Autodesk Forge is our collection of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) that we use to develop our own web services. As part of our Autodesk Forge efforts, we share those APIs (including documentation and code samples) with customers and 3^rd party developers (the Forge community) that want to leverage the mounds of data that they have associated with their projects. Speaking of massive amounts of data, check out this article on Engineering.com that showed what Smartvid.io is doing to process the endless amount of video that gets captured at a construction site.

Read the article on Engineering.com

The Engineering.com article points out that Smartvid.io has developed a smart photo and video management platform that uses synthetic vision and deep learning to tell project team members important things about their construction project.

• Synthetic vision relies on a computer-mediated reality system for aerial vehicles that was originally used to provide pilots with clear and intuitive means of understanding their flying environment. In the case of a construction project, 3D data is collected by flying an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with a video camera around the site. The pilot is on the ground with the UAV controller.
• Deep learning is a step towards artificial intelligence based on artificial neural networks that allow machine learning based on recognizing and understanding data representations as opposed to task specific algorithms.^[Nvidia] As Engineering.com noted, deep learning is used by Smartvid.io to recognize things like hard hats, ductwork, and other things found on construction sites.

Synthetic vision and deep learning enable the Smartvid.io platform to add "smart tags" to video. The tags enable construction project stakeholders to get answers to questions such as:

• Are people on the job site wearing hard hats or safety glasses?
• Has the framing been completed?
• What hours of the day are the most active?

Smartvid.io works with Autodesk BIM 360 Field.

• Autodesk BIM 360 Field is field management software for 2D and 3D environments that combines mobile technologies at the construction site with cloud-based collaboration and reporting.
• BIM 360 Field puts critical information into the hands of those in the field, helping to improve quality, safety, and commissioning for construction and capital projects of all types.

Autodesk Forge allows Smartvid.io to navigate project data and upload/download from the project's huge BIM 360 repository of video files.

• Data Management API

  The Data Management API gives Smartvid.io a unified and consistent way for their platform to access data across BIM 360 Team and BIM 360 Docs.

  The pieces of this part of the Forge API include:

  • Project Service - Smartvid.io can navigate to a project from BIM 360 Team hub or a BIM 360 Docs account
  • Data Service - Smartvid.io can navigate and manage the BIM 360 Team and BIM 360 Docs metadata in terms of folders, items, and versions, as well as the relationships between these entities
  • Schema Service - lets Smartvid.io understand the structure and semantics of extended data types
  • Object Storage Service - Smartvid.io can download and upload raw files that are managed by the Data Service (such as MP4, JPG, DWG, or RVT)

• Model Derivative API

  The Model Derivative API lets Smartvid.io represent and share designs in different formats, as well as to extract valuable metadata into various object hierarchies. 60 different file input formats are supported.

  The pieces of this part of the Forge API include:

  • Metadata Extraction - Smartvid.io can extract identifiable elements and properties from a source file
  • Geometry Extraction - Smartvid.io can identify various geometric representations
  • File Translation - Smartvid.io can translate source files into output files (derivatives) of different formats

It's great to "see" Smartvid.io putting Autodesk Forge into action.

The saying, "Seeing is believing," is alive in the lab.