LIVERMORE, Calif. – Topcon Positioning Systems and Autodesk announced they have signed a letter of intent under which both companies will collaborate to allow products within Autodesk’s design and construction software portfolio for BIM to more efficiently interact with Topcon’s on-site field positioning hardware.

This collaboration is designed to allow building and civil infrastructure construction customers to form a tighter, more seamless workflow that will increase on-site worker productivity, enhance field safety and improve quality control.  

“We are pleased to work with Autodesk, a leading provider and innovator of software solutions for BIM,” said Ewout Korpershoek, senior vice president product management and marketing at Topcon.  “It is our mission to provide our customers with state-of-the-art positioning solutions that allow for highest efficiency data collection, data management and layout.

“Through our collaboration with Autodesk, we will be able to streamline the data flow between design and execution via a seamless connection between the office and site, providing the highest degree of accuracy and productivity,” he said.

“We have worked with Topcon for a long time as a development partner and see tremendous synergies between our software offerings and Topcon’s leading positioning hardware,” said Nicolas Mangon, senior director, AEC strategy and marketing, Autodesk.

“This past year, Autodesk has invested in delivering design data to the point of construction via Autodesk BIM 360 cloud services and mobile applications,” he said.  “Working with Topcon now allows us to take the next step and leverage this data to seamlessly drive the placement of work-greatly facilitating the installation process of a construction project.”

Initially, the companies intend to work together to provide greater interoperability between certain aspects of their services and solutions. The initial phase will focus on API-level integration between Autodesk’s AutoCAD WS product and Topcon’s systems, with further exploration of potential combined offerings both on the desktop with Autodesk’s design solutions (including AutoCAD, Revit and Navisworks) and in the cloud with Autodesk’s BIM 360 offerings, including BIM 360 Glue and BIM 360 Field. These solutions are intended to directly connect and drive Topcon field positioning hardware for installation layout tasks, as well as “as-built” collection and documentation.

Autodesk and Topcon will also be working together to develop tightly integrated solutions that will allow for optimized, seamless connections between office, web and mobile, and between virtual and real worlds.