Creating Real-World Interactive Wind Farm Projects for Stakeholder Engagement | Unreal Fest 2024

00:40:28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHmn0In8Yco

Resumo

TLDRThe presentation revolved around utilizing advanced simulation and visualization tools to enhance stakeholder engagement in wind farm projects. Delivered by a team from WSP, a global engineering firm with a localized approach, the discussion covered how 3D simulations, including Unreal Engine, are being used to provide realistic, immersive representations of wind farms. These efforts ensure stakeholders, including local communities, understand the visual, auditory, and environmental impacts of large-scale energy projects. With customizable features such as time-of-day changes, noise levels, and seasonal effects, the tools enable transparent public consultations and democratize the decision-making process. The approach is not only applied to wind farms but is expanding into transportation and mining projects, with emphasis on accessibility via cloud hosting, AR/VR, and multi-language compatibility. The ultimate goal is to foster better understanding and acceptance of infrastructure projects through interactive and realistic simulations.

Conclusões

  • 🌍 Revolutionizing public consultations with interactive, realistic 3D simulations.
  • 💡 Use of Unreal Engine to showcase wind farms' visual and audio impacts.
  • 📱 Cloud-based applications allow accessibility anytime, anywhere.
  • 🌀 Simulations include features like time-of-day and seasonal adjustments.
  • 🌳 Visual impacts are assessed down to vegetation types and shadow effects.
  • 🔊 Noise simulations calibrated to real-world conditions for transparency.
  • 🎮 Augmented and virtual reality features for immersive experiences.
  • ⚙️ Adaptation for various industries including transportation and mining.
  • 👥 User-friendly design accommodates different skill levels and disabilities.
  • 📈 Evolving functionalities based on client and community feedback.

Linha do tempo

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The presentation begins with an introduction to creating real-world interactive wind farm projects for stakeholder engagement. The speaker, a manager at an engineering firm, shares his extensive experience in simulation industries like civil aviation and defense. The firm, WSP, with a workforce of 69,000, emphasizes an international approach with local solutions focusing on visualization for client projects. The topic of stakeholder engagement is introduced as a key process in project decision-making, especially in ensuring community involvement and satisfaction.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The speaker explains wind farm projects: they are large, visible structures placed in high areas for wind capture. Each project can have 20 to 500 turbines, covering vast areas that require efficient data management to minimize visual impact. Turbines are described as tall constructions made of blades and a mast, capable of considerable rotational speed. Such projects can create sensory impacts, like stroboscopic effects, shadows, noise, and blinking lights, affecting local communities. To address these, traditional photo simulations are compared with the use of advanced engines for better visualization and stakeholder engagement.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The speaker discusses the limitations of traditional 2D simulations in stakeholder engagement and the growing need for accessible, immersive, real-time information on wind projects. Clients often have specific questions on project appearance and effects on their environment, leading to demands for solutions that allow better visualization throughout the design process. By using powerful gaming engines like Unreal, the team aims to provide dynamic displays of project effects such as sun angles, allowing real-world immersiveness which facilitates better understanding by communities and stakeholders.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Unreal Engine's role in enhancing stakeholder engagement is explained, with its ability to integrate various data forms like sound and GIS for comprehensive visualization. Challenges include handling incomplete or outdated data, especially in remote locations, requiring an efficient workflow to ingest, prepare, and display data. The speaker demonstrates one project on a cloud-hosted platform that supports user interaction with various viewpoints and features, enhancing transparency by allowing comparison between current and projected landscapes, despite data limitations.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Stakeholders can interact with models through demo simulations showing environmental impacts of wind farms, despite constraints like outdated textures due to data availability. Improvements include dynamic POI navigation, dark mode for clarity, and customizable blade orientation to simulate real wind conditions. These digital models balance public access with privacy, rejecting detailed photorealism in favor of uniform representation. Upcoming features aim to include direct Google Map integration, broadening accessibility to these simulations.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    By simulating sound levels and visual impacts, stakeholders gain realistic insights into daily experiences with the project. A sound demo exhibits acoustic data use, processed into the engine to emulate real-world conditions during public presentations. Such immersive tools assist in explaining and adjusting project designs against community concerns. The speaker emphasizes realistic modeling, offering a comprehensive understanding without imposing judgment on project merits, focusing instead on clarity and accessibility for decision-making.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    Additional visual features like day/night simulation and visibility modes offer nuanced project assessments, improving public comprehension by showing variable conditions such as ‘foggy days’. Realistic depictions in uncalibrated settings are fine-tuned for public clarity, aiming to replicate authentic landscape experiences. The company’s involvement in various projects demonstrates commitment to functional realism over high pixel density, ensuring community connectivity and utility in communication without over-reliance on technical perfection.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:28

    The firm uses client feedback to continuously enhance functionality, emphasizing Cloud integration and forward-compatible technology to improve project visualizations. They implement features such as multi-language support and accessibility accommodations, aiming for broad comprehension. As they expand into sectors like transportation and mining, they focus on client-driven data management, ensuring projects meet environmental and community standards. Future directions include integrating AR, VR, and other tech innovations to make stakeholder engagement more interactive and effective.

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Vídeo de perguntas e respostas

  • What is the purpose of using 3D simulations in wind farm projects?

    3D simulations help stakeholders understand the visual, auditory, and environmental impacts of wind farms, fostering informed decision-making and community acceptance.

  • How does Unreal Engine play a role in stakeholder engagement?

    Unreal Engine is used to create immersive 3D simulations that display real-world details, such as shadow casting, noise levels, and time-of-day effects, for transparent project presentations.

  • What are the key features of these interactive simulations?

    Features include realistic topography, noise simulations, customizable weather conditions, seasonal effects, AR/VR compatibility, and multi-language support.

  • Can these tools be applied to other industries?

    Yes, these tools are also being adapted for use in industries like transportation and mining, offering similar stakeholder engagement options.

  • How does the software handle accessibility for stakeholders?

    The software supports cloud hosting for anytime access, compatibility with tablets and desktops, multi-language narration, and options for those with visual or hearing impairments.

