Background

As per the Census report released in 2011, 31% of India's population at that time was living in cities and contribution almost 63% towards GDP. Urban areas are expected to house 40% of India's population and contribute 75% of India's GDP by 2030. This requires comprehensive development of physical, institutional, social and economic infrastructure as focus on these areas is essential to fuel development, growth, attracting investment, people and improve the overall quality of life for the citizens. The smart cities mission initiative by the Government of India is an effort in that particular direction that is triggered towards driving economic growth and improving the quality of life of the citizens by enabling local development and harnessing technology as a means to create smart outcomes for citizens.

The current National Government of India has allocated an outlay of Rs 98,000 crore (US$ 15,329.26 million) to execute 100 smart cities, and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), which is an urban rejuvenation programme for 500 towns and cities in next 5 years. Besides AMRUT, cities right at their planning stage are expected to converge with other key national developmental programs like Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), Digital India, Skill development, Housing for All, construction of Museums funded by the Culture Department and other programs connected to social infrastructure such as Health, Education and Culture.

Massive development projects, environmental concerns and increasing private investment in infrastructure are driving the adoption of integrated solutions using BIM, geospatial and 3D visualization technologies to intelligently model urban infrastructure and city environments.

When we talk about smart city development, our focus automatically shifts towards the construction aspect of the infrastructure – whether it is about laying an entirely new infrastructure in place, or, it is about redevelopment of an existing setup. Diving deeper into this, we realize that the construction industry faces unique challenges with the design, construction and operations of new infrastructure. Unique environment in the construction industry is that there are several distinct segments. Heavy construction includes highways and transportation systems, waterworks, utilities and other infrastructure projects. Building construction ranges from large industrial, commercial and residential buildings down to individual homes and small business structures; these segments include both exterior layout and interior finishing. Regardless of size, most projects require some grading and site preparation. And while new construction plays a dominant role, redevelopment, renovation and restoration occupy a significant part of the construction industry. This is where the world has witnessed the adoption of technology driven concepts like Building Information Modeling (BIM) gaining acceptance as a national level mandate for all major infrastructure projects in some of the most advanced and modern economies across the globe.

India's vision of developing smart cities that ultimately culminates with the development of smart modern nation is basically a journey towards the adoption of these modern business practices supported by cutting edge technologies.

Technology is tipped to play the central role in this rejuvenation and this is where Geospatial Technologies coupled with other ICT solutions can effectively power India's Smart Cities Dream and play a key role in bringing this vision to reality.

GeoBuild 2016 Objective

Acknowledging the great importance of the 'Smart Cities' initiative by the Indian Government, Geospatial Media is proud to organize the 2016 edition of GeoBuild Infrastructure during 2nd to 3rd March, 2016 at India Expo Centre and Mart at Greater Noida, U.P., India. With the theme – "GeoSmart Infrastructure: 'Tech-Empowering' India's Smart Cities Dream", this program will trace the importance of various aspects of infrastructure that needs to be planned, designed, built and operated in order to provide the 'Smart' attribute to a city development. This dedicated program on Smart Infrastructure will be held for two consecutive days featuring the designated heads of municipalities, urban/city planning, research/academic institutes, builders, engineers/consultants, energy and utility experts, mobility and transportation experts, technology providers, and many more. The end objective behind bringing all these experts under one roof is to facilitate brainstorming on the opportunities, challenges and scope for developing a truly smart city infrastructure, encompassing the current situations pertaining to policy guidelines, regulatory norms, implementation challenges, etc., highlighting the importance of integrating ICT and Geospatial Technologies to support the Smart Cities mission in India.

Scope

• Provide a forum for the interchange of ideas on Smart City development among the Government Agencies, AEC Experts, Transportation Experts, Experts from – Energy, Water and Waste Management along with Leaders from the ICT and Geospatial Industry;
• Advocate adoption of an integrated Geospatial and BIM module supported by complementing ICT solutions for smart infrastructure construction/development for future smart cities;
• Discussion on state-of-the-art technology with respect to the various important areas of smart city infrastructure – Transportation, Energy, Water, Waste Management, and various other Citizen-Centric services;

Target Audience

• Policy Makers
• Government Departments & Public Sector Undertakings
• Infrastructure Developers (Public/ Private)
• Construction Companies/Contractors/Builders/Engineers
• Infrastructure Engineering Companies/Infrastructure Consultants
• Waste Management, Water Management, Smart Metering, Smart Grid and Other Utility Consultants/Experts/Service Providers
• Funding Agencies
• Project Executing Agencies
• Academic & Research Bodies
• IT Solutions Providers/Smart Technology Experts
• Geospatial Industry Experts

