Anyone who has worked within the AEC industry or has taken any real interest in it at all is aware of the reputation it has long held around its relative aversion to technological adoption. There are plenty of reasons for this – some valid, others less so – but little doubt remains about the industry’s ability to adapt and change where it makes sense. Today, there are a number of solutions and workflows that are becoming ubiquitous for construction firms around the United States and the rest of the world that would have never been dreamed of just a couple of decades ago. We’ve also noticed that these adoptions come in phases of sorts.
As has been noted a few times recently at Geo Week News, it has felt as though a new phase is being entered within the AEC technology where integrations and collaborations are being announced among major players in the space. If you talk to professionals using all of these new tools, the number one complaint you’ll most often hear is that there are too many disparate tools today. It’s better than not having options available, of course, but having to constantly toggle through different applications and screens to complete one piece of a project is not a sustainable solution. Large companies acquiring smaller startups was a big phase to help cut down on this to some degree – and of course this continues and will continue moving forward – but larger companies coming together is something we’ve also seen plenty of recently. Below, you can find six recent examples of this covered at Geo Week News.
Nemetschek Group and Hexagon partner to accelerate digital transformation in AEC
We start with a partnership between two of the biggest names in the geospatial and AEC industries with Hexagon and the Nemetschek Group. The two companies originally announced a new partnership back in March of this year, with the initial focus being around promoting the value of digital twins and increasing their adoption. This is a prime example of how these collaborations can make sense, as Nemetschek Group boasts a number of companies with expertise in AEC software solutions, including around digital twins, while Hexagon has both the hardware and software expertise in the space.
Trimble and Exyn Technologies to collaborate on proof of concept for fully autonomous robotic solution
A lot of the integrations and collaborations that we’ll talk about here and that are taking place in general in the AEC space revolve around software solutions, but it’s important to note that these partnerships are happening on the hardware side of the equation as well. In this case, Trimble and Exyn got together late in 2022 and announced a collaboration for robotics in the construction space. Specifically, the former contributed its X7 scanner while the latter added its SLAM-based ExynPak, all to be integrated with a Spot Robot from Boston Dynamics. The collaboration has since continued and been put into practice for demonstration purposes, as discussed in a recent webinar hosted at Geo Week News.
Matterport, Procore announce continued integration between platforms
With this integration, we have something of a mix between software and hardware integrations, as in the middle of last year Procore announced that their features for things like RFIs, observations, and coordination issues can be used directly within a Matterport Digital Twin. This includes both software and hardware from Matterport, who have their own camera system to create these digital twins. (Other methods can be used as well.) Traditionally, the workflows with these features were typically done around a 2D drawing or CAD imagery, rather than the 3D interactive models that are provided by Matterport.
Autodesk and Nemetschek Group Announce Interoperability Agreement
The Nemetschek Group has really been at the center of much of this trend around integrations and partnerships, and this is another recent example of this. Here, we have connections being made between two of the largest software providers for the industry, connecting key cloud and desktop products in a move they say will enhance existing interoperability between the two companies’ industry cloud and desktop products and improve the fluent exchange of information across solutions.”
ALLPLAN announces merger with SCIA and FRILO for enhanced BIM workflow
This example is admittedly a little bit different than some of the other integrations and partnerships noted above, as here we’re talking about companies under the same umbrella. Specifically, we’re once again talking about the Nemetschek Group. Still, it fits into this same trend as these were separate products with some siloes between them, and now they can all be found under the same umbrella. Their goal with this merger is that this merger “will accelerate the path to data-driven multi-material design and pre-fabrication.”
Skydio and Trimble announce new strategic collaboration
Finally, we have another hardware integration between two industry leaders, this time in the air as opposed to the previously mentioned ground robot. For this collaboration, which was announced last year at Trimble Dimensions, GNSS receivers as well as some software from Trimble are integrated with UAVs from Skydio. The two companies pointed toward the AEC industry, as well as utilities and transportation agencies, as those who would most benefit from this collaboration.