  • What is the focus of stakeholder engagement in these projects?

    The focus is to give communities a transparent, detailed understanding of infrastructure projects, ensuring their concerns and expectations are addressed effectively.

  • What challenges arise in creating these simulations?

    Challenges include outdated or incomplete geospatial data, technical limitations, and creating universally understandable visualizations.

  • Do these simulations work offline?

    While these are primarily cloud-based, pre-calibrated hardware and offline setups can be provided for use in remote or limited-connectivity locations.

  • Is VR used during public consultations?

    While compatible with VR, it’s not practical for large assemblies but can be used individually or in settings with adequate resources.

  • What types of data inputs are used in these simulations?

    Inputs include GIS data, satellite imagery, acoustic analyses, topographic information, and environmental attributes like vegetation types.

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Rolagem automática:
  • 00:00:01
    so hi
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    everyone thank you for joining the
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    presentation or also as we would say in
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    Montreal
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    bour we're going to explore how we're
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    creating real world uh interactive Wind
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    Farm projects for uh stakeholder
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    engagement all
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    right so engineering firms don't have
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    super cool names to call ourselves so
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    I'm called manager but in other areas I
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    would be called a technical director I
  • 00:00:34
    manage a team of uh great uh artists
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    and very talented people I've worked in
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    the simulation industry for more than 24
  • 00:00:44
    years in uh civil aviation in uh defense
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    I've had the opportunity to work on uh
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    digal twins for power plants and other
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    types of projects around the world and
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    uh various technical understanding
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    acquired throughout the years have given
  • 00:01:01
    me the possibility to explore new fields
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    and understand certain
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    things
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    thanks so for those who don't know wsp
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    as an engineering firm were uh 69,000
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    strong and
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    recently increased our numbers with uh
  • 00:01:22
    colleagues sitting in the first row so
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    we're happy to be very very uh
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    International presence but we're
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    thinking
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    International with a local solution
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    approach meaning our customers are
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    important to us and each individual
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    customer gets that International level
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    of solution
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    uh applied to their
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    projects so our team focuses mainly on
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    creating solutions for visualization uh
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    typically in the past for the past 15
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    years creating what we usually know from
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    visualization teams Stills
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    animations um different simulations that
  • 00:02:09
    are required and as you know most of the
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    time it's like at the drop of a hat can
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    you give us this in two or three days
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    how quickly can you do it so we have to
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    be creative in our approaches and use
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    technology that goes a lot uh faster
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    quicker so what is stakeholder
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    engagement that's the big question that
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    maybe it's on your mind but to us it's a
  • 00:02:36
    daily thing stakeholder engagement is
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    the process by which we all contribute
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    to the decision making of a final of a
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    project that will come to
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    be as we all as we are all part of our
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    communities we want to make sure that
  • 00:02:53
    what's going to be
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    built is up to our expectations either
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    in economic development in Aesthetics
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    and much more so how do we work and how
  • 00:03:08
    do create projects that help support
  • 00:03:10
