BGC Engineering

As Head of Product and Design for LOOOK, we worked with applied earth sciences consulting firm BGC Engineering to develop a tool to help them communicate their most complex geoengineering challenges.

Envisioning Workshop

The project kicked-off with a week-long workshop at BGC Engineering’s offices in Vancouver, BC. The goal was a dive-deep into BGC’s business, workflow, and tools.

Many of BGC Engineering’s projects are big enough to be seen from space. They involve displacing millions of tons of earth, and can take decades to complete. But BGC's engineers still communicate with clients using stacks of 2D engineering drawings.

Using HoloLens, the flat engineering drawings are replaced by interactive, 3D maps that clients can explore at their own pace.

At the end of the week, we shared our proposed solution with BGC’s CEO and leadership team.

BGC uses HoloLens to ensure all the stakeholders are on the same page.

On the conference table appears a 3D map of the mine site.

The team from BGC walk everyone through the planned phases of the mine closure plan.

When discussions turn technical, the BGC engineers call attention to technical breakdowns.

BGC calls special attention to long-term use plan for the fluid fine tailings (FFT) pit lake.

Not all stakeholders are fluent at reading engineering drawings, so BGC take them on an immersive tour.

At the end of the meeting, everyone high-fives.

Prototype to Product

Working closely with the team at BGC, we dove into the engineering data and tools their teams work with on a daily basis. Beyond mere visuals, it was critical everything we did be engineering accurate. As a result, when BGC need to explain the engineering of a terrain feature, the information is only a glance away because the engineering data is embedded in the 3D maps and immersive landscapes.

At the end of 2016 we delivered an initial version of the HoloLens app and joined BGC Engineering in presenting at several geotechnical and mining industry conferences.

In mid-2017 we delivered the data-driven toolset BGC’s engineers use to turn complex applied earth science solutions into interactive mixed-reality visualizations.