Norconsult Informasjonssystemer AS

Norconsult delivers a multidisciplinary planning and design approach to clients in the Nordic region and beyond. Daughter company Norconsult Informasjonssystemer (NoIS) handles software and web development. Norwegian road authorities (Nye Veier) recently chose constructor AF Gruppen and Norconsult to lead construction, design, and engineering on a new road linking Mandal and Kristiansand in southern Norway. This $500-million project will feature multiple tunnels and bridges throughout its 19-kilometer length, with one tunnel stretching more than 2.5 kilometers. Nye Veier attached a long list of ambitious goals to the project, including reducing the project’s carbon emissions by 20%, as compared to a typical project, employing general digitalization, and using an intelligent model as a single, web-based source of information.

The project aimed to use model-based construction, reduce paper-based processes and drawings to a minimum, and make timely data widely available. NoIS were hired to create a tool called ISY Prosjekt that would provide all stakeholders with access to cloud-based project data from mobile devices. A cache feature lets users select design models for offline viewing—critical to making project information accessible in tunnels without printouts. Geolocation capabilities help users quickly find documents and models related to their physical locations, saving time as they keep construction and sustainability efforts on track.

Challenge

As the Mandal-Kristiansand road project launched, stakeholders realized that they needed a way to collect and share all project information—without printouts. Not only did the team want to share the vast project’s design models, they wanted to make design and other project information available from a single source. The NoIS BIM (Building Information Modeling) development team decided to build an integrated cloud-based application that used an intuitive location- and model-based interface to connect information with the 2,000 people delivering the project. 

How NoIS solved it with Forge

The NoIS team had used Autodesk Platform Services (APS) to build a similar tool on a prior project. Able to display more than 60 commonly used design file formats, APS provided the crucial model viewing and navigation capabilities. The team also knew that APS could be integrated with the non-design applications—like SharePoint—that were being used on the project. While planning the undertaking, the NoIS team, in close collaboration with AF Gruppen, was pleased to learn that Autodesk Platform Services APIs would simplify implementing BIM viewing capabilities in the ISY Prosjekt collaboration platform.

Norconsult aggregated more than 600 design models using Navisworks project review software, put them in the cloud, and made them available online. Including SharePoint, Microsoft Project, and safety application integrations, the project is expected to generate more than 100,000 documents. When users expect to be offline, they can simply select files and models. The system caches data on their mobile devices for easy viewing. Built-in authentication supports security, and users receive automatic notifications of changes to models relevant to the users’ roles on the project. Environmental data and plans are also available across the project team.

APS highlights include the following: 

• Enabling browser-based access to large 3D models and easy filtering of BIM content 
• Delivering more than 100,000 documents to 2,000-plus users in the office and in the field 
• Supporting efforts to trim project-related carbon emissions by 20%

APIs and Services

Model Derivative API

Viewer

Webhooks