    these communities to make sure that it's
  • 00:03:12
    not just the big client or corporation
  • 00:03:14
    that comes in and builds anything
  • 00:03:17
    without
  • 00:03:20
    consideration so Wind Farm
  • 00:03:23
    projects that's the main idea today even
  • 00:03:27
    though we'll expand a bit at the end of
  • 00:03:28
    the presentation
  • 00:03:30
    Simplicity and its
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    complexity now for those of you who know
  • 00:03:36
    who have seen uh Wind Farm
  • 00:03:39
    projects it's they're very tall
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    structures very punctual in the
  • 00:03:44
    landscape so you can't miss them once
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    they're put into place they're usually
  • 00:03:48
    put at the top of a mountain or a hill
  • 00:03:52
    because that's where they'll catch the
  • 00:03:53
    most wind so obviously the most visual
  • 00:03:56
    impacts for the communities
  • 00:03:59
    these projects are huge they cover more
  • 00:04:02
    than 40x 40 kilm of size so increased
  • 00:04:07
    topography that you can't necessarily go
  • 00:04:11
    to or walk to
  • 00:04:13
    acquire uh pictures on an easy basis so
  • 00:04:18
    you need a data management uh solution
  • 00:04:21
    that can handle all
  • 00:04:23
    that and each project can contain
  • 00:04:26
    between 20 to 500
  • 00:04:30
    uh turbines so all of this put together
  • 00:04:33
    creates a visual accumulation on the
  • 00:04:35
    landscape and making sure that the tools
  • 00:04:37
    are there to minimize that impact we
  • 00:04:41
    want to make sure that uh we give them
  • 00:04:44
    the proper tools and solutions to our
  • 00:04:46
    customers so a wind turbine just in
  • 00:04:48
    quick
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    terms it's uh made of three components
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    you've got the blades the turbine at uh
  • 00:04:56
    which actually is uh generating the
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    electricity and the
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    Mast so some of these are 100 meters
  • 00:05:05
    high uh more than 100 m high they can
  • 00:05:09
    reach rotation speeds of 160 km at the
  • 00:05:13
    tip and uh for safety reasons they have
  • 00:05:17
    different cut offs so that uh when the
  • 00:05:20
    wind speeds get too high they don't get
  • 00:05:22
    just shredded apart and they can be
  • 00:05:24
    turned off
  • 00:05:31
    now these turbines create various
  • 00:05:34
    sensory uh impacts to the local
  • 00:05:37
    communities some of them are more
  • 00:05:39
    perceivable than
  • 00:05:41
    others so the spinning blades create St
  • 00:05:44
    stroboscopic effects when the sun is
  • 00:05:47
    just at that good angle when usually end
  • 00:05:50
    of day or early morning and you'll get
  • 00:05:53
    that
  • 00:05:54
    feeling for local residents obviously
  • 00:05:57
    that can be an issue they large size and
  • 00:06:00
    height cast Long Shadows so you if you
  • 00:06:04
    have
  • 00:06:06
    different uh points of interest in your
  • 00:06:08
    landscape you don't want to have a cast
  • 00:06:11
    Shadow all day long onto your uh
  • 00:06:15
    property or uh various
  • 00:06:18
    infrastructures having obstruction
  • 00:06:20
    lights at the top of 120 M High
  • 00:06:24
    structure that blinks all night and
  • 00:06:27
    depending on the height you can have
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    some on the Mast too obviously that can
  • 00:06:32
    change your perspective on uh when you
  • 00:06:35
    look outside the
  • 00:06:36
    window and it generates noise uh at
  • 00:06:40
    different frequencies we'll do a test uh
  • 00:06:43
    I'll demonstrate that in a few
  • 00:06:45
    minutes so when you put all these
  • 00:06:49
    together what better way than to use
  • 00:06:54
    engines because traditionally we used to
  • 00:06:57
    do photo simulations for these things so
  • 00:07:00
    good but not good
  • 00:07:02
    enough on the top image is the existing
  • 00:07:05
    landscape and on the bottom is the photo
  • 00:07:08
    simulation integrating a
  • 00:07:10
    typical um uh
  • 00:07:14
    turbine this obviously helps establish
  • 00:07:18
    the look and feel for uh Countryside and
  • 00:07:20
    different areas but it doesn't cover a
  • 00:07:25
    super wide angle it doesn't help you get
  • 00:07:28
    the big picture as we would
  • 00:07:30
    say so in stakeholder engagement uh
  • 00:07:35
    scenarios most of the time it's hosted
  • 00:07:38
    on site with a limited number of hours
  • 00:07:42
    and a present uh through a presentation
  • 00:07:46
    similar to this where you've got
  • 00:07:48
    different experts in a room and
  • 00:07:49
    presenting their content but it was
  • 00:07:52
    always 2D with a couple of snaps and
  • 00:07:56
    things have not changed a lot since then
  • 00:08:01
    so the as the project is partially
  • 00:08:03
    captured but not in its fullest you you
  • 00:08:07
    get to see things you get to see charts
  • 00:08:09
    a lot of different things but you don't
  • 00:08:11
    get that
  • 00:08:12
    immersion so we felt that uh within the
  • 00:08:15
    team that it was time for a change
  • 00:08:18
    because the traditional approach were
  • 00:08:20
    done in large assemblies with fixed
  • 00:08:22
    dates that lasted a certain number of
  • 00:08:25
    hours but we know that with our hectic
  • 00:08:27
    Lifestyles people want to have access
  • 00:08:30
    to that information anytime anywhere
  • 00:08:32
    during the day during the night based on
  • 00:08:34
    their
  • 00:08:35
    schedules so how do we change that how
  • 00:08:39
    do we go beyond the traditional image
  • 00:08:41
    that we were
  • 00:08:43
    doing and in public presentations our
  • 00:08:46
    customers kept getting the same
  • 00:08:47
    questions which are the same questions
  • 00:08:49
    you would have sitting in one of those
  • 00:08:51
    assemblies
  • 00:08:52
    being what will I hear what it uh what's
  • 00:08:56
    the color of the paint that you're going
  • 00:08:58
    to put on all of these things affect the
  • 00:09:03
