Greg Bentley discusses the next wave of digital city modeling as the “Semantic City,” where connections and interactions between systems accomplishes better continuity and better performance. With greater interoperability, there is also the opportunity to better model and simulate the holistic performance of the city, particularly in response to events. The key to achieve this performance is information mobility.
According to Bentley, progression has occurred from GIS mapping in the 1980s to geospatial modeling in the 2000s to semantic simulation in 2010s. Sensors are an important component of this transition as their real-time readings and ongoing inputs provide an important transition for our systems. With these inputs we can finely tune our models to achieve predictive simulations that accurately portrays true performance.
Bentley has been working toward greater integration between design and performance analysis and has just announced new products with their AECOsim interdisciplinary building design, analysis, and simulation software as well as their AECOsim Energy Simulator that incorporates engineering specifications for predictive energy performance. This tight coupling of design with performance at the building scale can be extrapolated to the planning, design and modeling of whole cities with interactive simulation between disciplines.
The semantic city brings together Bentley’s 3D City Modeling capabilities with Bentley’s considerable simulation and analysis capability that is perhaps best illustrated at a city scale with their Darwin water leak modeling tools. Darwin helps a city to understand where leaks are happening by combining detailed modeling with analytical simulation that looks at performance discrepancies to determine the source of leaks. The modeling and simulation of individual systems, and soon systems of systems, will result in greater performance of our infrastructure for a more efficient future.
