{"id":4575,"date":"2019-04-16T12:25:50","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T11:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/?p=4575"},"modified":"2019-04-17T16:18:21","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T15:18:21","slug":"ies-launches-intelligent-communities-lifecycle-platform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/?p=4575","title":{"rendered":"IES and the Intelligent Communities Lifecycle platform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s weird running a personal\/professional blog because\nyou get these email \u2018pitches\u2019 on stories and press releases (perhaps I just do\na plain \u2018press-release section\u2019?). \nHistorically I\u2019ve ignored them, my opinion being somewhere between \u201cwhat\nof my blog\u2019s integrity?\u201d to \u201cI ain\u2019t got time for this crap\u201d.  Either way the emails have ended up in spam.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently I\u2019ve had a change of mind, why do people know of\nme professionally and the work I do? Well because I write, and I use social\nmedia and I get involved.  If it\u2019s one\nthing I have always recommended it\u2019s be part of the conversation and help\nothers.  In my experience you get out\nwhat you put in\u2026 I\u2019ve been helped a lot by others, and I\u2019ve learned a lot by\nreading.   The following post is my\npersonal take on the information a company called IES gave me and the\nconversation we had.  They have not put\nany words in my mouth but I have quoted the press release\u2026. <\/em>\ud83d\ude0a<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay on to the post, yes this derives from an intriguing email I got from a company called IES<\/a>.  I\u2019ve heard of them before vaguely, something cool with analytics for buildings and I had seen (although not used in \u2018anger\u2019) a SketchUp plugin of theirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they said in their email opener:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[We] \u201ccame across your GeoPlanIT blog and I thought you may be interested to know that next month, the company I work for (IES) will be launching new cutting-edge digital twin technology that puts sustainability and energy efficiency at the heart of the smart cities movement. \u201c<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Okay they had me by combining digital twin technology with some\nwords on sustainability and energy efficiency plus \u2018smart cities\u2019.  You see whilst I\u2019m a big fan of 3D I\u2019m also\naware it has to have more than a visualisation component to get others sold on\nthe utility.  Let\u2019s be honest 3D data is\noften just a pretty container for really useful information.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A word on digital twin \u2013 no it\u2019s not just another term for a 3D model, this is about replicating something for the purposes of modelling and simulation.  The key here is a live link to the real world or object allowing both the virtual and real to exist at the same time.  Digital twin has really come from the engineering world where models (sometimes 3D) which replicate physical properties of the real object are subjected to tests and simulation.  Now I would argue that a digital twin in the city\/built environment perspective is more of spectrum and that yes, a link is required but clearly instant updates of a 3D city model are not yet possible always!  That said pollution\/traffic monitoring could be! Perhaps we should stick with a term like \u201ccity information model\u201d..? Here\u2019s a good read if you want more on this sort of thing.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

IES as a company is 25 years old<\/a> so it\u2019s hardly a startup, so I felt that this was proper professional service stuff not a just a \u2018flash in the pan\u2019 gimmick.  I can see from their \u2018notes to editors\u2019 the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IES is home to the largest building analytics team in the world with over 2000 years of collective experience, and 18 PhDs in the space.<\/em><\/p>

Over the last 20+ year\u2019s we have built a solid reputation as the leading innovator in sustainable analytics for the built environment. <\/em><\/p>

Our Virtual Environment (VE) technology is an essential tool for top architects, engineers and contractors. <\/em><\/p>

