LOS ANGELES — (BUSINESS WIRE) — January 26, 2011 — AECOM Technology Corporation, a leading provider of professional technical and management support services for government and commercial clients around the world, recently presented on the use of GeoDesign for sustainable design and planning at the Esri GeoDesign Summit, held Jan. 6-7 in Redlands, Calif. GeoDesign is a design and planning method that combines the creation of design proposals with impact simulations informed by geographic contexts, which contributes to more sustainable outcomes.
During the summit, Matthew Palavido, a senior GIS specialist, Design + Planning at AECOM, and colleague Vishal Bhargava, a senior associate urban designer and land planner, gave a presentation on sustainable design and planning, and also debuted the Sustainable Systems Integration Model (SSIM™) Analyst, a custom extension developed by AECOM that broadens Esri’s ArcGIS Desktop 10 software.
“A GeoDesign-based approach has multiple benefits,” said Palavido. “This approach provides the quantitative metrics required for design evaluation; enables modeling and visualization in real time; incorporates multiple systems in the design process; allows for optimal application of measures/strategies and cost efficiency; and promotes the development of high-performance land plans.”
Palavido and Bhargava also demonstrated the uses of innovative techniques for spatial urban design analysis and its integration with a comprehensive sustainability evaluation system that ties design decisions to economics, environmental and climate change implications.
“Rather than relying purely on the intuitive judgment by reviewers, the SSIM™ Framework uses GIS to calculate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) using programmatic and spatial patterns (urban form) of the plan alternatives,” said Bhargava. “These KPIs are then presented in a rational, quantifiable and transparent decision process.”
SSIM™ evaluates performance metrics for the amount of carbon emissions, density, energy use, land-use mix, projected costs and water use. The team also presented a version of the tool that can be used to evaluate Green House Gas reduction strategies at a city-wide scale.
“By using SSIM™ Analyst and the SSIM™ Framework, we are able to complete the process of gathering and evaluating performance metrics for sustainability, in the most cost-effective and efficient way,” said Palavido.
The SSIM™ Analyst Extension for ArcGIS was developed using VB.NET and Esri’s ArcObjects. It includes a complete suite of tools integrated within the ArcGIS Desktop platform to model, evaluate, and visualize complex spatial relationships within land use plans.
AECOM professionals have used SSIM™ Analyst and the SSIM™ Framework to design numerous projects around the world including the Jurong Lake Master Plan in Singapore; a greenfield development in Australia; Fairfield Train Station Specific Plan in California; and Beitang New Town Master Sustainability Modeling Based Programming in Tianjin, China.
More information on the GeoDesign Summit can be found here.
About AECOM
AECOM is a global provider of professional technical and management support services to a broad range of markets, including transportation, facilities, environmental, energy, water and government. With approximately 52,000 employees around the world, AECOM is a leader in all of the key markets that it serves. AECOM provides a blend of global reach, local knowledge, innovation, and technical excellence in delivering solutions that create, enhance and sustain the world's built, natural, and social environments. A Fortune 500 company, AECOM serves clients in more than 100 countries and had revenue of $6.5 billion during its fiscal year 2010. More information on AECOM and its services can be found at www.aecom.com.
About Esri
Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in geographic information system (GIS) technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.
Esri, GIS by Esri, ArcLogistics, and esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.
CTO 11-0103
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