Hangouts with James Fee - the Podcast
I’ve had many a Google Hangout in the past and we’ve had a great time putting them together. Google Hangouts are fun but they are hard to listen to while commuting, working out or just resting at night. I’ve thought about a podcast many times before but never until now have I put things in motion.
Starting next week, I will record my first Hangouts with James Fee podcast with Ian White. We’ll follow that with Steve Pousty and Bill Dollins. I’ll post here more when I have the podcast feed available and links to iTunes and Google Play. My hope is if everything goes well that we’ll have our first podcast linked up by the 29th of March. Stay tuned!
Esri Arcade
When we think of Esri scripting and authoring languages, we think Python. Esri jumped in with two feet with Python and we were all much better off for it. But alas, as awesome as Python is, it isn’t as portable across the Esri ecosystem as they would like. To solve the problem either you choose another language to use that is more portable (JavaScript) or you write your own expression language and make is appear like Python and JavaScript had a baby.
At the Esri Arcade
Well that’s what Esri did, take Python, take JavaScript and a new expression language. Now in an open world this would be great because anything I wrote in Arcade would be usable anywhere else. But this is an Esri only solution as I can’t imagine other companies jumping in on it. But in Esriland, that’s OK because the ecosytem is large enough to support learning a proprietary language.
I don’t use Esri software anymore so I can’t play with it but it is a logical solution to their problem of having to write code to work with data in different platforms. Theoretically one can now use Arcade to author and render maps and let the Esri software handle the rest. I’d wait to see what happens with Arcade and the eventual 1.x release. It’s the Esri Web ADF talking but…
So another proprietary scripting language…
Esri Arcade
When we think of Esri scripting and authoring languages, we think Python. Esri jumped in with two feet with Python and we were all much better off for it. But alas, as awesome as Python is, it isn’t as portable across the Esri ecosystem as they would like. To solve the problem either you choose another language to use that is more portable (JavaScript) or you write your own expression language and make is appear like Python and JavaScript had a baby.
At the Esri Arcade
Well that’s what Esri did, take Python, take JavaScript and a new expression language. Now in an open world this would be great because anything I wrote in Arcade would be usable anywhere else. But this is an Esri only solution as I can’t imagine other companies jumping in on it. But in Esriland, that’s OK because the ecosytem is large enough to support learning a proprietary language.
I don’t use Esri software anymore so I can’t play with it but it is a logical solution to their problem of having to write code to work with data in different platforms. Theoretically one can now use Arcade to author and render maps and let the Esri software handle the rest. I’d wait to see what happens with Arcade and the eventual 1.x release. It’s the Esri Web ADF talking but…
So another proprietary scripting language…
BIM File Format Fun
If you ever thought it was difficult to work with GIS file formats, you haven’t explored the world of BIM. With Cityzenith I’m getting back into converting BIM and it’s making me nogstagic for Esri’s File Geodatabase or LIDAR formats. One of our core features at Cityzenith is drag and drop BIM model import. We’re supporting COLLADA, FBX, IFC, OBJ and CityGML for now but it seems every time I talk with a user they want to import some very proprietary BIM format. I won’t even get into the issues with importing Autodesk’s Revit but look how hard it is for even Safe FME.
The great thing about most of these 3D formats (beyond Revit) is they are relitively open and there are many tools for reading and writing them. But the sheer amount of formats means that you’ve got to plan for these in your software workflows. IFC and FBX do a great job of saving a lot of the BIM data on export while formats such as COLLADA basically drop everything except the structure. Most of the time this isn’t an issue because BIM files have so much data in them that really isn’t important for a planning and development tool such as Cityzenith, but we want to grab much of this to allow our users to perform analysis on building information.
We also want to grab floors of the building and basic structure beyond just the building shell. When we’re integrating IoT feeds into buildings, having the floors or rooms is critically important. IFC is the hope and the failure of openBIM. In an attempt to be everything to everyone, you end up with a bloated format but one that will address all your needs. Being able to programatically pull out floors and rooms of a BIM model requires a ontology for us to work with and IFC sticks to one that we can work with.
But any consultant will tell you, each user(client) has their own unique ontology that you have to work with. Safe Software has been dealing with this for years and has done an amazing job of working with these little idiosyncrasies that enter not only file formats but the models that humans create in them. It’s been really fun getting back into BIM and BIM file formats full time. BIM to GIS (or GIS to BIM) is hard but that challenge and making it simple and repeatable for all users is going to make it very exciting.
BIM File Format Fun
If you ever thought it was difficult to work with GIS file formats, you haven’t explored the world of BIM. With Cityzenith I’m getting back into converting BIM and it’s making me nogstagic for Esri’s File Geodatabase or LIDAR formats. One of our core features at Cityzenith is drag and drop BIM model import. We’re supporting COLLADA, FBX, IFC, OBJ and CityGML for now but it seems every time I talk with a user they want to import some very proprietary BIM format. I won’t even get into the issues with importing Autodesk’s Revit but look how hard it is for even Safe FME.
The great thing about most of these 3D formats (beyond Revit) is they are relitively open and there are many tools for reading and writing them. But the sheer amount of formats means that you’ve got to plan for these in your software workflows. IFC and FBX do a great job of saving a lot of the BIM data on export while formats such as COLLADA basically drop everything except the structure. Most of the time this isn’t an issue because BIM files have so much data in them that really isn’t important for a planning and development tool such as Cityzenith, but we want to grab much of this to allow our users to perform analysis on building information.
We also want to grab floors of the building and basic structure beyond just the building shell. When we’re integrating IoT feeds into buildings, having the floors or rooms is critically important. IFC is the hope and the failure of openBIM. In an attempt to be everything to everyone, you end up with a bloated format but one that will address all your needs. Being able to programatically pull out floors and rooms of a BIM model requires a ontology for us to work with and IFC sticks to one that we can work with.
But any consultant will tell you, each user(client) has their own unique ontology that you have to work with. Safe Software has been dealing with this for years and has done an amazing job of working with these little idiosyncrasies that enter not only file formats but the models that humans create in them. It’s been really fun getting back into BIM and BIM file formats full time. BIM to GIS (or GIS to BIM) is hard but that challenge and making it simple and repeatable for all users is going to make it very exciting.
Cityzenith Beta Release
Well today is a big day at Cityzenith, we are announcing our beta program.
Chicago CIO Brenna Berman presents Cityzenith’s 5D Smart City to Mayor Emmanuel of Chicago and Mayor Khan of London.
Cityzenith’s 5D Smart World™, the focus of the BETA User Program, is a complete, web-based Software-as-a-Service platform designed to help AEC firms and Real Estate companies transform their existing investments in BIM and other technologies into valuable tools for aggregating, searching, managing, analyzing, and reusing project information. Designed to help Smart Cities manage the massive amounts of data generated in today’s cities, the platform has been modified and adapted for this Beta Program to suit the specific needs of the professional AEC and CRE communities who design, build, own, and operate Smart Cities, Smart Campuses, and Smart Buildings the world over.
We are excited to be working with some of the biggest names in the AEC and Real Estate industries including; AECOM, WSP-Parsons Brinkerhoff, Gensler, SOM, Microsoft, RMW, Accenture, Surbana Jurong, UI Labs City Digital and the GSA.
If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out to me or sign up for our beta. We expect to have our public beta in the next couple months so be ready!