Bentley Case Studies AHCEC's Reality Model Development for Al-Madinah City

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	AHCEC's Reality Model Development for Al-Madinah City Bentley

AHCEC's Reality Model Development for Al-Madinah City

Bentley

Technology Category	Robots - Wheeled Robots Sensors - Environmental Sensors
Applicable Industries	Buildings Cities & Municipalities
Applicable Functions	Facility Management Product Research & Development
Use Cases	Digital Twin Smart City Operations
Services	Drone Operation Services
Challenge	Ala Abdulhadi & Khalifa Hawas Consulting Engineering Company (AHCEC) was tasked with the challenge of accommodating the growing number of pilgrims visiting Al-Madinah, the second-holiest city in Islam, located in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia aimed to increase the annual visitor capacity from 8 million to 30 million by 2030. This required a comprehensive plan to expand transportation systems, hospitality facilities, and routes to historical, cultural, and tourist sites, while preserving historical sites. AHCEC was also required to develop a reality model of a 55-square-kilometer section of the city and conduct mobile mapping of 7,000 kilometers of roadways. The project timeline was shortened from two years to one, adding to the complexity of the task. Read More
About Customer	Ala Abdulhadi & Khalifa Hawas Consulting Engineering Company (AHCEC) is a seasoned consulting engineering company with over 55 years of experience. They were tasked with the responsibility of designing a plan to accommodate the growing number of pilgrims visiting Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia. The plan included expanding transportation systems and hospitality facilities while preserving historical sites. AHCEC worked with the Madinah Development Authority to create strategic execution plans for the project, which included implementing reality modeling practices to help plan the development of the 55-square-kilometer historical area of the city. Read More
Solution	AHCEC turned to innovative and interoperable digital solutions to meet the challenge. The project team captured LiDAR data to create a hybrid model that also included unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) data. The city was divided into 2.25-hectare cells and six UAVs were used in the field. The team established 1,038 control points around the city, which allowed them to ensure accuracy and finish data capture in 85 days with 7,033 UAV flights. Using ContextCapture, the project team processed nearly 750,000 images, about 13.7 terapixels, to create a realistic 3D model of the city. Bentley’s 3D mapping solution, Orbit, was used to manage and extract the large amounts of drone data and create panoramic images for the model. The interoperability of the applications also allowed the model to be exported in web-ready formats for easier approvals from the government and other stakeholders. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Robots - Wheeled Robots

Sensors - Environmental Sensors

Applicable Industries

Buildings

Cities & Municipalities

Applicable Functions

Facility Management

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Digital Twin

Smart City Operations

Services

Drone Operation Services

Challenge

Ala Abdulhadi & Khalifa Hawas Consulting Engineering Company (AHCEC) was tasked with the challenge of accommodating the growing number of pilgrims visiting Al-Madinah, the second-holiest city in Islam, located in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia aimed to increase the annual visitor capacity from 8 million to 30 million by 2030. This required a comprehensive plan to expand transportation systems, hospitality facilities, and routes to historical, cultural, and tourist sites, while preserving historical sites. AHCEC was also required to develop a reality model of a 55-square-kilometer section of the city and conduct mobile mapping of 7,000 kilometers of roadways. The project timeline was shortened from two years to one, adding to the complexity of the task.

About Customer

Ala Abdulhadi & Khalifa Hawas Consulting Engineering Company (AHCEC) is a seasoned consulting engineering company with over 55 years of experience. They were tasked with the responsibility of designing a plan to accommodate the growing number of pilgrims visiting Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia. The plan included expanding transportation systems and hospitality facilities while preserving historical sites. AHCEC worked with the Madinah Development Authority to create strategic execution plans for the project, which included implementing reality modeling practices to help plan the development of the 55-square-kilometer historical area of the city.

Solution

AHCEC turned to innovative and interoperable digital solutions to meet the challenge. The project team captured LiDAR data to create a hybrid model that also included unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) data. The city was divided into 2.25-hectare cells and six UAVs were used in the field. The team established 1,038 control points around the city, which allowed them to ensure accuracy and finish data capture in 85 days with 7,033 UAV flights. Using ContextCapture, the project team processed nearly 750,000 images, about 13.7 terapixels, to create a realistic 3D model of the city. Bentley’s 3D mapping solution, Orbit, was used to manage and extract the large amounts of drone data and create panoramic images for the model. The interoperability of the applications also allowed the model to be exported in web-ready formats for easier approvals from the government and other stakeholders.

Impact #1	The use of ContextCapture and Orbit allowed AHCEC to create a detailed and realistic 3D model of the city, which was instrumental in planning and designing the infrastructure needed to support the increase in visitors. The model captured every feature of the highly congested area, including trees and the texture of the buildings. Even narrow, dark alleys were modeled in great detail with a combination of laser scanning and photogrammetry. The team also implemented data from existing point clouds. The model provided a single location where the multidiscipline site planning and engineering teams could find information that they needed. It is now easy to share the models with other departments, as well as visualize and measure without having much experience in 2D or 3D modeling. The project was the first of its scale in Saudi Arabia to use consumer UAVs in such a short timeframe.

Impact #1

The use of ContextCapture and Orbit allowed AHCEC to create a detailed and realistic 3D model of the city, which was instrumental in planning and designing the infrastructure needed to support the increase in visitors. The model captured every feature of the highly congested area, including trees and the texture of the buildings. Even narrow, dark alleys were modeled in great detail with a combination of laser scanning and photogrammetry. The team also implemented data from existing point clouds. The model provided a single location where the multidiscipline site planning and engineering teams could find information that they needed. It is now easy to share the models with other departments, as well as visualize and measure without having much experience in 2D or 3D modeling. The project was the first of its scale in Saudi Arabia to use consumer UAVs in such a short timeframe.

Benefit #1	Completed the project in nine months, saving over a year in surveying time.
Benefit #2	Saved more than SAR 42 million.
Benefit #3	Captured 750,000 images.

Benefit #1

Completed the project in nine months, saving over a year in surveying time.

Benefit #2

Saved more than SAR 42 million.

Benefit #3

Captured 750,000 images.

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Overview

AHCEC's Reality Model Development for Al-Madinah City

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit