How BIM and GIS Integration Accelerates Infrastructure Projects and Drives Business Growth

Teams in the AEC industry, including architecture, civil engineering, construction, MEP engineering, urban planning, environmental monitoring, and more rely heavily on BIM and GIS to plan, design, and manage projects. But when BIM and GIS work in separate silos, data becomes fragmented and progress slows down.

The good news? When building information modeling and geographic information systems collaborate, projects move faster, decisions get clearer, and your business gains a serious edge.

Let’s explore how BIM-GIS integration cuts project delivery time – and how MASV helps by making the movement of BIM data, GIS data, and other geospatial data fast, secure, reliable, and as simple as sending an email.

• What are BIM and GIS?
• Why Integrating BIM and GIS Matters for Construction Projects
• How BIM and GIS Collaboration Cuts Project Delivery Time
• The Data Challenge: Moving Massive BIM and GIS Data Efficiently
• How MASV Supports BIM and GIS With Fast, Secure File Transfer
• Accelerate Your Next Project by Bridging BIM and GIS With MASV

What Are BIM and GIS?

Before diving in, let’s quickly clarify what we mean by BIM and GIS.

• Building information modeling, or BIM software, creates detailed 3D models of buildings, infrastructure, and assets. It’s essentially a digital building model – a bit like a digital twin, but while digital twins are primarily used for maintenance and operations, BIM data is often used for construction and design. These systems include design details and specifications that help engineers, architects, and contractors understand exactly what to build, and help building owners conduct proactive maintenance optimize resource allocation for facility management.
• Geographic information systems, or GIS tools, provide geospatial context and geographical data. They map the physical world with spatial data: Terrain, land use, zoning, and environmental data using geographic information science. GIS helps teams understand where a project sits in the real world and the geographic factors that might affect it.

On their own, both are incredibly valuable. But together they tell the full story.

Why GIS-BIM integration Matters for Construction Projects

BIM tools show you what the building looks like, but GIS software tells you how it fits in the environment: If there’s a hidden underground utility or flood risk, GIS highlights it early on. When BIM and GIS data are integrated, teams can better coordinate designs and avoid costly mistakes.

Siloed design and construction data often leads to miscommunications and blind spots, and BIM-GIS data is no different. That’s why integration improves communication across teams. Everyone from engineers and contractors to city officials can work from a single source of truth, making reviews, revisions, and approvals faster and smoother (and less prone to mistakes).

Finally, BIM and GIS integration helps allocate resources more efficiently. Teams can plan construction phases based on real-world conditions, minimizing downtime and speeding up field operations.

How BIM and GIS Integration Cuts Project Delivery Time

Let’s break down some of the ways BIM and GIS collaboration actually speeds up projects:

• Enhanced design coordination: BIM and GIS integration helps project teams spot design clashes with the environment early on when conducting infrastructure planning. This means fewer surprises on site, less rework, and faster approvals.
• Better communication and stakeholder engagement: GIS and BIM data integration helps everyone speak the same language and work from a single source of truth. Project updates are clearer, decisions get made faster, and there’s less back and forth that drags out timelines.
• Smarter resource allocation: Knowing exactly where and when to deploy crews and equipment for asset management or other applications saves time and money. It also reduces idle periods waiting for approvals or missing data.
• Streamlined regulatory approvals: GIS systems support compliance with zoning and environmental rules for the design and construction industry. When paired with detailed BIM models, permit reviewers can quickly understand project impacts, reducing review times.

The Data Challenge: Moving Massive BIM and GIS Files Efficiently

All this collaboration is for naught, however, unless teams know how to manage data by moving huge project data files into BIM and GIS platforms, optimizing data exchange without slowdowns or errors.

BIM and GIS datasets can be enormous. They often include critical data and multiple data types within one dataset including 3D models, drone imagery, point clouds, geospatial maps, and other highly detailed geospatial context.

Traditional file transfer methods like FTP, email, or shipping hard drives are slow, prone to errors or physical damage, and risky for sensitive data. This creates bottlenecks that delay projects and frustrate teams.

How MASV Supports BIM and GIS Collaboration with Fast, Secure File Transfer

MASV is designed to handle the big files that BIM, GIS, and other geospatial data workflows generate. Here’s how it helps your team move faster:

• Speed that keeps pace with your work: MASV transfers files much faster and more reliably than FTP, even over shaky internet connections, and is light years easier to use. That means no more waiting overnight for uploads.
• Reliable transfers that don’t break: Automatic retries, checkpoint restart, and resumable uploads make sure your files get delivered even if your network cuts out. No more failed transfers or late-night re-uploads.

• Ease of use: MASV features a drag-and-drop interface accessible via a browser or a Desktop App, and doesn’t require software or plugin installations. Users can sign up and literally start sending large files in minutes with no training.
• Security you can count on: MASV comes with enterprise-grade security and compliance features out of the box, including strong end-to-end encryption, password protected transfers, and role-based access permissions.
• Time-saving automations and integrations: MASV integrates with cloud and connected on-prem storage like Amazon S3, Azure, and Wasabi using no-code integrations and easy-to-configure transfer automations, so files can automatically be sent where they need to go without extra work. MASV automations and integrations enable “MASV-to-many” workflows, where a single upload can be automatically sent to multiple destinations with no manual intervention.
• Collaboration without boundaries: Whether your team is across the hall or across the globe, MASV makes sharing massive files easy. That’s because all file transfers ride on our accelerated private network of hundreds of global servers, backed by the AWS Content Delivery Network.