    um your level of reception or level of
  • 00:09:06
    appreciation of the project and you may
  • 00:09:08
    decide to be against or for
  • 00:09:11
    it but that's up to you to decide given
  • 00:09:14
    the right
  • 00:09:15
    tools so how did we help our customers
  • 00:09:18
    present their projects in a way that
  • 00:09:21
    really lets them engage during the
  • 00:09:23
    design process until they decide and get
  • 00:09:27
    all the proper permitting
  • 00:09:32
    so we needed a powerful engine that
  • 00:09:35
    offers the possibility to load and
  • 00:09:37
    display large data
  • 00:09:39
    areas we can represent accurate Sun
  • 00:09:41
    angle based on Geographic
  • 00:09:44
    locations remember this is real world so
  • 00:09:47
    we're not faking
  • 00:09:48
    anything day and night lighting to get
  • 00:09:51
    those uh blinking lights I talked
  • 00:09:54
    earlier about or other stuff I'll
  • 00:09:56
    explain a bit later has multimedia
  • 00:09:59
    functionalities can be customized and
  • 00:10:02
    can generate photo visuals so
  • 00:10:07
    spoiler unreal uh we've been working
  • 00:10:10
    with it for four years now within the
  • 00:10:12
    team it's really helped us uh move
  • 00:10:14
    forward into that space and connect with
  • 00:10:17
    our
  • 00:10:20
    clients so typical data inputs for wind
  • 00:10:25
    farms we've got
  • 00:10:29
    the sound simulation or the acoustic
  • 00:10:32
    analysis coming from Engineers these are
  • 00:10:35
    data charts with DB levels and wind
  • 00:10:39
    speeds at meters per second and all of
  • 00:10:41
    these amazing technical things we have
  • 00:10:46
    GIS data coming from uh government
  • 00:10:48
    agencies that make it available or the
  • 00:10:50
    customer
  • 00:10:52
    supplied we get accurate topography or
  • 00:10:55
    lar based on the region
  • 00:10:59
    and obviously the location of these wind
  • 00:11:02
    farms and each turbine and satellite
  • 00:11:05
    imagery you put all these things
  • 00:11:07
    together and each one has a
  • 00:11:11
    specific uh aspect of complexity to it
  • 00:11:15
    for instance if you're in a remote
  • 00:11:18
    region far up north in
  • 00:11:20
    Canada you won't get lighter do if you
  • 00:11:23
    get good topography at a 5 m resolution
  • 00:11:26
    you'll be
  • 00:11:27
    lucky if you're also in the north of
  • 00:11:30
    Canada for certain uh areas you'll get
  • 00:11:32
    you're going to get 5 met resolution
  • 00:11:34
    imagery so all of these little details
  • 00:11:37
    start to add up and we want to make sure
  • 00:11:40
    that we
  • 00:11:41
    give the data in
  • 00:11:45
    a
  • 00:11:46
    uh acceptable quality level that will
  • 00:11:51
    suffice the needs of the client and also
  • 00:11:54
    the uh communities to which it's going
  • 00:11:56
    to be presented
  • 00:12:01
    now our software workflow to ingest all
  • 00:12:04
    of this data is quite simple in a
  • 00:12:08
    certain way you've all seen
  • 00:12:10
    presentations all week about how do you
  • 00:12:14
    ingest the data how do you PR prep it
  • 00:12:16
    and how do you make it work but I'm
  • 00:12:18
    going to give you an Insight on this
  • 00:12:20
    even though everybody says it's an easy
  • 00:12:23
    in it's an easy out it never is right
  • 00:12:26
    the data formats aren't uh optimal
  • 00:12:29
    there's holes in the data there's
  • 00:12:31
    missing coverage in certain areas there
  • 00:12:34
    are limitations to the 3D model that we
  • 00:12:37
    receive uh gaps flipped faces all of
  • 00:12:40
    these things and so there's a process in
  • 00:12:43
    the background that needs to be done to
  • 00:12:46
    ingest all of that data put it all
  • 00:12:48
    together and make it
  • 00:12:51
    work so we use um for different types of
  • 00:12:55
    projects uh the example we're going to
  • 00:12:57
    be looking at in a few minutes is a flat
  • 00:13:01
    approach it's not a 3D tiled world uh
  • 00:13:04
    it's a
  • 00:13:05
    tiled uh area but not a 3D tile using
  • 00:13:08
    cesium or uh e
  • 00:13:12
    resolutions so when we work with these
  • 00:13:15
    data types it's really difficult to
  • 00:13:19
    acquire it sometimes uh like I mentioned
  • 00:13:21
    lar doesn't always exist lar doesn't
  • 00:13:24
    isn't the latest revision either of the
  • 00:13:27
    year the customer is presenting his
  • 00:13:29
    content so it creates um expectations
  • 00:13:32
    and limitations throughout uh the
  • 00:13:35
    project
  • 00:13:37
    wheel so I have two demos for all of you
  • 00:13:41
    to uh to look at I'm going to try and
  • 00:13:45
    work this through in an efficient
  • 00:13:50
    manner let's do
  • 00:13:52
    this so we're actually going on our
  • 00:13:55
    Cloud hosted uh partner arcare
  • 00:13:59
    we um find that cloud hosting really
  • 00:14:04
    gives the possibility for people to
  • 00:14:06
    connect with uh the project at any time
  • 00:14:09
    of day compatible with uh different uh
  • 00:14:12
    tablets iPads and so on and so
  • 00:14:14
    forth as they would say pardon my French
  • 00:14:17
    everything's in French for this one
  • 00:14:19
    because it was presented to a local
  • 00:14:23
    community before I start off uh
  • 00:14:26
    explaining what we designed and
  • 00:14:27
    developed in here
  • 00:14:29
    uh in Quebec we have an agency called
  • 00:14:33
    the Bap this agency regulates uh the
  • 00:14:37
    social acceptance of projects and
  • 00:14:39
    depending on the level of complexity
  • 00:14:41
    that the project offers and the impact
  • 00:14:43
    that it has on the community some may or
  • 00:14:45
    may not need to present during those
  • 00:14:48
    assemblies but when you're called up as
  • 00:14:50
    a company to go and present to that
  • 00:14:52
    assembly you need to be sharp cuz
  • 00:14:55
    they're going to have the go no go for
  • 00:14:56
    your project they may come back with
  • 00:14:59
    some recommendations or improvements in
  • 00:15:02
    which you can um adapt the project but
  • 00:15:07
    nevertheless it's quite u a grueling
  • 00:15:10
    aspect so that's why the customers uh
  • 00:15:12
    are coming towards us so we can present
  • 00:15:15
