash detection and project management, models to support 4D phasing, and comprehensive GIS portals that dynamically integrate 2D and 3D design data.

ArcGIS GeoBIM lets engineers and VDC managers simultaneously view a building model and its attached information alongside a GIS map with its assets and 3D data.
屏幕截图由ESRI和HDR提供

HDR的BIM 360通用数据环境每周显示项目进展，包括整合2D设计布局和3D信息的设计进度，以帮助设计师和承包商更好地将信息拟合在一起的方式将其背景下背景化。它目前由320多个设计模型组成，预计到2027年完成时将包含400多个设计模型。

“我认为我们现在略高于4 tb的reality capture data specific to point clouds,” says Cameron Schaefer, transportation data acquisition and reality mesh director at HDR. “We’ve got underground stations, we’ve got above-ground stations, we’ve got all forms of LiDAR data whether it’s fixed wing, helicopter, mobile and terrestrial LiDAR.” HDR’s BIM 360 solution connects to a 3D GIS viewer of vertical and architectural models and integrates reality meshes and LiDAR sources that puts every part of the project into context.

"It’s one thing to bring the 3D models into a GIS environment where you’re looking at a generally flat at grade GIS Map, but you’re not getting the context and the accuracy of the buildings, grading or drainage in relation to real world elevations," Schaefer says. “With our reality capture data, we have assets like the streetlights and the guy wires. You’re seeing all of that collectively when you bring in the high resolution point cloud data.”

BIM 360云连接工具允许HDR动态连接和从GIS获取数据。Schaefer还测试了Arcgis Geobim，并认为它也打开了可能性

Schaefer says this allows the user to see the data layers and levels of a 3D model.

“您真的很想进入Autodesk Civil 3D或Revit模型中构建的元数据，因为它的目的是在本机设计平台内与ESRI场景中的可比工具内的元数据。”

Currently ArcGIS Pro offers “scenes,” a way of tilting up 2D maps and presenting some associated 3D model information. Schaefer calls it a “semi-helpful tool” that allows a user a limited way to view 3D models in ArcGIS Pro, but it doesn’t allow a user to dive into the data of a 3D parametric model.

Schaefer说，对于下游用户，Geobim为他们提供了两个环境。它提供了简化的GIS版本，然后为建筑物，公用事业隧道和其他包含BIM信息的事物提供了，用户可以打开模型，搜索属性集并连接到同一屏幕中BIM 360中可用的内容。它连接了BIM 360中已经可用的内容，并将其放在同一屏幕中。

Schaefer说：“我可以在一个屏幕上打开一个场景，我可以在另一个屏幕上打开360个场景。”“这将与Geobim具有的功能非常相似。不同之处在于，我每次都必须搜索BIM 360上的文件夹层次结构，而不是视觉上使用导航。我必须找到一个模型。我必须通过文件夹寻找该模型。”

对于ESRI和AUTODESK而言，这不仅意味着集成不仅仅是数据。自2016年以来，两家供应商一直在互操作性。

For Esri and Autodesk, this partnership means integration of more than just their data. The two vendors have been working together since 2016 on broader interoperability as well.

“We had divested from a product called Autodesk Utility Design in 2016,” says Theo Agelopoulos, senior director of architecture and engineering design strategy at Autodesk. “That that was kind of when we were beginning to focus more on what is our core business, which is really around designing, building.”

克里斯·安德鲁斯（Chris Andrews）是ESRI的GEO启用系统和Smartcities/3D的小组产品经理，但他之前曾在Autodesk曾在云服务工作。2016年，他和阿格罗普洛斯（Agelopoulos）一起获得了各自的首席执行官（Autodesk的Carl Bass和Esri的Jack Dangermond），并提出了一个三相计划，该计划始于Arcgis Pro，Revit和Civil 3D之间的产品集成。Agelopoulos说，下一阶段将不仅将公司的产品连接到彼此的数据中，而且还将它们从产品之间或产品之间的数据库观点连接起来。

ESRI Arcgis Geobim的产品经理Anthony Renteria说：“ IFC模型是一个拥有700个表的数据库。”“然后，GIS可以拥有数百个存储有关资产的信息的表。这更多的是使用两者在过去的其他方面都无法做任何事情。”

More than 300 models and several different types of LiDAR scanes were integrated into HDR’s BIM 360 visual representation of the Ontario Line project in Toronto.
BIM Integrated Project Map courtesy of HDR

安德鲁斯说，Autodesk-Esri合作伙伴关系的前两年实际上是关于两个供应商，证明他们可以做到这一点，转移了产品路线地图，以便他们甚至可以开始保持一致。确定了两家公司的连接器，可以在数据库中共享数据的点以及云基础架构，并开始进行适当集成。

“Just bringing a layer into an application, that’s been possible since the connectors effort started,” Andrews says. Development hastened over the years to the point where ArcGIS GeoBIM was possible as an actual service, the third phase of the partnership.

“Seeing the project in context with adjacencies—whether it’s additional buildings or utility lines around the site—[and] being in coordination with those constantly allows you to visualize this information within a web browser,” Renteria says. “That was game changing. You’re not just using it internally for internal coordination purposes, but also opening that up to discussions with other teams as well.”