#MobiBIM 2012

One of the best events I attended last year was a conference on building information modelling (BIM) and mobile IT, organised by COMIT (Construction Opportunities for Mobile IT). I applauded the combination of the two topics when it was announced last year, and I am pleased that COMIT is running the event again – this year on Thursday 15 November 2012 at London’s Building Centre (draft programme here).

This will be a timely event as it will be around the time that BIM champion Paul Morrell steps down as chief construction advisor. A highlight will be chance to hear David Philp (aka @ThePhilpster on Twitter) give a Cabinet Office/BIM Task Group perspective on BIM, and on building information mobility (like this new alternative abbreviation!) into our processes. As construction continues to move towards delivering the information required to operate our built assets, the need to capture and use that data in a mobile environment is even more important.

COMIT’s conference will look at numerous aspects ranging from site communications through to the accuracy of real-time location-based services. I am pleased that a talk is planned on data (pencilled in provisionally for either Highways Agency or National Grid) as I think current BIM debates within construction still tend to focus on BIM replacing documents and drawings instead of looking at the challenges of ‘Big data‘. At last week’s ThinkBIM event in Leeds, it was clear that the post-construction challenges of data management and access are every bit as important – and I would like to see more debate on how we prepare for the forthcoming explosion of structured and linked data.

Disclosure: I will be there as COMIT’s social media partner, live-blogging and tweeting from the event, and I look forward to seeing some of my regular readers there (and, like last year, if you go, please tell COMIT I sent you!)