Program Outline: Session Themes

Day 1

Theme of the Day: Tracing the Value of Integrating BIM and Geo-IT during a Construction Project Life-Cycle

• Smart Construction - Planning and Design: The rapid rise in technological innovations is witnessing a technology oriented approach by Planners, Surveyors and Architects who from a construction project perspective can be considered as the ones who lead the way for a project. The days of 2D drawings and plan sketches are fast disappearing paving the way for 3D visualization to step in as the first choice. Geospatial Technologies like GIS Maps, Photogrammetry, LiDAR, GPR, Remote Sensing are acting as perfect foils for not only creating intelligent BIM models, but, also, ensuring, better coordination and control on the overall project that goes beyond just it completion. This session will invite insights from Planners, Surveyors, Geospatial and BIM Experts on the Planning and Designing phase of a construction project.
• Smart Construction – Build: For a Construction Manager, the typical challenges include concentrating on reducing wastages and using appropriate fabrication methods to ensure that the planned design is brought to reality that is delivered within the stipulated time frame without compromising on the sustainability factor of the construction. A BIM driven construction initiative perfectly complements a Construction Manager to achieve results on desired lines. It is important to note that the on-ground implementation of a well planned architectural design is ably complemented by the ever evolving Geospatial Technologies like – Laser Scanners, Advanced Total Stations, Ground Penetration Radars (GPR) and many more such technological tools. This session promises to bring Champions from the engineering side of the building phase of construction along with Geospatial Experts to throw more light on the role, relevance and importance of Geospatial Technologies and BIM during the 'Build' process of a smart construction project.
• Smart Construction – Operation and Maintenance: In traditional construction, building plans can go dormant when construction is completed. By contrast, BIM remains active as part of the building management toolbox. The building operates in the same way as a city or region that has a well maintained GIS: the BIM keeps track of records, operations, maintenance and renovations. Any changes or additions to the building take place first in the 3D model, where designers can walk through the virtual building and look for problems before spending money on construction. Building construction is a highly collaborative environment and BIM can serve as a hub for the collaboration. Because stakeholders look at data in so many different ways, we must be able to bring information together to give visibility throughout the construction enterprise. As asbuilt or final conditions data is collected, if certain facility attributes are collected concurrently, the asbuilt collection process will result in an operational facilities management system, AM/FM (Automated Mapping/Facilities Management) system, or GIS. Geographic information systems for facilities management are used for a multitude of operational functions including asset management, outage analysis, work management, automated vehicle location, gas leak detection, call before you dig, economic development, scheduled maintenance, regulatory compliance, map creation, new facility planning, and many more critical operational functions. This session will revolve around deliberations pertaining to the importance of adopting BIM with the support of Geospatial Technologies at the Owner/Operator level to ensure the sustainability factor of the constructed asset.

Day 2

Theme of the Day: Geo-IT – At the Core of Smart Cities

• Smart - Energy, Water and Waste Management: The hallmark of any smart city comprises of aspects that includes facilities pertaining to – an integrated water management, solid waste management, smart electricity and importantly, smart utilities. This session will invite deliberations and will strive to bring out successful case studies on developing smart utility services through the right support of Geospatial Technologies. Aspects related to – Water SCADA, OMS, Sensor Based Waste Storage and Collection, Automated Waste Collection System, Electric SCADA, Substation Automation, and various similar concepts are expected to be discussed during the session by relevant experts from these areas.
• Smart Transport: One of the biggest challenges of a smart city is to have an efficient transportation system. Considering that the whole idea behind smart transportation revolves around providing a congestion free, rapid commute experience for the citizens, it is important to note that Geospatial technologies provides that much needed flexibility to the system through technological inputs such as – periodic traffic forecasts, journey/route planning of public and private transport mobile applications (based on real time data), etc. The concept of smart transportation goes beyond vehicles as it puts equal emphasis on pedestrians and bicyclists. In addition to these, there are also concepts like Smart Traffic Signals, Smart Transport Cards, Smart Parking, Smart Toll, etc., that forms a backbone of an effective smart transport system. This session will endeavor to bring experts from these areas to understand, discuss, and deliberate on this concept in detail from a smart city perspective.
• Smart Technologies for Smarter Cities: Smart City solutions are currently based on multiple architectures, standards and platforms, which have led to a highly fragmented landscape. In order to allow cities to share data across systems and coordinate processes across domains, it is essential to break these silos. A way to achieve the purpose is sensor virtualization, discovery and data restitution. This is where the modern world is witnessing technological revolution in the form of Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing, Big Data and Analytics. In Smart Cities, digital technologies translate into better public services for citizens, better use of resources and less impact on the environment. This session will invite participation from some of the global experts dealing with these technologies to human habitation, smarter.