Utilised globally, the energy and carbon reduction capability of our technology is proven. Today, our customers average 80,000 IESVE projects per year for large and medium sized buildings. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The upshot of this is I decided to see what this was all\nabout, because quite frankly I was professionally curious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay so what did they want?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The email asked essentially whether I\u2019d like to speak with their Founder\/Managing Director Don Mclean <\/a>who wanted to present their new technology stack (or platform) to me.  I said yes and said if it interested me, I would write something (which is of course what they wanted and what I am doing).  No money has changed hands here and I didn\u2019t get anything for this article except for the occasional reader obviously.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conference call was surprisingly mostly with Don and one\nof his technical team who demo\u2019d a SketchUp tool.   I didn\u2019t really expect that, I thought it\nwould be 100% run by a marketing team, which shows how much I know!  Don clearly knows his stuff and is passionate\nabout what they\u2019re doing and wants to change the world.  I liked his enthusiasm and he clearly knows\nhis stuff.  They had taken the time to\nunderstand that I was a planner and geographer at heart with expertise in 3D\nurban modelling.  Honestly, it\u2019s nice\nknowing they had done a little research on me at least \ud83d\ude0a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The format of this video conference was very much a\npresentation of slides, a small demo with their tools and some\ndiscussion\/questioning.  Overall, I got a\ngood impression that what they were doing was well thought through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok, what\u2019s the idea or product?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The presentation and discussion was very comprehensive, we\ndiscussed the need for better monitoring and modelling of our current systems\n(energy etc..) and designing better buildings with that knowledge\nembedded.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What IES are announcing this week is the release of, what they describe as, \u201ccutting-edge digital twin technology\u201d, which \u201cconnects distributed energy networks, renewables, master plans, building design, operation and retrofit\u201d.  So, they\u2019re saying they have an entire platform that integrates a disparate set of sensors recording all sorts of data across a built environment with the aim of using that within design and modelling scenario tools.   The story here is not necessarily the idea of integrating everything but how well it is implemented.  I\u2019m totally with this as often my Geodesign discussions and workshops (like this one on Geodesign and Smarter Planning <\/a> )  are all about the need for us all to design with the knowledge we are collecting already.  This is why in part I\u2019m so hooked to a certain 3D procedural modelling tool!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basically, they have a range of integrated tools (a \u2018platform\u2019)\nthat they are calling ICL (Intelligent Communities Lifecycle).  Effectively these are decision support tools\nwhich will assist people in the whole lifecycle of the built environment with\nregards to sustainability metrics from planning and design to operation of\nbuildings\/campuses\/cities.  The tools\nrange from pure design and scenario modelling through to monitoring of sensor\nnetworks (technologies like the Internet of Things) and of course analysis and\nmodelling.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

With ICL you can investigate the built environment\u2019s\nperformance (energy, water etc..) combine with other data and simulate a wide\nrange of built environments from individual buildings to campuses and\ncities.  To aid this and drive engagement\nwith the performance metrics of course there are \u2018dashboards\u2019 for people who\naren\u2019t so keen on raw numbers (good for me then)! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the memorable demos they gave me was being able to\nview through a web browser a 3D model of group of buildings and explore their performance\nmetrics.  Obviously, I\u2019m used to the 3D\nside of things so it\u2019s more the detail and back-end that intrigues me. Yes,\nmany people can do this but the proposal here is about integration of\nmonitoring systems with planning and design tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An urban model with Solar Gain Distribution, yup I\u2019m familiar with this but honestly here they need better look more detailed buildings\u2026. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

