Any construction professional will tell you that while the industry is collaborative, it’s also highly fragmented. Different teams and subcontractors utilize various tools, and many workers are still using paper drawings and notes to map out their days. As we look ahead to an automated, AI-driven, fully accessible job site, we see a future where each team member receives the same, singular experience across every phase of the project lifecycle. By combining Autodesk Build or BIM 360 with DroneDeploy’s site reality, we’re empowering teams to take a holistic approach to site planning and operations. With complete aerial pictures and 360 Walkthroughs, workers are rest assured that what they’re seeing is accurate, up-to-date, and reliable.
DroneDeploy’s Autodesk Construction Cloud Integration
Unifying data through meaningful integrations allows for an improved design, plan, and build process. Likewise, having access to the same exact drawings, models, and documents, so each team is working off of a single source of truth, brings tailored solutions to each stage of building development. With the DroneDeploy and Autodesk Build and BIM 360 integrations, users can create universal dashboards throughout the project lifecycle. For those already familiar with the software, simply add the DroneDeploy partner home card to your project dashboard. This way, any uploaded design files from Autodesk Build and BIM 360 will be automatically imported to your DroneDeploy account, or vice versa.
With this information, users can then overlay high-resolution imagery, aerial maps, point clouds, elevation layers, 360 photos, and more onto BIM 360 project files, promoting easy design revision. Similarly, issues tagged in DroneDeploy will auto-sync with BIM 360 issues so integration users can provide immediate feedback on work progress, identify and resolve issues, and pinpoint safety concerns. This illustrates the importance of standardizing how you’re managing your data – as you use both tools, you can perform various types of analysis at scale to find further opportunities to automate daily tasks or discover new insights.
The Integration at Work: DPR Construction
DPR Construction, a forward-thinking, self-performing general contractor and construction manager, leverages the DroneDeploy and Autodesk integration on many projects. By focusing on connecting the virtual world to the physical world, the team enables reality capture workflows that bring field data back into the office for future work.
The real value-add comes from the single platform model this integration provides. With an interactive DroneDeploy card on their BIM 360 dashboard, DPR employees, contractors, and project teams can view issues, weather, costs, drone imagery, and RFI counts all in one place. From here, they can compare, inspect, or view this data in minutes. With numerous workers on-site per project on any given day, updating and automatically synching these overlays allows contractors to communicate with the masses. As construction progress changes by the hour, this is vital for up-to-the-minute information sharing and maintenance. Plus, the team uses DroneDeploy’s API tool to migrate their historical records, over 1.2 million photos, onto the platform for workers to reference.
In 2020 alone, DPR logged 5,800+ drone flights, with over 500,000 photos captured. With 1,499 total users, 96 pilots, and 1,219 analysts to date, the firm’s goal is to increase external usage to include as many clients, subcontractors, and consultants as possible. With every employee granted access to the DroneDeploy and Autodesk integration, the value of the data provided spurs even more applications. Whether tracking progress, comparing as-designed to as-built plans, preparing visual media, or performing remote inspections, leadership knows that their teams are increasing their decision-making accuracy and accessibility in a simple, visual way.
If you’re interested in what drone technology can do on your construction site, watch our webinar with Autodesk and DPR Construction, or cut right to the chase and contact us. For more information on our Autodesk Construction Cloud integration, click here.