    content that they can present to those
  • 00:15:19
    um to to that uh Bureau and make sure
  • 00:15:23
    that uh everybody understands what it's
  • 00:15:25
    going to
  • 00:15:26
    be so through 3D when we started at the
  • 00:15:29
    beginning we had five different
  • 00:15:32
    functionalities we're now up to 30 plus
  • 00:15:35
    functionalities every day we keep adding
  • 00:15:38
    new ones based on inputs that our
  • 00:15:40
    customers give
  • 00:15:42
    us in here we have POI so points of
  • 00:15:46
    interest uh these different points of
  • 00:15:48
    interest I can navigate to in uh by
  • 00:15:51
    simply
  • 00:15:52
    clicking and seeing what it looked like
  • 00:15:55
    from my
  • 00:15:57
    house now
  • 00:16:00
    some of you may already be
  • 00:16:02
    thinking texture level is a bit low why
  • 00:16:05
    didn't they go photogrammetry could have
  • 00:16:07
    shot a drone could have gone with liar
  • 00:16:10
    data and different things well this is
  • 00:16:12
    exactly the example I was talking about
  • 00:16:14
    earlier about how we're limited to the
  • 00:16:18
    data that's available and the age of the
  • 00:16:21
    data that's there also remember we're
  • 00:16:23
    talking about public
  • 00:16:25
    consultations stakeholder engagement so
  • 00:16:28
    why would someone have their property be
  • 00:16:32
    mapped out in a photo realistic approach
  • 00:16:35
    and not the other one why would the
  • 00:16:38
    customer invest for that specific one so
  • 00:16:42
    we keep everybody on the same page
  • 00:16:44
    everybody's level and we position uh
  • 00:16:47
    different pois we're working on
  • 00:16:49
    connecting the Google Map API to this to
  • 00:16:51
    make it even more accessible so you're
  • 00:16:55
    going to say yeah now I'm at at uh the
  • 00:16:57
    location I can EAS move with my keys and
  • 00:17:01
    so on so
  • 00:17:02
    forth but because all of the data is
  • 00:17:05
    separated in different layers we're
  • 00:17:07
    actually showing and able to turn on and
  • 00:17:10
    off what the landscape looks without
  • 00:17:13
    your existing constraints and that gives
  • 00:17:15
    it a second level
  • 00:17:18
    of um acceptance by the local
  • 00:17:22
    communities and stakeholders because
  • 00:17:24
    suddenly you're not hiding anything
  • 00:17:27
    behind the veil you're not saying well
  • 00:17:30
    we chose this spot for the photo
  • 00:17:33
    simulation that I showed you earlier
  • 00:17:35
    because we don't see anything no
  • 00:17:37
    actually we don't see anything because
  • 00:17:40
    you won't see anything if I Circle back
  • 00:17:42
    to the data we were talking about
  • 00:17:45
    earlier and with the uh forestry
  • 00:17:49
    information again in Canada for certain
  • 00:17:52
    provinces we have access to um uh
  • 00:17:56
    attribute tables that give us the median
  • 00:17:58
    height of the vegetation in those areas
  • 00:18:02
    and also the type of um trees decidious
  • 00:18:07
    uh if it's the type of species uh
  • 00:18:10
    coniferous all of those things so it
  • 00:18:13
    really helps us ingest that data and put
  • 00:18:15
    it all together to create uh
  • 00:18:19
    visualization now for various purposes
  • 00:18:22
    when I said we've continually increased
  • 00:18:26
    the number of possibilities
  • 00:18:29
    we've dark we have a dark mode so that
  • 00:18:32
    they stand out a bit better a bit
  • 00:18:35
    crisper we can change the orientation of
  • 00:18:39
    the blades based on the
  • 00:18:42
    uh wind direction now this is not the
  • 00:18:45
    actual wind direction because we're
  • 00:18:47
    doing design and public consultations
  • 00:18:50
    we're not doing operations so we don't
  • 00:18:53
    have to link it into a direct feed of uh
  • 00:18:56
    Weather Service it's mainly how do we um
  • 00:19:01
    demonstrate it because you'll be uh
  • 00:19:05
    probably uh just like me if I'm at house
  • 00:19:09
    number at location number 11 and I'm
  • 00:19:13
    looking at this one whoa live demos
  • 00:19:16
    right so at number 11 if I want to look
  • 00:19:20
    in the direction of my
  • 00:19:22
    farm where is
  • 00:19:25
    it let me figure it out there they are
  • 00:19:30
    we can
  • 00:19:32
    actually
  • 00:19:34
    uh see the different impact that it has
  • 00:19:37
    facing you and if it's perpendicular or
  • 00:19:42
    uh front-facing
  • 00:19:44
    not the same
  • 00:19:46
    thing we also added a night mode and
  • 00:19:51
    take this into consideration this is not
  • 00:19:53
    a calibrated screen we are not in a
  • 00:19:55
    calibrated
  • 00:19:57
    environment um so usually the night mode
  • 00:20:00
    we don't show it in public assemblies uh
  • 00:20:03
    for various re only in uh public
  • 00:20:05
    assemblies but we disable it when we go
  • 00:20:07
    online so that people don't have that
  • 00:20:11
    issue and we can
  • 00:20:14
    see at night oh no that's sorry here's
  • 00:20:17
    the
  • 00:20:18
    night and here's without the lights and
  • 00:20:21
    you should start seeing little light
  • 00:20:23
    points when I turn it on please come on
  • 00:20:27
    and they should be blinking in the
  • 00:20:31
    distance so by mixing all of these
  • 00:20:35
    different approaches were suddenly
  • 00:20:37
    creating a realistic landscape that
  • 00:20:39
    talks to the people that are uh locals
  • 00:20:43
    and they can understand the visual
  • 00:20:45
    impact that their projects will have to
  • 00:20:48
    them on a daily
  • 00:20:51
    basis as a consultancy company we're not
  • 00:20:54
    there to judge on the quality of the
  • 00:20:56
    project or anything we're just there to
  • 00:20:58
    make it accessible to
  • 00:21:00
    people if I flip back
  • 00:21:04
    today and add one extra
  • 00:21:11
    thing being in Canada we have
  • 00:21:15
    winter
  • 00:21:18
    so this was taken two weeks ago no just
  • 00:21:21
    kidding uh we still have pleasant
  • 00:21:23
    weather right now this is actually a 6.5
  • 00:21:27
    kilometer
  • 00:21:29
    ski uh Trail for CrossCountry skiers in
  • 00:21:33
    that area and different parties
  • 00:21:35
    mentioned that they would like to know
  • 00:21:37