An urban\nmodel with Solar Gain Distribution, yup I\u2019m familiar with this but honestly\nhere they need better look more detailed buildings\u2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This visual web platform was integrated with designs tools\nthat they have integrated into Trimble\u2019s SketchUp (a tool many planners and\nArchitects should be familiar with).  So,\nusing their SketchUp integrated design tools you can model a building with\nbuilt in performance metrics and upload it to be integrated with a wider model\nand see the impact on a range of indicators. \nThe SketchUp tool also allows for the production of dashboards too which\nis nice!   All of this whilst being in\nthe context of pre-existing and monitored buildings.  Again, I don\u2019t think these are necessarily\nnew ideas but the live demo showing designs and updates were impressive (having\ndone live demos before I know how nervous this can make you).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Now to me all this does actually sound like a proper\nimplementation of \u2018digital twin\u2019 concepts. \nLive data actually updating a model within a digital environment? No not\nnecessarily a 3D model here, like the 2D map of CHP unit efficiency monitoring\nabove.  Also, all of this allowing for\ndesign and scenario modelling? I think this is very interesting!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you know dear reader, I have a keen interest in Esri CityEngine\nwhich I first started using to replace SketchUp.  I questioned whether parts of the ICL\nplatform could be integrated into other professional tools (no mention of\nindustry leaders Esri or Autodesk, or come to think of it QGIS..).   Of course, they had heard of CityEngine so\nknew why I was asking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer seemed to come back that the platform was\ndesigned to be flexible to a range of workflows\/systems.  So, whilst not specifically integrated now,\nthere were avenues which could be used to integrate with other tools and\nsystems.   To be honest, designing a\nplatform that cannot integrate at some level across other systems would not do\nvery well anyway I think!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main parts of the ICL platform very much seem to be in\nthe connection of monitoring systems for operators\/owners\/managers of groupings\nof buildings.  I think as local energy\ngeneration (for example Sedbergh has a biodigester at one of the local farms)\nthese types of monitoring systems will become much more integrated and the\nnormal.   Come to think of it aren\u2019t they\nalready?  I seem to have a smart\nmonitoring device in the house\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

IES are a well-respected established company dealing in real\nworld, real-time analytics of the built environment.   Their systems and tools can prove design\nefficiencies and spot improvements as well as help design better performing\nbuildings.  I genuinely believe platforms\nlike this scaled up to city levels can make significant and long-term\nefficiency savings and quite frankly that can only be a good thing for our\nenvironment.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What they are announcing is clearly an evolution of the\nproducts and services they already have established.  Therein lies some of my difficulty\nunderstanding it all, what are they announcing exactly? It\u2019s not one product or\none technology they can\u2019t easily say this product will do x can they?    The announced ICL platform is about scaling\nthese tools up across the built environment and perhaps the real product here\nis their complete integration.  The bold\nclaim they make of \u201cwe\u2019ve made a huge impact, eliminating the need for around\n30 power stations to be built\u201c I think is probably true, not least because I\nsuspect they have the real world metrics to prove it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My real concern is how well this platform plays with other\ntools and systems.  I can\u2019t answer that\n100% but this platform I suspect can.  \nI\u2019m a big Esri user so being able to plug this platform functionality\nand understanding of sensors would be amazing\u2026. I wonder if it could play nice\nwith ArcGIS Urban and Esri CityEngine for example\u2026.. perhaps I should ask them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d like to thank the IES team for giving me some time with\nthem and seeing their work.  I know every\nso often companies need to do marketing as we have to keep bringing in salaries\nand the like.   I wish them every success\nin this exciting new technology platform! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay as a thank you for giving me insight into their company\nand their vision for a connected platform at the very least I can pay them back\nwith directing you to their website here (it\u2019s all about connections at the end\nof the day!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh and there is a newsletter (I honestly don\u2019t know whether volunteering  for marketing emails is a good idea always!) : sign up here <\/strong>https:\/\/www.iesve.com\/icl-newsletter-signup<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to know more you can visit <\/strong>www.iesve.com<\/strong><\/a>. You can also follow them on <\/strong>Twitter<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong>Facebook<\/strong><\/a> and <\/strong>LinkedIn<\/strong><\/a> for the latest IES news, or visit <\/strong>DiscoverIES<\/strong><\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s weird running a personal\/professional blog because you get these email \u2018pitches\u2019 on stories and press releases (perhaps I just do a plain \u2018press-release section\u2019?).  Historically I\u2019ve ignored them, my opinion being somewhere between \u201cwhat of my blog\u2019s integrity?\u201d to \u201cI ain\u2019t got time for this crap\u201d.  Either way the emails have ended up in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":4859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,233,215,156,129,7],"tags":[357],"class_list":["post-4575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-3d","category-analysis","category-analytics","category-geodesign","category-geography","category-gis","tag-ies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4575"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4891,"href":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4575\/revisions\/4891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}