Jonathan Bailey brings over 25 years of experience in GIS and other geospatial technologies to his role as Digital Advisory Lead at Arup's new Ottawa office. Early in his career, Jonathan worked on the product development team at Esri. For 15 years was the Founder, CEO, and Principal Consultant at SpatialBridge.
Throughout his career, Jonathan has applied GIS to form the foundation of digital twins, including in the transportation, defence, and forestry sectors. He collaborated with Esri and Autodesk during the early days of their strategic partnership on the integration of their respective GIS and BIM software products. Now, he advocates for organizations to use GIS, BIM, and digital twins as a strategy for managing assets throughout their lifecycles.
Jonathan has also instructed graduate students at Algonquin College in GIS and CAD, sharing his experience and fostering the next generation of professionals.
Sessions in which Jonathan Bailey participates
Wednesday 14 May, 2025
As digital transformation reshapes the global construction industry, many countries have implemented BIM mandates to drive standardization, efficiency, and improved project outcomes. But does Canada need one?This panel brings together industry leaders, policymakers, and technology experts to debate whether a national BIM mandate is the right approach for Canada. Advocates argue that mandates drive consistency, enhance productivity, and align Canada with international best practices. Sk...
Sessions in which Jonathan Bailey attends
Monday 12 May, 2025
📅 Date: Monday, May 12, 2025📍 Location: Rainbow Bistro, 76 Murray Street, ByWard Market, Ottawa⏰ Time: Networking at 6:30 PM | Panel begins at 7:00 PM | Live music to follow🍽 Details: Cash bar and hors d’oeuvres provided Event OverviewJoin us for an evening of high-level discussion, networking, and live music in the heart of Ottawa’s historic By...
Wednesday 14 May, 2025
As the built asset industry embraces digital transformation, the integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Digital Twin technologies is redefining how we manage the built environment. While BIM facilitates data-rich 3D modeling during design and construction, Digital Twins extend this functionality into operations, enabling real-time insights and lifecycle optimization.Attendees will gain insights into buildingSMART Canada’s initiatives supporting this integration, its ali...
As digital collaboration becomes the norm in the construction industry, ensuring the authenticity and integrity of Building Information Models (BIM) is more critical than ever. While BIM and openBIM standards, such as the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), have improved interoperability and data exchange, challenges remain in verifying data at the object level.This presentation explores the potential of digital signatures as a solution to enhance trust, transparency, and traceability i...
This session unveils the findings of this groundbreaking report, which builds on international research and best practices in digital construction from countries leading in BIM and data standards. Central to the roadmap is the use of OpenBIM principles to ensure compatibility, transparency, and collaboration across diverse systems and stakeholders. The report outlines strategies to enhance data management, improve BIM compatibility, achieve interoperability within Common Data Environments (CD...
The presentation focuses on the challenges of applying ISO 19650 to National Defence and Defence Construction Canada, examining the current status and progress, as well as the obstacles still faced. It highlights the key challenges of becoming a knowledgeable owner while aligning National Defence practices with ISO19650, with support from other stakeholders and partners through research, innovation, and collaboration. The importance of OpenBIM in this context is emphasized, as it plays a crit...
Spatial data and related technologies have long powered the disciplines of geomatics (and its many names likes geospatial, hydrospatial) and buiilding information management. These disciplines have enabled people to better understand the natural world, the built infrastructure we place upon it, and, increasingly, the relationships between the two. The various goods and services provided by these different "spatial" communities has been global in nature and have provided eco...
In a world of constant change and uncertainty, how can we make informed decisions in real-time, grounded in the realities of ambiguity? This presentation tackles these fundamental questions by exploring the evolution of how we understand and interpret our world—from childhood curiosity to professional expertise—and how these insights shape decision-making in complex environments.Using case studies in GEOINT adoption inside and outside traditional national security communities, I will d...
The convergence of generative artificial intelligence and geospatial technology is transforming how we validate and ensure the quality of location-based data. This talk explores how AWS is enabling new approaches to geospatial data validation through the power of generative AI, which helps public and private sector organizations achieve their sustainability missions.As we operate in a world with more earth observation data being generated everyday, the planet is imaged daily and, with ...
Digital Twins hold enormous potential for the buildings and infrastructure sectors, but their implementation faces key challenges. What is a Digital Twin? The industry lacks a clear consensus, leading to misinformation and confusion. While Digital Twins can scale, not every project requires every possible capability—so how do we manage this effectively? More importantly, the industry is not ready—foundational work in data standards, interoperability, and governance is still needed.In r...