    what would be the visual impact for them
  • 00:21:39
    as they go into the landscape and
  • 00:21:41
    appreciate the environment so using
  • 00:21:43
    different uh assets from uh Marketplace
  • 00:21:46
    thank you Marketplace for all of
  • 00:21:48
    these we got a awesome visualization so
  • 00:21:53
    you'll see my cursor move around until I
  • 00:21:55
    hit the play
  • 00:21:56
    button and then the camera is good to
  • 00:22:00
    reset there we
  • 00:22:04
    go so we're going at natural speed 6.5
  • 00:22:08
    km for a
  • 00:22:09
    skier what are you guys doing for lunch
  • 00:22:12
    just kidding we'll skip around so
  • 00:22:14
    knowing that our customers don't have
  • 00:22:16
    time to waste and the in-betweens they
  • 00:22:18
    may want to skip to we added a quick
  • 00:22:21
    travel
  • 00:22:23
    button this is far faster than any
  • 00:22:25
    Olympic uh skier for sure
  • 00:22:29
    but as you can see at any time during
  • 00:22:32
    the demo
  • 00:22:35
    the the ski ride you can we can turn on
  • 00:22:38
    and off again the visibility of the
  • 00:22:42
    existing vegetation so that they get
  • 00:22:45
    full transparency on what is currently
  • 00:22:48
    in on site this is existing
  • 00:22:52
    conditions and then uh when we turn it
  • 00:22:55
    off we can see by highlighting our
  • 00:22:58
    turbines which ones are going to be
  • 00:23:00
    added and as I mentioned we can turn
  • 00:23:02
    around in any
  • 00:23:04
    direction everywhere this is a 30X 30
  • 00:23:08
    kilometer area again lots of data being
  • 00:23:12
    processed we use the topog topography
  • 00:23:15
    data we used lar to counter validate
  • 00:23:18
    luckily enough we had the lar for this
  • 00:23:21
    area and we also had reference pictures
  • 00:23:24
    of a site we're coming up on
  • 00:23:28
    so right around here we have this great
  • 00:23:32
    big
  • 00:23:33
    opening and I'll show this a bit later
  • 00:23:36
    which has a
  • 00:23:39
    corridor we're very proud of our energy
  • 00:23:41
    and we put them very visible in our
  • 00:23:44
    Landscapes sometimes a bit too much but
  • 00:23:47
    nevertheless it's uh
  • 00:23:51
    quite awesome to have all of these
  • 00:23:54
    infrastructures being represented with
  • 00:23:57
    the vegetation levels and uh being able
  • 00:24:01
    to turn them on and off I'll just skip
  • 00:24:03
    to the last point just for the fun of
  • 00:24:09
    it so somebody actually walked and
  • 00:24:15
    uh that day they snowshoed the whole
  • 00:24:18
    thing because of weather conditions but
  • 00:24:22
    it was really really cool to have the
  • 00:24:24
    exact representation and as you can see
  • 00:24:27
    using uh Quicks Soul Mega scan uh
  • 00:24:30
    textures for the ski it really looks
  • 00:24:34
    like a winter
  • 00:24:36
    wonderland so we're getting to the end
  • 00:24:39
    of our
  • 00:24:41
    Trail L A Little Less excruciating than
  • 00:24:44
    if you had done it by
  • 00:24:47
    yourself and again turning them on and
  • 00:24:50
    off so we're quite close to them at this
  • 00:24:53
    spot this is the closest spot people
  • 00:24:55
    will see them but with the natural
  • 00:24:58
    vegetation again we only see a couple of
  • 00:25:02
    blades spinning in the
  • 00:25:06
    environment this is one of our Sol one
  • 00:25:11
    of our projects I'll flip to our
  • 00:25:16
    build this one's in English you're
  • 00:25:19
    already hearing a little sound in the
  • 00:25:22
    background coming through the
  • 00:25:25
    speakers this one was specifically made
  • 00:25:28
    for for a customer that wanted to add
  • 00:25:30
    the Acoustics to the project and we're
  • 00:25:34
    at a 400 plus wind farm and you're going
  • 00:25:37
    to think well 400 plus wind farms uh
  • 00:25:40
    that's going to be super noisy not
  • 00:25:41
    necessarily because the spacing between
  • 00:25:43
    each is about 300 M and sound cones die
  • 00:25:47
    off quite
  • 00:25:49
    fast so what we did is
  • 00:25:53
    um again we typically do this in a
  • 00:25:56
    calibrated environment with a sonom or
  • 00:25:59
    Sono device that gives us an exact
  • 00:26:03
    reading of 60 DBS watch your ears I'm
  • 00:26:06
    going to leave it like for a second it's
  • 00:26:08
    just a reference tone very
  • 00:26:10
    annoying and this helps us set the
  • 00:26:14
    Baseline for the sound again this is
  • 00:26:17
    only done in public presentations and
  • 00:26:19
    assemblies because people who have
  • 00:26:23
    different speaker configurations people
  • 00:26:25
    who have uh different uh hearing
  • 00:26:29
    disabilities we don't want them turning
  • 00:26:31
    it up until they actually hear it that's
  • 00:26:34
    not the intent the intent is just to get
  • 00:26:37
    the perception of what the sound will be
  • 00:26:41
    so we digested uh a lot of data coming
  • 00:26:45
    from the Acoustics team in CSV format we
  • 00:26:49
    took that we piped it into the into
  • 00:26:52
    unreal we made a one we found the
  • 00:26:55
    correlation we calibrated everything and
  • 00:26:58
    if we
  • 00:26:59
    move to one of these
  • 00:27:03
    spots we can actually
  • 00:27:06
    hear the change as we progress in the
  • 00:27:11
    me/
  • 00:27:15
    second for those of you who uh are less
  • 00:27:19
    familiar with these types of conversions
  • 00:27:21
    3 m/ second equals about 12 to 16 km
  • 00:27:26
    hour well precisely I can give you the
  • 00:27:27
    numbers
  • 00:27:28
    and the Seven is
  • 00:27:31
    at8
  • 00:27:34
    KM some of you may ask why didn't we go
  • 00:27:37
    above 7 m/ second well a it's the
  • 00:27:40
    Acoustics team that is inside of wsp
  • 00:27:44
    that developed these
  • 00:27:46
    models and after a certain speed there's
  • 00:27:49
    no increase in sound we just hit a
  • 00:27:53
    certain threshold so even though the
  • 00:27:56
    wind is going at 90 km hour you would
  • 00:27:59
    not get an increased level of
  • 00:28:02
    sound so in this one we're able to move
  • 00:28:06
    from different points of views but also
  • 00:28:09
    we added the different time of
  • 00:28:12
    day uh they were exper experimenting
  • 00:28:15
