By Tom S. Noda
February 12, 2010

Design software and services firm Autodesk is offering governments its design software solutions to assist in the formulation of countermeasures in disaster preparedness in the pursuit of avoiding greater catastrophe.

Teddy Tiu, country manager of Autodesk Philippines, said the technologies can also help in the setting up of policies and standards in disaster preparedness since the tools are able to measure rainfall and tsunamis and their would-be effects on cities and towns.

Tiu said that in the aftermath of the recent catastrophes that ravaged the Philippines and other parts of the globe, it is only necessary for governments to have a comprehensive and effective disaster preparedness platform. He said several Autodesk solutions were proven useful for disaster preparedness programs in Japan, such as the AutoCAD, Map 3D, and AutoCAD Civil 3D.

Executives of Pacific Consultants Co., a Japan-based development consulting firm, told Computerworld Philippines that with the use of Autodesk software, they were able to aid the Japanese government to accurately translate Japan’s coastal elevations into 3D digital maps, thereby modeling the effects of inland and river flooding due to various disasters ranging from landslides to torrential rainfalls. The topography evaluation of different areas also proved critical to developing effective countermeasures against potential disasters.

“We have been using several geographic information systems in our firm but they were all expensive,” related Hiroshi Shimada, director of Water Engineering Section of Osaka Head Office at Pacific Consultants. “We decided to use Autodesk’s 3D solutions to develop our own end-to-end system that would take us from basic data input to computer graphics and animation creation.”

Shimada noted the AutoCAD Map 3D enabled them to easily create, edit, visualize and evaluate the spatial data in the map. The software also allowed the firm to have a smoother workflow from the accessibility features. Yet AutoCAD Civil 3D provided 3D visualizations to comprehensively evaluate the possible results of a particular disaster to an environment.

Autodesk and Pacific Consultants recently met with government engineers from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and urban planners and architects from both the private and local/city governments to showcase the design software solutions.

Tiu noted the Pacific Consultants’ case study is relevant since Japan and the Philippines share almost the same disasters such as typhoons, heavy rains, flooding, landslides, and erosion, among others.

“The wraths of typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng have greatly emphasized IT’s role in disaster preparedness and response, urban planning and of course, sustainable development,” Tiu remarked. “Autodesk’s design software solutions can contribute to these efforts by providing the tools, technologies and the necessary training that will enable planners to visualize, simulate and analyze an area’s geography and foresee potential hazards from various situations like typhoons or floods.”

Tiu added that besides having the right soft and hard counter measures during disasters, the tools can also be used in engineering interventions, in the right release of water in dams, in the creation of barricades and also for tsunami forecasting.

He said Autodesk’s Geospatial solutions will enable urban planners not only to assess the Philippine geographic landscape but also simulate certain situations and determine the effects using the Autodesk animation. “From this, relevant authorities can develop effective measures to prevent these outcomes from happening.”

Tiu said he remains hopeful that private and public institutions will continue to integrate Autodesk solutions for the country to be fully equipped in advance of natural disasters.

“Like Japan’s Pacific Consulting, there has to be a unified vision between the private and public sectors to fully realize and implement these programs,” he said. “We’ve seen the horror that happened before. It is now Autodesk’s mission to aid in preventing society to go through the same ordeal again.”

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