The paper entitled “Data flows in the smart city” presented by César Gómez Ferrer, BIM Manager at Global Omnium and Sergio Aznar, GIS Manager at Idrica, was selected to be published and presented at the EUBIM 2023 Congress, as one of the three best articles submitted at the event.
The partnership between both experts has been key to bring together the potential of environmental management included in a GIS and the centralized information provided by BIM (Building Information Modelling) in a single software suite: Xylem Vue powered by GoAigua.
This platform, which is the result of the partnership between Idrica and Xylem, enables water utilities to connect and manage their digital assets and optimize their operations through a holistic, simple and secure solution. In addition, the work carried out to draw up the paper has led to further advances in the GIS and BIM functions included in the platform.
GIS can quantify the water resources available in reservoirs to ensure supply and regulate usage, as well as analyze other issues such as flood risk. Conversely, BIM is used to create and manage data during the design, building and operations process, helping to provide a reliable basis for decision-making.
EUBIM 2023’s endorsement of the paper places Idrica and Global Omnium at the forefront of international GIS/BIM integration, not only in the water cycle and in terms of digital transformation, but also as pioneers in this technology.
The article puts forward the idea that in an increasingly urbanized world, cities are beginning to use information systems to improve efficiency and the quality of life of their inhabitants. These cities are using technology and data to address urban challenges.
The water sector is one of the areas where smart cities can have a positive impact, through the deployment of monitoring and management systems that guarantee a sustainable and secure water supply for citizens.
The paper explores the challenges of integrating different information systems, focusing on the experience gained from combining geographic information systems and the details provided by BIM models for capturing, storing and analyzing data.
In the context of smart cities, this enables better asset and human resource management, leading to greater efficiency and sustainability in the water cycle. These models can simulate different scenarios and evaluate their impact on cities by facilitating human-machine communication through three-dimensional representations.
In conclusion, the integration of BIM models and the environmental knowledge provided by GIS tools in smart cities is an important strategy to improve urban management and planning, and thus bring significant benefits for the cities of the future in terms of efficiency, sustainability, transparency and innovation.
The need to continue working on the development and implementation of technological solutions that enable more efficient resource management and sustainable urban planning has been highlighted thanks to the paper presented at the EUBIM 2023 Congress on the combined use of BIM and GIS in smart cities.