    with different uh sheen on the masks for
  • 00:28:19
    the different paints and wanted us to
  • 00:28:22
    test it
  • 00:28:23
    out on using PBR textures so we were
  • 00:28:27
    able to quickly iterate different
  • 00:28:29
    concepts and different approach
  • 00:28:31
    approaches I'm going to switch to
  • 00:28:33
    another
  • 00:28:34
    location but at any time again I can
  • 00:28:37
    move around and be in full control let
  • 00:28:40
    me go to day so that uh you actually see
  • 00:28:43
    it this is the
  • 00:28:45
    landscape this is the layout so there's
  • 00:28:49
    a lot of them
  • 00:28:51
    and we've got more than 20 reference
  • 00:28:55
    point 27 locations within the
  • 00:28:59
    within the project to capture all of
  • 00:29:02
    these things and what's Wonderful by
  • 00:29:04
    being into such a huge company such as
  • 00:29:06
    wsp is that you have access to all of
  • 00:29:09
    these experts that contribute to a
  • 00:29:11
    project and make it bigger so we're
  • 00:29:14
    using the Acoustics team we're using the
  • 00:29:16
    lighting and Sim uh the lighting team
  • 00:29:18
    that uses um uh a AGI 32 to validate
  • 00:29:23
    certain levels of um light intensities
  • 00:29:26
    and we map that into the
  • 00:29:29
    software we've got um particle
  • 00:29:33
    dispersions obviously if you got big
  • 00:29:35
    plumes in different Industries and how
  • 00:29:38
    they uh are uh represented in 3D but
  • 00:29:42
    today's a wind turbine they don't
  • 00:29:44
    generate any plumes it's clean energy so
  • 00:29:49
    again in here we can change the
  • 00:29:50
    direction and all of that so if I go to
  • 00:29:53
    time of day sorry if I stay in time of
  • 00:29:56
    day and I go to a different visibility
  • 00:29:59
    level we could actually calibrate this
  • 00:30:02
    for a 500t visibility if we use uh
  • 00:30:06
    Airline terms cat one cat 2 cat 3 or
  • 00:30:10
    just is it foggy today or is it a clear
  • 00:30:13
    sky that type of uh approach so if I go
  • 00:30:16
    on the mountain
  • 00:30:17
    top over here and I look down in the
  • 00:30:21
    valley right now we're at medium
  • 00:30:24
    visibility and using low visibility
  • 00:30:28
    only two or three Stand
  • 00:30:31
    Out by using
  • 00:30:34
    data for each environment in which we
  • 00:30:37
    create obviously we do some research and
  • 00:30:40
    uh see the number of median days of fog
  • 00:30:43
    and the number of the fog density and
  • 00:30:45
    all of these things and the fog Heights
  • 00:30:47
    based on weather patterns we're able to
  • 00:30:51
    replicate very close to real life
  • 00:30:53
    conditions which
  • 00:30:56
    gives communities
  • 00:30:58
    stakeholders which we all are a better
  • 00:31:01
    sense of what is going to be in your
  • 00:31:04
    backyard and then it can open up the
  • 00:31:07
    dialogue I'm just going to switch back
  • 00:31:09
    to the
  • 00:31:14
    presentation
  • 00:31:16
    so to the
  • 00:31:19
    left actual picture taken on site to the
  • 00:31:23
    right the 3D that I already presented a
  • 00:31:27
    few minutes AG go so for us the level of
  • 00:31:30
    realism is not necessarily the pixel
  • 00:31:34
    density of uh of the lar or certain
  • 00:31:37
    things it's do I feel do I recognize the
  • 00:31:41
    space and can I associate that area with
  • 00:31:46
    uh my local
  • 00:31:50
    environment so when we look at all of
  • 00:31:52
    this we created fun custom
  • 00:31:55
    functionalities that cover a whole slew
  • 00:31:58
    of features and within these I think I
  • 00:32:03
    have to go one by one we have the time
  • 00:32:06
    of day the
  • 00:32:08
    weather the
  • 00:32:10
    seasonal acoustic studies uh virtual
  • 00:32:14
    laser pointer I didn't demonstrate that
  • 00:32:15
    because we integrated it into a project
  • 00:32:18
    recently that hasn't been released
  • 00:32:20
    officially and the laser P pointer
  • 00:32:24
    distance is actually amazing you click
  • 00:32:27
    on an object and we are able to move
  • 00:32:32
    back so that you progressively see the
  • 00:32:36
    visual impact that it has on the
  • 00:32:38
    landscape we actually had to pull back
  • 00:32:41
    40 kilom for that uh specific project
  • 00:32:45
    from the point of where it was seen and
  • 00:32:47
    40 km
  • 00:32:49
    back this opens up just a brief brief uh
  • 00:32:53
    discussion about 40 km on a flat
  • 00:32:58
    surface has a certain impact but 40 km
  • 00:33:01
    when you're starting to take into
  • 00:33:03
    consideration the Earth curvature can
  • 00:33:06
    start having that extra level of
  • 00:33:09
    precision so we're currently exploring
  • 00:33:11
    those solutions to see what is the
  • 00:33:14
    actual percentage of visibility based on
  • 00:33:17
    these um
  • 00:33:20
    uh based on it we're also using viewshed
  • 00:33:26
    analysis data to to create uh different
  • 00:33:31
    um review sessions with our customers so
  • 00:33:33
    that we can place different turbines at
  • 00:33:36
    different locations based also on their
  • 00:33:39
    specific data that they need to to cater
  • 00:33:43
    to for instance wind speeds uh wind
  • 00:33:45
    directions and uh maximum uh gains from
  • 00:33:49
    different locations so we put all that
  • 00:33:51
    together and we get what we demonstrated
  • 00:33:53
    quick travel points of interest we try
  • 00:33:56
    to be as open as possible and we're
  • 00:33:57
    continuing to evolve on that making it
  • 00:33:59
    even more accessible by putting in your
  • 00:34:02
    uh local uh code and uh your ZIP code in
  • 00:34:06
    the US and U just by typing it in you
  • 00:34:10
    would be able to get to that location
  • 00:34:12
    keyboard and menu navigation because we
  • 00:34:14
    know everybody has different skill sets
  • 00:34:16
    using 3D some will be very tactile
  • 00:34:19
    others will be very Hands-On so we give
  • 00:34:21
    that flexibility flexibility to everyone
  • 00:34:24
    finally the audio playback of
  • 00:34:26
    pre-recorded narration in multiple
  • 00:34:28
    language what we're uh going uh when we
  • 00:34:32
    present this we're presenting to
  • 00:34:33
    different uh french-speaking english-
