Digital Delivery is here. There's an easy part and there's a part that is still being defined.
Digital Delivery today includes a number of Owner-Operators (DOTs) requiring delivery of
- spatially accurate 3D assets,
- terrains/surfaces/meshes suitable for Automated Machine Guidance
- intrinsic data (BIM/CIM): delivered graphics have data attached as needed for cost or business needs (Item Types is the Bentley technology, Property Sets is Autodesk's).
The Common Data Environments (DGN and DWG) support these needs, and the design software (OpenRoads and Civil 3D) workflows are direct and easily adopted. The clients are providing software workspaces that support (and sometimes fulfill) these requirements.
These design/modeling workflow extensions are comparatively direct, well-defined, and easily adopted.
Intrinsic Data (BIM) will see an explosion of adoption, largely because the value-add is very high and the implementation cost is low. The challenge will be managing (ensuring coherence and standardization).
What makes this transformation in data management habit inevitable is the easy power available in the design platforms, with little change to other habits and the huge benefit-cost ratio. Again, standards and data management will be the ongoing strategy issue here.
Digital Twins is a bigger lift.
Whereas Digital Delivery is in-platform (OpenRoads can handle it all, and the client has OpenRoads), Digital Twins is designed to enable full participation - and here is the revolution - requiring only a web browser. Full 3D review without requiring the Design Platform. This is transformational, and it requires new behavior, by both creators and consumers.
Current live-collaboration review processes are sheet-based, because the deliverables are sheet-based.
While sheet-based review will not disappear and review platforms, such as Bluebeam Revu, will grow to better support 3D assets review needs, the logical choice to manage review of digital assets are the platforms that are already built for the design and collaboration of complex spatial assets - the vendors Collaboration Platforms
Designers, Owner-Operators, all the creators in the lifecycle are developing their review processes and they are Platform Heavy (ProjectWise/Bentley Infrastructure Cloud/iTwins platform/SYNCHRO on the Bentley side).
Consumers (collaborators, reviewers, etc.) will have a user experience designed for their easy web-based participation, the onus is on the creators and owners to provide that experience. They are still in the early stages of an agile adoption (there will be a lot of flux as theory is put into practice).
The Collaboration Platforms are architected and implemented to support all the likely needs of our new interconnected always-on digital reality lifecycle. It's a matter of everyone all figuring out what they want and how they want to do it.
Eventually all the players will all converge to a unified standard where they all give up their unique preferences and whims for the greater uniform standard. Right? No, that won't happen.
Broad logical commonalities have emerged already and companies that are not already moving forward to master the principles of our new business ecosystem will be left behind.
The new collaboration and consumption paradigm has come to civil infrastructure. It's inescapable. You may not implement right away, but you better understand what's coming and have some informed adoption and execution plans.
Lead, be prepared to lead, be prepared to adopt, or you will lag. Choose now.
