SIMLAB Integrates BIM and Smart Building IoT Technologies into Matterport Digital Twins

Based in San Francisco, California, SIMLAB has a strong foundation as a technology company specializing in the digitization of buildings throughout the design and construction phases, including developing software toolkits for architecture, engineering, and construction teams to communicate more efficiently and effectively at every project stage. Using Matterport, Inc.™ Software Development Kits (SDKs) and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), the company develops solutions for property owners that integrate Matterport digital twins with Building Information Modeling (BIM) capabilities and smart building Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. SIMLAB’s latest solutions are easy enough for homeowners and other consumers to use, without a need for specialized training.

Partnering on Next-Generation Visual Documentation and Construction Collaboration

When a space is captured with a Matterport Pro series camera, the Matterport platform turns it into a dimensionally-accurate digital twin composed of billions of 3D data points. SIMLAB integrates and enhances the data in its SIMLAB STAGES solution to create “property information containers or stages” that visually document property conditions using a sliding timeline feature. The solution enables construction project management stakeholders to better track and view different critical points in time throughout the architectural design stage as well as inspecting construction sites without the need to be onsite.

“Matterport is an absolute game-changer because it brought digitization to the global construction and building management industries,” says Marek Kozlak, Founder & CEO at SIMLAB. “We’re excited to collaborate as a Matterport Platform Partner on the next stages of this evolution, using digital twins as a powerful foundation for making data more interactive and responsive to a customer’s daily needs.”

Efficiently Monitoring Building Progress in Japan

Matterport invested in SIMLAB, a Matterport Platform Partner, in 2021. The union is already having a global impact. One joint project is a large-scale hospital modernization in Tokyo that involves capturing digital twins of each floor every month. With STAGES, digital twins can overlay BIM and engineering data to let hospital leadership view specific points before, during, and after the renovation without traveling to the site. 

Nohara Holdings, one of Japan’s most respected construction resource specialists, and Misawa Homes, one of the country’s top homebuilding companies, used STAGES and Matterport digital twins on a recent project to build model houses. Travel time to the sites was cut by 50 percent.

“SIMLAB STAGES is a powerful tool to monitor construction progress over time,” says Stephanie Bay, BIM Construction Manager at Nohara Holdings. “Documentation in 3D provides important visuals from earlier construction stages, showing cables and studs, which are referenceable after applying finishes on the wall. It offers a fun user experience that satisfies the needs of our client, Misawa Home.” 

Nohara Holdings chose Matterport and SIMLAB STAGES to capture the interior construction phases of the General Tokyo Hospital, Japan. Matterport digital twins provided replicas of asset and material information, including ducts, pipes, and electrical wires, prior to finishing walls, ceilings, and floors. 

“The accessibility of asset information from digital twins significantly improved hospital management,” says Jun Inoue, Director of VDC Business Development Group at Nohara Holdings. “When the General Tokyo Hospital management team viewed SIMLAB STAGES and Matterport digital twins through construction phases, they requested that we utilize the platform next year through the planned construction of six additional floors.”

Creating a Dynamic Timeline of Property Changes

Matterport 3D virtual walkthroughs are already popular ways for project owners to inspect a site without putting on their hardhats, but STAGES has made it even faster and more efficient for a variety of stakeholders to compare any exact viewpoint in a project across a timeline, plus share feedback, track issues and requests. In addition to being able to view the project at different points in time, STAGES includes:

• Brushes to draw sketches in the 3D space, as well as corrections, recommendations, placement of furniture or objects in the space, mark characteristics or items that need to be fixed in the construction work. 

• Issue Management System allowing notes, including audio and video memos, images, photos, and PDFs to be placed throughout the space and viewed at any time, making it easy to manage and monitor tasks. 

• Documentation repository collecting all the written notes, audiovisual files, object photos, photos containing drawn notes, links, and more.

