Autodesk has delivered its latest update to InfraWorks, focusing on improvements to bridge design, connectivity with other software, and a more convenient home menu.
Autodesk’s most recent InfraWorks update focused on integration with Esri’s ArcGIS, as the result of an alliance between the two companies that began in November 2017. The companies hope to unite the power of building information modeling and geographic information systems by building complex structures on a sturdy data foundation. In this update, the connector between the two platforms is out of preview mode. Users can preview their selections and build up several selections from multiple layers before importing ArcGIS data into InfraWorks, where the data can be added to existing or new projects. There’s also a live and refreshable connection from InfraWorks to ArcGIS, meaning that users can use field applications without losing their connections.
The new updates also feature a better workflow between InfraWorks and BIM 360, Autodesk’s suite of cloud-based applications. Users can now store, manage and share data sources for an InfraWorks model on the Desktop Connector, which syncs them with Autodesk BIM 360 or Drive. Content like shape files can be stored in BIM 360 folders and added as a data source with geolocation information. This means that anybody else working on the model will have access to these data sources.
The main design update is a tool that makes it easier to craft complex bridge designs. Generic Bridge Objects are parametric components that can be created in Inventor and then imported using the Generic Objects library. Such objects are useful when a designer needs to create multiple specialized bridge parts but doesn’t want to repeat the work of creating them multiple times. The objects can also be used to make arc structures.
Finally, InfraWorks has made improvements to its homepage. The model tiles on InfraWorks Home now allow for many more actions to manage BIM 360 and non-BIM 360 cloud models from one place. The software also now has status icons to show when models are locked or disconnected. If a model has been removed from BIM 360, the user can create a local copy of the model, which is helpful if you cannot connect to BIM 360. Finally, users can delete cached models without impacting BIM 360 content.
According to Autodesk, there will be a “community webcast” on October 3, where users can watch a live demonstration of the new release.