Esri, Inc. and Autodesk, Inc. announced on 15 November 2017 to start a partnership in incorporating Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and Building Information Modeling (BIM) technologies. This milestone signifies a leap in gaining a better context by visualizing data of the man-made world, the environment, citizens and the networks that combine them all. It is a great news for both public and private infrastructure owners around the world as the partnership enables GIS mapping software and BIM technology to work together seamlessly to optimize their ability to plan, design, build and operate infrastructure assets to save precious time and money.

Both global leaders are thrilled to have such a cooperation and optimistic towards the synergy. “The partnership is far more than the technology integration but is actually a turning point which starts the process of thinking about a better future. The collaboration facilitates CIM (City Information Model) or in natural landscapes like LIM (Landscape Information Models), so our collaboration is just like this dynamic LIM and CIM and BIM’s all working together.” said Jack Dangermond, President of Esri. Jack considers the partnership as a huge moment that can create a sustainable future. Please click here to watch the related video.

“Partnering with Esri is intended to combine the power of GIS mapping and BIM which will enable our shared customers to build anything, anywhere,” said Andrew Anagnost, CEO of Autodesk. “Our goals are to provide industry and city planners the ability to design in the context of the real world. This will allow communities to build more connected, resilient cities, and infrastructure with a focused eye on sustainability.”

Linking up Esri’s GIS power and Autodesk software has the potential to dramatically decrease workflow times, lower costs, reduce waste and coordinate logistics scheduling. The partners plan to work together to better integrate their respective technologies, allowing industry professionals to synthesize information from both GIS and BIM to enable a more connected infrastructure. Authoritative information shared between builders and cities can ensure that projects finish on time, within budget and with less negative impact on the community. The combined GIS and BIM systems will ingest this information for improved project context. Users can then process and visualize this data to monitor the health of the building, make adjustments, and inform ongoing maintenance requirements. Benefits are expected to include unprecedented reductions in permitting through improved stakeholder engagement, more sustainable and resilient design through enhanced project insight, and reduced risk via improved end-to-end flow of materials, resource availability and scheduling during construction.

Communities must become smarter and more sustainable in order to grow drastically. Massive growth will happen while communities strive to become continuously more efficient. By using the data and context around them to make better decisions, the collaboration between GIS and BIM strives to achieve sustainability, while all of this growth and change must have less impact around the world. It is expected everything will be ‘smarter’ – smart cities, smart utilities, smart transportation, smart logistics and smart infrastructure, thus making a more sustainable world through the synergy of GIS and BIM partnership.

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