Expertise
Digital engineering & advisory

Digital engineering & advisory

We use our digital engineering expertise to help our clients capture the infinite possibilities created by digital disruption and transform their businesses.

Digital technologies and their real-world applications are always evolving; creating opportunities to transform the way we work, design, collaborate and communicate.

Digital disruption is moving us away from traditional methods towards digital approaches that deliver more efficient, innovative and effective outcomes for clients and communities.

We're digitising infrastructure. Work with us to co-create your future.

Our services include:

Learn more ›

Transforming engineering and design with digital ways of working

The digitisation of infrastructure provides us with new ways to envision design solutions and improve whole of life asset performance for our clients.

Our team and strategy focus on keeping pace with the developing digital environment and supporting your business to become agile and connected
Our deep technical design capability combined with advisory expertise allow you to make well-informed capital investment decisions
Our use of digital engineering advisory services to plan, procure and manage digitally connected organisations helps you capture the opportunities disruption presents and future-proof your business
We work with you to understand your digital landscape, explore your digital horizon, and develop your digital strategy

How digital engineering is changing the way we deliver projects

Machine learning

Machine learning is helping us find new answers to old problems, and outcomes for fresh challenges presented by our ever-evolving world. Machine learning allows us to generate, manage and understand data, providing meaningful insights to help you make better decisions for a digitised future.

Computational design

Our computational design network spans a diverse group of computational designers and software developers who embed domain knowledge in new tools to shape the design and delivery of projects through task level automation, configurable design systems and enhanced engineering.

Digitising the estate

Aurecon can provide a digital profile of existing and real-time asset behaviour, with data to detect physical issues sooner, predict outcomes more accurately, and drive greater value through assets now and in the future, optimising your business performance.

How we deliver digital solutions

Digital disruption is changing the way we interact, how we live and the future we are creating. It is changing the face of industry, government and social engagement.

To thrive in the digital future, organisations and governments must:

Fundamentally rethink their planning, strategy and business processes
Create connected digital platforms
Improve their analytics and collaboration

To support and strengthen our ability to deliver digital engineering and advisory services, we have digital leaders across our network, who support and engage with our clients and our people, to digitise infrastructure and co-create the future.

The marketplace and our clients’ needs inform the ideas we invest in. We focus on connecting with our clients to recognise the digital changes we’ve made and to support them in building, transforming and optimising their assets.

Our digital vision in the Asian market is brought to life through the Regional Centre of Excellence for Digital Engineering, based in Ho Chi Minh City, where our team is dedicated to solving our clients’ challenges around emerging digital technologies and alternative business models.

We are committed to changing the way we analyse and solve our client's’ increasingly complex urban design and infrastructure challenges. Our ability to find the 'why' at the heart of each project and bring it to life through our creative technology and visualisation expertise, and specialist Unsigned Studio team, allows our clients to experience projects in a new way. Completely reimagining the end-to-end experience, from visualisation to planning, construction and launch.

Our services

Creative technology & visualisation

Working with owners of major infrastructure and built environment projects to communicate their vision in a powerful way using creative technology and visualisation.

Learn how we go beyond the expected and drive the ideas that connect with people ›

Data & analytics

Working with our clients to help them understand the power of data analytics to transform their business.

Find out how you can transform how you operate and compete ›

Digital enablement

Using digital enablement solutions, we help our clients improve their ability to procure, manage and leverage digital asset information and data across the asset lifecycle.

Find how digital asset information and data can support decision making to deliver business value ›

Digital futures

Working with our clients to map out their digital future. Helping them understand the actions they can take to navigate the digital landscape and achieve business value through digitisation.

Learn how we can help you manage uncertainty, anticipate change and act effectively ›

Our Digital Futures market research

The results of Our Digital Futures research provide key insights into the issues – and opportunities – that digitisation creates. We share our insights through three reports:

Defining digital

We use the words ‘digital disruption’ to describe the change that occurs when new digital technologies and business models affect how we do business. At Aurecon, “digital” means transforming the way we engineer, design and advise so we can help you – our clients and communities – become future ready.

What is digital engineering?

Digital engineering is the art of creating, capturing and integrating data using a digital skillset. This process enables designers to interact with and modify digitised representations of a design, facilitating communication and collaboration to resolve design challenges more effectively and efficiently than before. It also enables designers to innovate and develop solutions that push the boundaries of imagination and creativity.

How we define digital engineering ›

What do we mean by digital engineering transformation?

Digital engineering transformation refers to the integration of new technologies into the way we practice engineering and design. As digital technologies and their real-world applications continue to evolve, we are provided with increasing opportunity to transform the way we engineer, moving away from traditional methods and increasingly towards digital approaches that deliver more efficient, innovative and effective outcomes for users and clients.

The digitisation of engineering provides engineering practitioners with new ways to envision design, and to engage and collaborate with our clients, stakeholders and communities; using tools like virtual reality, augmented reality, visual models and virtual representations (flythrough videos and still images).

The benefits of digital engineering ›

What do we mean by digitising infrastructure?

Digitising infrastructure refers to the application of digital engineering approaches and tools to design. From the initial designs of new builds to the retrofitting of digital technologies to existing operations, we are designing new ways of delivering future-proofed infrastructure by exploring new technologies and emerging opportunities, helping our clients mitigate the effects of disruption on their projects.

What role does data capture play in digital engineering?

Data capture is any method of transforming information into a form that can be read by a computer. For Aurecon, it is the process of extracting key data from collection tools, and interpreting or manipulating that data for use in digital engineering approaches which inform the design outcome of a project.

One example of data capture is a photogrammetry scan, used on major infrastructure projects such as the remediation of Deans Head to capture the constantly changing topography after the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes.

Without a complete data set, engineers cannot effectively take advantage of the benefits of visualisation technologies because the representations would not accurately reflect project conditions. Conversely, if digital engineering tools are unable to accurately interpret the available data, then engineers may be designing solutions that may not be providing the best outcomes for the client.

Data capture with drones ›

What do we use virtual reality for?

Virtual reality (VR) is a term used to describe a computer generated, immersive 3D environment in which an individual can interact with their surrounds and manipulate objects. We use virtual reality and other visual technologies because it can lead to exciting new discoveries throughout the design and delivery of projects.

At Aurecon, we have been actively using visual technologies to visually collaborate with clients and engage communities on projects such as Wynyard Station Upgrade, Christchurch Bus Interchange and Brisbane Airport. These technologies help us co-create and test human-centred solutions, and allow our stakeholders to see the full extent of their design decisions in an interactive and safe way.

What is SMART technology?

Smart technology is defined by technologies that are connected through the Internet of Things (IoT), using sensors to analyse their environment and automatically modify their behaviour to provide for users in that environment.

Smart technologies are reactive to human actions and have the capability to self-regulate – to make their own decisions and respond to changes in the environment without human intervention. An example of smart technology is a temperature sensor, which helps a building self-regulate the optimum settings for heating and cooling.

What is a smart building? ›
What are smart cities? ›

What is the difference between artificial intelligence and machine learning?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a term used to describe “intelligence” demonstrated by machines. AI programs may mimic or simulate cognitive behaviours or traits associated with human intelligence such as reasoning, problem solving and learning.

Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence, and describes a form of artificial intelligence programming which makes it possible for a machine to iteratively “learn” from experience. This “learning” is the refinement parameters based on observed data (historical or new) and related calculations. In this way the machine’s model of a system and the associated outputs (decision making behaviour) is adapted. It makes use of the ability of an AI program to recognise patterns in large amounts of data.

Artificial intelligence vs human intelligence – a competition or collaboration? ›