CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES POSED BY DIGITAL BUILT ENVIRONMENTS
The current landscape is in need of a modern built environment that considers the entire asset lifecycle, as well as a digital-first approach that echoes the institution’s philosophy, recognising that digital technologies are no longer optional but fundamental to modern surveying practice and industry at large. Digital is not just about using new tools, but about fundamentally changing workflows and processes to improve efficiency, accuracy and overall project outcomes.
Above all, it is about managing the people side of change and behaviours alongside technical change. Quality information is extremely valuable; it is strategically as important as its physical counterparts. However, the importance of curating it cannot be overstated – its value erodes quickly if we don’t.
The challenges that digital needs to respond to are complex and multidimensional, including:
- Climate resilience, mitigation and adaption
- Safety, reliability and assurance of existing aging infrastructure
- Improving whole life cost and performance to maximise efficiency
- Avoiding disparate data by connecting it to context, ensuring interoperability
Digital technology, data and new skills are changing the way we plan, survey, build, maintain and use critical infrastructure. Information management, building information modelling (BIM) and geographic information system (GIS) are already transforming the construction industry.
They are now converging with digital twins (realistic and dynamic digital representations of physical assets, systems or cities,) AI and gaming technology capabilities. Over the next decade, these technologies will increasingly combine with the Internet of Things (providing sensors and other information), advanced data analytics and increasing AI/ML to enable us to plan new built infrastructure more effectively, build it more safely, productively and operate and maintain it more efficiently. Above all, it will enable users to make better use of the infrastructure we already have.
Evolving over time will help surveyors adapt to the ever-changing digital landscape, but in doing so it is imperative they adhere to basic principles, such as:
- Building on quality data/data governance
- Aligning with business outcomes and use cases
- Using information management best practice – where CICES promotes the importance of good data management practices, including data storage, sharing and quality control, for ensuring reliable and traceable survey information throughout the project lifecycle:
- Weaving in people and culture
- Enabling better collaboration
- Being security-minded
- Is appropriate and proportionate
- Using soft landings
- Considering information curation
- Considering integration architecture
- Empowering everyone
- Upskilling and training: CICES emphasises the need for surveyors to develop digital skills, including proficiency in software, data management, BIM, GIS and other relevant technologies.