Related Links: Download USIBD as-built documentation standards Laser Scanning for Building Documentation: Illuminating, But Not Necessarily Enlightening The U. S. Institute for Building Documentation has published the first standards for specifying contracts for as-built building-measurement capture. The documents are designed to complement previously developed standards specifying 3D building-information-model level of development but are not limited to any measurement-capture technology."In the building documentation industry, there is really nothing that people doing the work could rely on and quote to their clients," says Bryan A. Merritt, a principal associate with engineering consulting firm Erdman Anthony, Rochester, N.Y. "It gives owners and clients
Image Courtesy Trimble The ProjectSight iPad app allows for RFIs, check lists and other field management tasks to be performed and synchronized in a shared, cloud-based environment. Related Links: Trimble ProjectSight Expanding its offerings for mobile devices, Trimble has introduced ProjectSight, a subscription-based project-management software app for iPads.At a base cost of $20 per user per month, ProjectSight covers common field tasks, including RFIs, check lists and punch lists. In addition to paid users, the app allows for an unlimited number of free "collaborator" users on each job.The difference is that only paid users can create new tasks. Collaborators can
Architecture Engineering and Construction hackathons bring AEC professionals together with technology developers to turn ideas into proofs-of-concept. All this happens in a weekend of focused collaborative effort. This “hacking” philosophy and approach is a powerful tool to enable the AEC industry to learn how to innovate, by focusing limited resources to quickly develop ideas and solutions. To maximize our hacker approach to innovation, Balfour Beatty tested the concept through several internal and external hackathon-style events and initiatives.Externally, our teams compete at AEC Hackathons, including the most recent AEC Hackathon 1.2 – Seattle, where we collaborated with fellow hackers from Microsoft, Newforma
Related Links: Robots on the Jobsite Construction Industry Drones Fly in Rules Vacuum Collaboration Technology for Construction Sees Rapid Improvements Construction Managers Embrace 4D BIM for Safety Information technology for construction delivered on its promise to improve processes in design and construction in 2014, but only incrementally and sporadically, with no industry breakthroughs to report. ENR focused during the year on several trending technologies with promise, including improvements in robotics, mobile devices, cloud services, software for collaboration, the proliferating use of drones in construction, 3D printing and ways to leverage the capabilities 4D building information modeling.All show great potential, and
Related Links: Pong Radiation Case Pong Radiation Case Pong Radiation Case Danalock ENR’s final gadget-review list for 2014 presents three smartphone additions that claim to extend user capabilities. One protects communication data, one amplifies range, a third locks dead bolts.See slideshow for full reviews.
Related Links: Video Explanation of Slab Heave (Cornell Engineers) SoilVision's Site Software designers claim their new release makes predicting house footing and slab movement so intuitive that geotechnical engineers will be more prone to do it.“Some practicing engineers don't actually compute potential heave,” says Geoff Chao, senior engineer and vice president of Engineering Analytics Inc., Fort Collins, Colo., a geotechnical engineering firm that partnered with SoilVision Systems Ltd., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to make SVHEAVE, a software designed to be user-friendly and to simplify heave calculations, even in multilayered soil profiles.If these tedious calculations, as Chao calls them, are ignored, builders and
Buoyed by recent project successes, industry advocates for increased application of virtual design and construction are becoming more convinced—and convincing—about VDC’s transformative potential. But hurdles persist—notably the U.S. construction industry’s lagging adoption of digital collaboration tools, as well as a looming generational workforce shift.Industry experts and technologists spoke on the topic and presented project examples at an ENR FutureTech Conference, Dec. 11, in Atlanta. While the use of building information modeling in the U.S. is becoming more commonplace, Steve Jones of Dodge Data & Analytics, the parent company of ENR, showed survey data demonstrating that the United Kingdom—which has mandated
The American Society of Civil Engineers is reminding the nation of its standing D+ infrastructure rating by updating the data and design of its IOS and Android app.The 2013 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, updated on Dec. 11, gives users access to the most recent ASCE data on the nation’s infrastructure, parsed out by segment—Water and Environment, Transportation, Public Facilities and Energy—and state.“What we did was updated as much of the state-level facts and data as possible,” says Brian Pallasch, managing director of government relations and infrastructure initiatives at ASCE. The design and usability of the app, originally released in
Courtesy Trimble Navigation Limited Trimble is one of four companies that got an FAA permit to fly unmanned aircraft for commercial purposes. Pictured here is the firm's fixed-wing UX5. Courtesy Trimble Navigation Limited Trimble's UX5 launcher. The Federal Aviation Administration on Dec. 10 issued five permits to four companies to fly unmanned aircraft for commecial purposes. It remains unclear how the permits might branch out.“It’s available to us to be subcontractors with this, but our distribution channel is our strength,” says Todd Steiner, marketing director of geospatial imaging solutions at Trimble, which is the first fixed-wing manufacturer to get issued
Related Links: Ember Explorer program In a rambling Q&A session for media at Autodesk University in Las Vegas, on Dec. 3, Autodesk CEO Carl Bass and CTO Jeff Kowalski expanded on themes of their respective keynotes and fielded questions about the company’s strategy for developing products to serve the customers of the future.Central to that strategy is their belief that technology is on the verge of radically changing the way people design and make things. With respect to designing products, they say the massive amounts of parallel computing power in the cloud that can be directed to product design means
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