The result is a living timeline of changes that project owners can visit days, weeks, or even years into the future. The digital twins benefit the construction industry in numerous ways - not only for milestone documentation throughout the project, but they’re also a resource that can help site owners with day-to-day management. 

Recently, SIMLAB and Matterport began offering a version of this solution to individual home and site owners — who don’t need to be fluent in design and engineering software — as they work with contractors on future renovations or additions. 

The interactive documentation process of Matterport digital twins and SIMLAB STAGES also makes it easier to integrate smart building technology into the early stages of construction or renovation. As team members work with the digital twins, they can add mark-ups indicating placements for building automation sensors, such as the areas where large appliances or air conditioning systems might go.

Unified Smart Building Management with SIMLAB SIM-ON

The depth of information that Matterport and SIMLAB provides has benefits beyond construction. Property owners are increasingly realizing the benefits of a digital asset information and maintenance scheduling system in a single, intuitive user interface with smart building automation technology to remotely monitor and control lighting, temperature, appliances, entertainment systems, and security systems. However, each device typically has its own app, depriving property owners of a holistic view. 

SIMLAB is working with leading home and building automation providers, including KNX, to develop scalable subscription services for unified IoT device management through its SIM-ON solution. With SIM-ON, once a Matterport digital twin of a space is captured, property owners can add their IoT devices to create a multimedia digital command center available 24/7 through their computer, tablet, or smartphone. Property owners can include information about facility assets within the digital replica and set a schedule for upcoming maintenance. 

Nohara Holdings used SIMLAB solutions to provide one of Japan’s leading home construction companies with a smart homeowner dashboard, providing 3D visualization of home information, including product catalogs, warranties, and the maintenance-related information. “Homeowners receive an iPad to access the dashboard overlaid on a Matterport digital twin of the home,” says Inoue. “SIMLAB SIM-ON makes it easy for owners to access asset information and controls to configure IoT devices that connect sensors or

appliances into one dashboard. Japan has one of the oldest populations in the world, and the integration of smart sensors and devices within the home enhances the safety environment for a super aging population that desires independence with a high quality of life.”

“We are leveraging SIMLAB SIM-ON as our next-generation user interface that enables intuitive operation with a 360 degree view and is useful for maintenance management.” says Masashi Isogai, President and CEO, Misawa Homes.

Smarter Apartments with Universal IoT Controls

ECHO Investment is one of the largest housing developers in Poland, building thousands of housing units annually that include IoT devices as standard fixtures. Its apartments come equipped with smart devices that can be controlled by the homeowner with voice commands or a mobile app. “As part of our Echo Life Services in the building and its surrounding common areas, we

install smart home-type solutions operated by SIMLAB SIM-ON that make life easier, housing more efficient, and simplify management of nearly every piece of equipment, all within a single intuitive interface,” says Kazimierz Monkiewicz, CSR and CSV Manager, ECHO Investment.

The company is also using the SIMLAB STAGES timeline solution, with Matterport scans taken at key points in the construction process. This creates a permanent archive, enabling future apartment owners or remodeling contractors to easily view hidden mechanical and structural aspects of each unit. “We view SIM-ON and STAGES as tools that will increase the competitiveness of our offer with modern solutions in the field of automation and digitization of spaces,” says Monkiewicz.

Enabling the Next Generation of Building Engineering and Automation Professionals

EMT-Systems operates a professional training center in Poland for building automation, manufacturing equipment, and robotics. The company is using SIM-ON in its facility to train others on how IoT devices can be managed holistically to limit energy consumption, such as by switching off electronic devices and changing temperature settings on the HVAC system. EMT is leveraging the roles and permissions capabilities of SIM-ON to easily allow different levels of access for students, teachers, technical personnel, or managers.  

“The ability for each student to maintain their own notes attached to each machine, allowing them to review their learnings, is unlike any teaching tool we have had before. We believe it will imprint their learning at a whole new level,” says Grzegorz Wszołek, CEO, EMT-Systems.

