Citing the growing and increasingly crowded field of grade-control systems and site-layout technology, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) announced on Feb. 18 that it is working with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on a common standard for grade-control data sharing.
With manufacturers of earthmoving machinery often pursuing their own grade-control systems, and makers of robotic total stations and other layout equipment requiring use of their own proprietary data-management platforms, coordinating mixed-fleet operations on a jobsite can be a difficult task. From the radio signals between the sensors on earthmoving equipment, to the file formats used 2D and 3D terrain models, multiple incompatibilities and the need to maintain parallel systems can be real problems.