9 July 2020, The Netherlands – WFEO, WGIC, and the UN launched a new white paper that provides the reader with an assessment of global infrastructure investments. Along these lines, it gives an overview of the geospatial and BIM technology ecosystem on the value of Integrated Geospatial and Building Information Modelling (BIM) solutions to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) with a specific focus on resilient infrastructure.
“The value of Integrated Geospatial and Building Information Modelling (BIM) solutions to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) with specific focus on resilient infrastructure” is a collaboration between the World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC), the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) and the WFEO. This white paper discusses the need for resilient infrastructure. It also addresses challenges in the adoption of integrated geospatial and BIM solutions.
Launch
The white paper was launched on July 9th during a side event organized by The World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) at the United Nations High-level Political Forum. The main topic of this UN event is ‘How the lever of science and technology can be used in peri-urban and urban environments to advance sustainable development: the case of implementing Geospatial Engineering.’ This white paper is available from the websites of the WGIC and WFEO.
Building the bridge
“This new white paper on the Value of Integrated Geospatial and Building Information Modelling (BIM) solutions to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) is most welcomed”, says Greg Scott. Mr Scott is the Inter-Regional Advisor for Global Geospatial Information Management at the United Nations Statistics Division. “We appreciate the opportunity to work collaboratively with the WGIC and WFEO in continuing to raise awareness and building the bridge towards resilient infrastructure through smart Geospatial and BIM solutions. While the 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda capture the broad and inclusive requirements of the three pillars of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental; integrated geospatial and building information modeling (BIM) solutions are at their core”. Scott continues: “Significantly, this paper contributes directly towards ensuring progress towards safe, smart, inclusive and resilient infrastructure and cities, and supports the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF) being developed by UN-GGIM. The IGIF assists all countries in building the bridge towards developing capacity for using geospatial technology, enhancing government decision making processes, and undertaking practices to achieve a digital transformation.”
Managing data and systems
Professor Doctor Gong Ke is the President of the WFEO. He says: “I am proud that WFEO has collaborated in this important paper that sets in relief the strategic relevance of developing geospatial technologies, with the appropriate integrated approach to provide multiscale models supporting resilient and inclusive city planning and management.” He points out directly to the current COVID-19 crisis when he remarks: “The global sanitary crisis has shown how critical it is for engineers to develop information technology to manage the data and systems we need to build stronger communities that leave no one behind.”
Added value
Sanjay Kumar, Secretary-General and CEO of the World Geospatial Industry Council, says: “Integrated geospatial and BIM solutions backed by fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies ensure the confluence of two different layers (GIS and BIM) for better design in 3D context. Digital technologies like GIS and BIM are paramount in the hyper-connected epoch of Industry 4.0. Together, they form an essential thread of technology confluence in the broader context of the SDGs for establishing a path-breaking force to ensure sustainable development through visualization and modeling.”