Coming of the 2nd AEC Digital Revolution

The world of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) is going through a second digital revolution.  The first was when computers and CAD replaced the pencil and drafting table.  Now as the computing age has evolved, the AEC industry is going through a second digital revolution.  The goals of the first were to replace the tedious process of drafting with one that was faster, more consistent  and easily editable.  The new revolution goes well beyond these goals.  We are no longer just trying to mimic hand drafting with the computer, but to build a virtual 3D model of every element used in assembling the building. It has been dubbed Building Information Modeling (BIM). The goal of BIM is to generate data to be used for collaboration, coordination, scheduling, cost estimating and many more.  It is generating much more data then the AEC industry has ever had access to.  This creates whole new challenges and opportunities. John Naisbitt coined the phrase "we are drowning in information, but we are starved for knowledge". in his 1982 book Megatrends.  Here lies the focus and purpose of this blog, to learn to swim in this sea of data in this second Digital Design Revolution.