Sensors are rather simple. They attach to something and gauge temperature, humidity, light, motion, or whatever else you might want measured. Similarly, GPS technology is one-note, in that it only tells you where something is located.
But when you combine these two technologies with 3D modeling in the cloud, you no longer have mere raw data. There’s now a real-time connection between a physical construction site and its digital twin in the cloud—unlocking an infinite number of opportunities for efficiency and project management.
Those three things will dramatically change construction practices by ushering in connected BIM: Building Information Modeling (BIM) plus the power of the cloud. The evolution of BIM is a necessity to address the increasing challenges facing the construction industry.
Construction Disruption
According to McKinsey & Company, “The construction industry is ripe for disruption,” and I couldn’t agree more. First and foremost, construction is a massive industry. It represents 6 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) and employs about 200 million people.
Its biggest challenge is that the world’s population is growing and moving to cities. Today, 3.5 billion people live in cities—by 2050, just 30 years from now, cities will need to accommodate another 2.5 billion. To address that need would mean building almost 1,000 buildings every day for the next 30 years.
Unfortunately, construction is one of the least-prepared…