City to Use Digital Cities Technology to Visualize a 3D City Model of the Future, Aid Sustainability Efforts, Prepare for Future Development and Improve Public Participation

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., March 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Autodesk (Nasdaq: ADSK), a leader of design innovation software and technologies, today announced it has designated Vancouver as the third pilot city of its Digital Cities initiative. A Digital City provides a way for the public, city government, construction and business communities to combine mapping, building, civil engineering, and utility information into an accurate city model that can be used to simulate the future impact of decisions at a city-wide scale. Autodesk previously announced two other pilot cities in its Digital Cities program: Salzburg, Austria and Incheon, Korea.

The City of Vancouver is renowned for its innovative and sustainable approaches to urban development. The City of Vancouver plans to use Autodesk technology to aid its sustainability efforts; interact and share information with its residents and businesses; and prepare for future development and improved public participation. The goal of this pilot program is for Vancouver to be able to bring together 3D models of above and below ground features in an open platform that supports secure and robust integration of CAD, building information modeling (BIM), geospatial, civil engineering, and infrastructure data over a wide geographic area. By combining this data with realistic visualization, analysis and simulation tools, the City of Vancouver can deliver an intuitive and compelling way to understand the impact of plans and proposals from any point in time and from any point of view.

The City will be working with Autodesk to develop and deliver technologies that can best meet the needs of Vancouver's citizens and build on the City's existing resources like VanMap, a web-based map system that pulls together information and data from a variety of sources including street names, property lines, zoning information, and locations of sewer and water mains.

"Urban design at a city-wide scale is the next great design challenge. Our Digital City technology provides cities like Vancouver with a comprehensive approach to create a sustainable city that balances economic and engineering demands with environmental and social needs," said Jay Bhatt, senior vice president, AEC solutions, Autodesk. "Autodesk is uniquely positioned to help cities meet and overcome the challenges to visualize and simulate their future growth. While Salzburg plans to use Digital Cities technology for helping manage an aged and prized infrastructure and the city of Incheon will focus on how to build -- from the ground up -- a city of the future, the City of Vancouver will use Autodesk technology to extend its leadership role as one of the most liveable and progressive cities in the world."

About Digital Cities Technology

The Digital City initiative is Autodesk's unique technology designed to provide a collaborative environment for visualizing, analyzing and simulating the future impact of urban design and development at a city-wide scale. A Digital City allows stakeholders from the public, city government, construction, and business communities to work together to understand how many different proposals could impact the urban environment by experiencing the future of the city before it becomes real.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc. is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art digital prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

Autodesk and AutoCAD are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

(C) 2009 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved

Contact: Brett Smith, Autodesk (415) 547-2405
Email: brett.smith@autodesk.com

Contact: Jennifer Young, City of Vancouver, (604) 873-7394
Email: jennifer.young@vancouver.ca

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