Geo Week 2023 dishes latest in digital documentation

Based on attendance and foot traffic, conferences appear to be almost back to full swing at Geo Week 2023, held Feb. 11-13 at the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver.

Geo Week 2023, which bills itself as the “intersection of geospatial data and the built world,” saw a 44 percent increase in visitors over the previous year, according to conference organizers. The participants came from all 50 states and a total of 45 countries. It was a strong second year of growth for Geo Week, which included for the first time standalone conferences such as the AEC Next Technology Expo & Conference, the International Lidar Mapping Forum and the SPAR 3D Expo & Conference in 2022.

Bringing these diverse groups and disciplines together likely boosted the overall conference presence, and the conference program reflected this broader diversity of disciplines and industries. It seems the show’s organizers have tried to have something for everyone among the more than 50 sessions on offer, with nearly 200 presenters attending.

“The digital transformation of our world – from the interiors of historical buildings to entire cities, landscapes and the entire planet – is a growing and urgent need,” says the conference pitch.

A similarly comprehensive look at the AEC industry’s readiness to embrace digitization formed the basis of Monday’s keynote panel, which officially opened the conference on Monday. The first of the conference’s two keynote presentations (Jack Dangermond, Founder and President on day two) included Johnny Fortune, Director of the US National BIM Program at the National Institute of Building Sciences, and Claire Rutkowski, Bentley’s Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer , accompanied by representatives of private engineering and contractors.

Panel moderator Steve Jones of Dodge Data & Analytics framed the discussion by citing statistics from Dodge studies which he says show that the AEC industry – “the largest capital-intensive industry in the world” – compared to other major global industries such as lagging behind automobile manufacturing and aerospace.

Jones added that while more than $700 million in capital has been invested in third-party development of technology for the industry over the past decade, gaps remain. As an example, he said that only 30 percent of trading partners have adopted digital technology, noting that uneven acceptance among the various stakeholders involved in realizing a project is holding the industry back as a whole.

“Any company in the industry has to go through all of these stages before we can reach this level as an industry,” he said.

Fortune emphasized the owner’s role in driving the adoption of technology across the broader spectrum of the industry, noting that they raise the money and are often long-term operators who will have the longest tenure working with project data.

The panelists each offered a set of advice for companies reviewing and evaluating their existing technology stacks or implementing digital technology strategies. Of particular importance were open platforms and interoperability, which not only meet the needs of your own organization, but also a variety of customer, partner and project-specific requirements. “Decoupling data from the app” to maximize long-term accessibility and value of the data was a repeated mantra, along with discussion of standards and integration.

Everyone on stage seemed to agree with Rutkowski’s view that as technology is adopted and integrated, an organization’s people can become the most volatile factor. “Any technology project is not a technology project, it’s a change project,” she said.

To get the best return on technology investments, which are typically very expensive, she suggested companies adopt the “ADKAR” approach throughout their digital journey and have a plan for communicating at each stage: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Capability , reinforcement.

It can all get a little overwhelming, panellists acknowledged, noting that project teams suffer from “app fatigue,” but the possibilities for wider adoption are causing excitement in the industry.

As the panel ended and attendees split up to attend case studies or software and product presentations or breakout sessions on AI or reality capture, the doors to the sold-out exhibit hall also opened.

High-tech gadgets and visual eye candy dominated inside. Several Boston Dynamics robotic dogs were spotted in action at larger exhibitor booths such as Leica, RieglUSA and Esri, while drones and LIDAR equipment filled many others. Monitors with digital twin technology, 3D visualization and analysis tools as well as point cloud displays could be found in the rows of 190 exhibitor booths. A moderated live podcast. Several exhibitors I interviewed spoke positively about their experience at the show, noting that it was ‘not too big and not too small’, had good energy and felt it was a worthwhile investment.

In addition to housing stalls and displays, the exhibition hall included an open theater stage for presentations, which at times became acoustically challenging due to the high volume of visitors at the stalls. This year the exhibition hall has also been expanded to include an academic showcase with student projects and an open “Pitch the Press” event.

“It’s cool stuff, it’s awesome,” said one attendee, wandering through the steady crowds. Geo Week 2024 is scheduled for next February in Denver.

Nancy Kristof is a Denver-based freelance writer who tells stories about the built environment.