FIBARO, one of the largest European producers of intelligent IoT devices and part of Italy-based Nice Group, has partnered with SIMLAB to promote SIM-ON to distributors and users of FIBARO’s products. “We believe in the SIM-ON solution as an extension of our offering to our global distributors and installers. It gives them a competitive advantage in our offered solutions, therefore expanding the group of customers with an ability to diversify and increase the range of cooperating devices,” says Rafał Siemiński, Global Sales Manager, FIBARO.

Remote Oversight and Peace of Mind for Business and Property Owners

One restaurant owner in the United States trains his staff on SIM-ON to protect the company’s assets and ensure business continuity. With SIM-ON, managers at Lou, the French on the Block, a bakery cafe near Los Angeles, California, can centrally oversee smoke detectors, a security system, as well as sensors on key appliances. With SIM-ON’s permission-based access controls, the bakery’s owner can share different aspects of the systems as appropriate to each employee’s role, whether in training or daily operations. 

“A refrigerator door left slightly unsealed overnight would result in a loss of thousands of dollars, in addition to being unable to fulfill customers’ orders the next day,” says Laurant “Lou” Correa, Owner of Lou, the French on the Block. “SIMLAB’s SIM-ON application will address three critical areas of management of our operations: training, equipment management and maintenance, and monitoring of critical systems.”

The owner of a Polish vacation rental apartment uses SIM-ON to give guests a limited login that allows them to navigate intuitively through the space with a simple interface. Visitors can hover over icons for important features located throughout the apartment, allowing them to view helpful usage information and instruction manuals, such as for the TV, heating, and WiFi systems, or even to locate extra bedding and towels. 

The solution helps the owner, Maciej Iwanicki, offer better guest service while enabling remote oversight. “By having scanned the unit and equipping it with IoT devices connected to SIM-ON, I have remote control to manage such aspects as climate preparation before the guest's arrival,” says Iwanicki. “SIM-ON increases my ability to be aware of windows or doors left open, as well as smoke and fire detection. I am also able to determine if my apartment is over-occupied beyond the limits I set in the rental agreement.”

Looking Ahead

SIMLAB is planning to expand its solutions to include artificial intelligence and big data analytics, as well as integration with virtual staging and e-commerce functionalities. The company is gratified to partner with Matterport to deliver digital innovations that meet the evolving needs of property owners and builders worldwide. 

“Decision-makers and customers today have never lived a day of their adult lives without the internet in their pocket,” says Kozlak.

Our shared vision is to create products and services that digitally transform the design, engineering, construction, and management of properties. The combined strengths of Matterport and SIMLAB give our clients and their customers the robust documentation and visibility they need to take control of the entire property lifecycle anytime, anywhere.”  

SIMLAB is a Matterport Platform Partner that leverages Matterport APIs and SDKs to build and commercialize apps and integrations with Matterport’s market-leading spatial data platform. As a Platform Partner, the company gains access to a range of commercial benefits, such as Matterport’s distribution network and enhanced support as well as co-marketing and co-selling programs to help successfully monetize its applications. To learn more about the Platform Partner Program and apply to join, visit https://matterport.com/platform-partner-program.

©2022 Matterport, Inc. All rights reserved. Matterport is a registered trademark and the Matterport logo is a trademark of Matterport, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

ABOUT SIMLAB

​​SIMLAB is a technology company that focuses on facility digitalization and developing software toolkits for the homebuilding and AECO (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Operations) industries.  

https://simlabinc.com/

HEADQUARTERSSan Francisco, CA 

PRODUCTS Matterport SDKs, Matterport APIs

Results

• Reduced the need for on-site visits for construction projects by 50%

• Creating robust visual documentation of property changes over time

• Enabling unified management of IoT devices throughout a facility or home

• Simplifying oversight and collaboration with easy-to-navigate 3D visuals

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©2022 Matterport, Inc. All rights reserved. Matterport is a registered trademark and the Matterport logo is a trademark of Matterport, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.