  • 00:34:35
    speaking communities and others uh and
  • 00:34:38
    we want to make sure everybody
  • 00:34:40
    understands the same message so we can
  • 00:34:41
    actually flip between French and English
  • 00:34:43
    in some of our uh
  • 00:34:46
    interfaces and for people who have uh
  • 00:34:50
    hearing disabilities we uh they can
  • 00:34:53
    actually play it or have subtitles uh go
  • 00:34:57
    along with it so really trying to get
  • 00:35:00
    everybody involved not just thinking of
  • 00:35:02
    the super high-tech
  • 00:35:05
    Solutions we'll just uh go to the next
  • 00:35:09
    one so some of the takeaways from the
  • 00:35:13
    project by listening to our customers
  • 00:35:16
    we're able to keep our function the
  • 00:35:19
    functionalities growing and we're adding
  • 00:35:21
    every week every week as I
  • 00:35:24
    mentioned the acoustic and simulations
  • 00:35:26
    and time and nighttime that is a bit
  • 00:35:30
    tricky it's not for every presentation
  • 00:35:32
    obviously but uh it does play a lot and
  • 00:35:37
    we've gotten great results good feedback
  • 00:35:40
    from the communities as they see a a
  • 00:35:43
    more engaged
  • 00:35:45
    approach for us I was talking about how
  • 00:35:49
    it was Cloud hosted and
  • 00:35:51
    everything we don't measure the success
  • 00:35:53
    by the number of viewers that we got on
  • 00:35:55
    the site it's not yeah we got 1 thousand
  • 00:35:58
    hits yes it is a metric that we use to
  • 00:36:03
    see how far how many people we've
  • 00:36:05
    reached in the community but it's not a
  • 00:36:08
    single factor for us it's really the
  • 00:36:11
    final output of decision making and
  • 00:36:14
    making a better project uh in the
  • 00:36:17
    end also due to remote locations and uh
  • 00:36:20
    Tech infrastructure luckily here at
  • 00:36:23
    unreal amazing Hardware uh really
  • 00:36:27
    amazing setup which makes it easy to
  • 00:36:30
    present but when you're in remote
  • 00:36:32
    communities where LTE sometimes comes in
  • 00:36:36
    at a very low bit rate you can't start
  • 00:36:38
    doing uh different uh presentations so
  • 00:36:41
    we actually shipped and bundled
  • 00:36:44
    different uh computers to our customer
  • 00:36:46
    so they could present on uh
  • 00:36:50
    pre-calibrated
  • 00:36:53
    Hardware we're exploring different
  • 00:36:55
    things dabbling
  • 00:36:58
    and uh we're starting to see we're using
  • 00:37:02
    3D printed um turbines from the customer
  • 00:37:06
    putting them on a table and then
  • 00:37:09
    generating in augmented reality the
  • 00:37:12
    whole landscape harder to present uh
  • 00:37:14
    obviously but that's a direction in
  • 00:37:16
    which we're going to make it even more
  • 00:37:19
    accessible with larger Crews or larger
  • 00:37:23
    groups we were also asked can you do VR
  • 00:37:26
    yes we can do VR but when you have a
  • 00:37:29
    public assembly of 200 people you don't
  • 00:37:31
    want to put that headset individually on
  • 00:37:33
    everybody's head so not the best
  • 00:37:36
    approach but nevertheless it is
  • 00:37:38
    compatible if the people have the
  • 00:37:39
    hardware at
  • 00:37:43
    home so moving
  • 00:37:45
    forward where are we at we're we've
  • 00:37:49
    expanded our approach and then we're
  • 00:37:50
    applying it to Transportation projects
  • 00:37:52
    and we're already applying it to uh
  • 00:37:54
    mining projects I have a few if you have
  • 00:37:56
    questions at the end I can uh open it up
  • 00:37:58
    and access it through the web we're
  • 00:38:02
    improving uh exploring a better data
  • 00:38:05
    management uh automation solution
  • 00:38:08
    because as in engineering it's never
  • 00:38:10
    fast enough that we always wanted but I
  • 00:38:12
    think it overall in every industry
  • 00:38:14
    demonstrated here this week all our
  • 00:38:17
    customers are more techsavvy they want
  • 00:38:20
    their content as fast as they
  • 00:38:24
    can uh accessible through Cloud hosting
  • 00:38:27
    and making a true digital twin
  • 00:38:29
    interacting with other Solutions coming
  • 00:38:31
    from other providers such as uh itwin
  • 00:38:34
    and uh by
  • 00:38:37
    Bentley for us it's making being part of
  • 00:38:40
    the ecosystem and making sure that the
  • 00:38:44
    project answers the engineering uh
  • 00:38:47
    qualities that it needs that it doesn't
  • 00:38:49
    fall over that it has the proper height
  • 00:38:51
    that it will generate the proper number
  • 00:38:52
    of megawatts we don't really care about
  • 00:38:55
    that
  • 00:38:56
    part but we we do care about how it gets
  • 00:38:59
    used in the end and once we go into uh
  • 00:39:02
    when these projects go into
  • 00:39:05
    operations we want to be there for our
  • 00:39:07
    customers for health and safety training
  • 00:39:09
    so that they can use these 3D models and
  • 00:39:12
    interact uh we're using it internally at
  • 00:39:15
    wsp to train our teams before they go on
  • 00:39:18
    site to do site assessments and we're
  • 00:39:21
    deploying it at a larger scale so when
  • 00:39:24
    we look at all these Sol solons it's
  • 00:39:28
    making it accessible to people so that
  • 00:39:31
    they can make the decision
  • 00:39:36
    themselves final note my graphic artist
  • 00:39:40
    really insisted that I keep this amazing
  • 00:39:42
    little stick figure representation of me
  • 00:39:45
    so I thank her very much it's quite a
  • 00:39:48
    nice gesture but it's a team effort so
  • 00:39:50
    I'm not the only one here I'm the only
  • 00:39:52
    one presenting but we're a full team yes
  • 00:39:55
    very French Canadian names in there uh
  • 00:39:57
    so if you need help with pronunciation
  • 00:40:00
    just uh ask me and I'll definitely our
  • 00:40:04
    Tech uh the technical artist who created
  • 00:40:07
    all of this is Remi REM batalon he
  • 00:40:10
    wasn't able to join us at uh at this
  • 00:40:13
    year
  • 00:40:14
    so that concludes as we would say again
  • 00:40:17
    in French meru thank you and QR code if
  • 00:40:21
    you need to
  • 00:40:25
    reach thank you
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