Technology can help bridge infrastructure funding gap (with related video)

To adequately build and maintain roads, bridges and other infrastructure between now and 2020, the global price tag is $57 trillion, says Rich Humphrey, senior director of infrastructure products at Autodesk. San Rafael, Calif.-based Autodesk is a producer in 3D design, engineering, and products used in building or improving the infrastructure.

The problem, says Humphrey, is that government budgets worldwide only have $36 trillion to fund those infrastructure projects—a $21 trillion funding gap. Infrastructure design processes, he says, “need to be more productive, and infrastructure projects and assets need to be made more fundable through public-private partnerships and other approaches.”

In the video interview linked at the bottom of this article, Humphrey discusses how Autodesk InfraWorks 360 has transformed the status quo and made the infrastructure building process more efficient.

The Autodesk product, says Humphrey, “enables users and government owners to take disparate data sources, including CAD drawings GIS data, building information modeling (BIM) models, and aggregate all that into a single 3-D model environment that can help facilitate the design process on a project.”

Humphrey’s firm has also leveraged the cloud with the Autodesk cloud service to automate the process of pulling in the project data. “It pulls in all the sources of data via the cloud service and coordinates the data. The system automatically generates a 3-D model, so it puts in roads and sewer drains, it drapes imagery, and it extrudes buildings. Through the system, project stakeholders wind up with an initial context model, and it helps our customers facilitate the planning process. The setup enables early, early decision-making, because stakeholders can see that initial context model of what’s already at the project site,” explains Humphrey.

Designers and developers, he says, can alter the design site with demolitions, new roads, etc. “They can sketch in their proposals very quickly in the real world context.” The cloud service, adds Humphrey, enables project personnel to efficiently interact across a multitude of disciplines. Go here for more information on Autodesk government solutions.

In this video interview, Autodesk’s Rich Humphrey discusses how his firm’s products can make infrastructure project design more efficient.

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