What’s the largest bridge you can imagine designing and building 100% digitally? No need to wonder – it’s a reality with Norway’s Sotra Bridge. Part of a highway connecting Sotra Island to the city of Bergen, the Sotra Bridge is the world’s largest to be completely digital from design to execution.
Conceptualising the four-lane suspension bridge with pedestrian walkway involved some 1 million objects and 60 million data points, not to mention ensuring a seamless information flow among experts from 45 countries across 3 continents.
In a project as massive as this one, the right 3D viewer can make all the difference. That’s why Norconsult Digital, a Norwegian provider of digital solutions to the real estate and infrastructure industries, is so excited about the latest version of the Autodesk Platform Services (APS) Viewer. The digital consultancy, which was heavily involved in optimising the viewer, is committed to demonstrating that the APS Viewer is powerful enough to handle the biggest and most demanding of projects, using the Sotra Bridge as a benchmark.
- Take reinforcement bars, for example, explains Øyvind Norvald Jensen, Product Manager at Norconsult Digital.
- The APS Viewer can identify how many are in the model, and the Sotra Bridge had more than 600,000. As each bar can have up to 100 different properties, the total number of properties just for rebar was in the tens of millions.
The optimised APS Viewer would be capable of rendering such huge models in great detail with ease.
How did Norconsult Digital get involved in optimising the viewer in the first place?
- Our data was growing, our models were expanding, but the tech in the field wasn’t keeping up, recalls Ole Magne Kvindesland, Product Manager at Norconsult Digital.
- We put in a lot of time and effort to get things so that our customers could easily view and navigate 3D plans. But one challenge remained: they didn’t have hardware capable of loading such large-scale models.
It was with this and other concerns, such as slow loading times and the tendency of certain elements to crash, that Norconsult Digital went to Autodesk. They wanted to find a way to close the gap between what their clients needed the APS Viewer to do and what the solution actually provided. The team at Autodesk decided this was a prime opportunity for Vanguard, its customer engagement programme, and invited Norconsult Digital to join.
A partnership producing tangible results
With Norconsult Digital on board as part of the Vanguard programme, Autodesk took on the challenge of creating what is arguably the best BIM viewer on the global scene, featuring optimised streaming technology, an improved cache mechanism, and enhanced rendering efficiency. Both teams point to numerous performance gains. The viewer now offers much faster loading, smoother navigation, and scalable viewing, with drastically fewer lags or hiccups than in earlier versions. Most significantly, users can enjoy a faster viewing experience on their phones or tablets. There’s no app necessary – they can just paste the relevant URL into their browser. It’s a prime example of what’s possible when two partners work together over a period of several years: Autodesk and Norconsult Digital can now provide their customers with the ability to work with bigger models in a neatly navigable overview, greatly simplifying management of building projects – all thanks to the optimised APS Viewer.
- We’re really excited about this new portability aspect, as it represents a huge step forward,” says Øyvind Norvald Jensen, Product Owner at Norconsult Digital.
- Before, our customers had to lug around huge, heavy computers, plus back-up batteries, and performance was poor. But now they can access the data on their iPad or mobile in the field, and the new platform can support the bigger models and growing data volumes. It’s a real game-changer.”
A different kind of collaboration
Heading up the Autodesk team was Hannah Choi, Senior Product Manager.
- Norconsult Digital was very engaged and prompt with its feedback, she says.
- They’ve been an amazing partner for us. They were always eager to share their performance expectations, customer pain points, and beta feedback, along with videos to describe issues. We’re thrilled that we were able to deliver what Norconsult was most looking for. The partnership we’ve built has been one of the most rewarding experiences for me.
For its part, Norconsult Digital specifically chose to collaborate with Autodesk. Such an approach made sense as the APS Viewer and other Autodesk APIs were already deeply integrated into Norconsult workflows, and the close relationship with and trust in Autodesk made it possible to share feedback in an open and transparent dialogue.
- Autodesk is a big and established player, but still wants to innovate, says Marius Jablonskis, Digital Transformation Leader at Norconsult, the parent company of Norconsult Digital.
Norconsult Digital and its customers are already seeing the value, saying that the latest version of the APS Viewer is a hundred times better. The digital consultancy’s ISY product line integrates the viewer, which enables model viewing and navigation, as well as other tools. One product where the viewer really comes to the fore is in ISY Project Controls. This Norconsult Digital solution streamlines essential processes for detailed project cost estimation and cost control in construction companies. The APS Viewer supports these features and enhances the solution’s comprehensive scope and accessibility.
What’s next?
Work on the APS Viewer certainly hasn’t stopped.
- We’re planning to work on more exciting performance features this year, Choi says with a smile.
- We want to keep innovating and refining our viewer to make sure it stays among the best on the market.”
Kvindesland also wants to see the strategic partnership continue. He says the close collaboration has positioned Norconsult Digital as a systems integrator for Autodesk, so the Norwegian consultancy can create solutions for its customers with Autodesk components.
- Our market needs scalable, easy-to-access tools that don’t require expensive hardware. With Autodesk, we can develop and offer such tools.
Jablonskis is equally excited about possibilities for the next step:
- It’s easy to collaborate when companies share a strategy, a vision; they can move forward hand in hand. Moving forward in the right direction.
Øyvind Norvald Jensen
Product Owner
Ole Magne Kvindesland
Product Manager
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