MWH Treatment uses 3D Building Models from Bluesky to Drive Innovation in Water Sector

Supplied by aerial mapping innovator Bluesky International, the photogrammetrically derived models provide real-world context, accurately capturing and recording existing assets and features in their true geographical location. Helping to improve efficiency and collaborative working, the Bluesky models can also be edited to incorporate new design and survey information and have already been used on a high percentage of MWH’s live projects across six Water Frameworks.

“The Bluesky models provide crucial location and context information for project teams,” commented Stephen Peters, Senior Engineering Technologist at MWH Treatment. “The use of the Bluesky data is integral to the development of visualisations, which in turn help us deliver safe, sustainable and quality solutions to our clients.”

MWH Treatment is a leading ‘Design and Build’ water sector solution provider with a 200-year legacy. Priding itself on its innovative use of digital technologies and initiatives, MWH converts the Bluesky models for use in a range of software packages for collaborative planning solutions and engineering as well as for gaming. The models generate the project backdrop, providing context for animations and interactive applications and reducing the processing time and manual resource required to create site features, such as trees, buildings and roads. Elements within the models can also be removed or enhanced to incorporate new design and survey information.

“Being able to have a bird’s eye view of the surrounding area is crucial for picking up risks to the project from logistic routes to neighbouring properties or businesses. It is also key for us to highlight and minimise the impact of projects to our clients and their customers,” added Clare Taylor, National Rehearsal Lead at MWH Treatment and Chair of BIM4Water. “The final outputs of the Bluesky models are integrated with our digital tools to enhance workflows to engage the engineering and construction teams, as well as the client, at key stages, which drives efficiency and promotes safe systems of working and collaboration.”

Ralph Coleman, Chief Commercial Officer at Bluesky added, “Photogrammetrically derived from stereoscopic aerial photography, our 3D models are provided as either wireframe or solid surface in a format suitable for use in both CAD and GIS software making it straightforward for a variety of different customers to use. The acceleration of integrated 3D application development has stimulated a steep growth in the use of 3D modelling in a geospatial context, enabling practitioners in a broad range of market sectors to leverage the power of 3D workspaces. It is really interesting to see how our data is applied to projects such as these from MWH.”

All Bluesky 3D models are supplied complete with a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) depicting the topography of the underlying surface.

“Requesting and obtaining the information from Bluesky is quick and easy and as the data is derived from the most up-to-date and accurate aerial photography, we have confidence in the currency and location integrity of the resulting outputs,” Clare Taylor concluded.

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