The new year will be the year of mobility; construction's Technology Spring, when the constraints on the flow of data into and out of the field, and the use of mobile devices to collect, share and present it, give way for good.That is one of the expectations of ENR technology editors and they prepare for the year ahead by trying to anticipate where current trends will lead. Expect to see field deployment of technology gather steam at companies as a driving force to efficiency gains and process innovation.Watch for wireless networks, technology kiosks and pads, and tablets to sprout on more
I had the privilege of moderating a panel of CIOs at ENR's FutureTech Conference in mid-December, held in San Francisco. For those of you unfamiliar with conference, it is a key gathering of technology leaders, expert technology users, and others looking to learn and share knowledge about leveraging technology in AEC firms. The panel is an open dialogue with CIOs on their challenges—keeping the lights on, satisfying internal users, and testing new technologies and practices, to name just a few issues. Here are some of the insights that the panelists shared.BIM Successes and Challenges BIM maturity is always a hot topic at
AP/Wideworld A pickup truck driver who was texting caused a deadly pileup last year near a highway work zone in Gray Summit, Mo. Fluor-Lane LLC The Capital Beltway initiative along I-495 encourages drivers to hang up their phones when in the construction zone. Related Links: Read NTSB's Recommendations Interactive Map of State Laws Construction firms are getting behind this month's sweeping recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board that calls for a nationwide ban on phoning and texting while driving."From a work-zone perspective, we would be 100% supportive," says Brian Deery, who heads the Associated General Contractors' highway and transportation
Related Links: LightSquared's Press Release LightSquared Faces Critics, Floats GPS Plan Changes GPS Industry Groups Reject LightSquared's Network Fix The ongoing fight over the future of LightSquared's plans to build a broadband satellite network using GPS spectrum entered a new phase this week.The Reston, Va.-based LightSquared filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission on Dec. 20, seeking a declaratory ruling on whether it can make use of the spectrum it has been licensed for its proposed 4G LTE broadband network.The network plans would occupy frequencies adjacent to those used by most of the GPS receivers currently in use. GPS
The U.S. State Dept.'s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations is rolling out a five-year strategic plan for information technology to support posts around the world and the agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters.Announced at a conference in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 7, the plan's key goals include the development of a global unified building management system as well as a comprehensive building-information-modeling solution for life-cycle building planning and operations.Danilo Stapulo, chief of OBO's information resource management application development branch, says that when his office recently analyzed OBO's strengths and weaknesses, the need for interoperability "kept popping up."OBO managers were "spending altogether too
Image: ENR N/A Two years after a Hill International Inc. employee left the Marlton, N.J., firm, the IT department is still trying to retrieve data from his mobile phone. Why? Although the data belongs to the company, the device belongs to the employee.That conundrum is exactly what's keeping a lot of construction companies from adopting bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies."Whose data is it, really?" asks Shawn Pressley, vice president of project management systems at Hill. "If [the employee] paid for the [phone service], they could call it his data. We might not have the permissions to wipe it off our contacts. The
The Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) Young Professionals 2011 survey polled Construction Industry Owners, Contractors, Designers, and Users on the topics of Technology and Professional Development. A snapshot of these survey results are discussed below.Moore’s Law describes, in general, the effect by which our technological capacity doubles every two years. We asked, what is the most important technology tool in your company? The results:• 23% Email• 22% Database Software such as Microsoft Excel or Access• 18% CM or Scheduling Software• 16% BIM/ CAD• 12% Other (miscellaneous)• 7% Smart Phones• 2% Tablet Devices such as iPadAcross all age groups, Email and Excel
Related Links: Make Way for App Builders in Construction Top Paid and Free Construction Apps Tablets Take Off in Construction Even though tablets and smart phones are spreading onto jobsites at a swift pace in construction, chief financial officers from major A/E/C firms say technology purchases must come with solid returns on investment as part of that adoption. This was one of many technology issues highlighted during the two-day ENR FutureTech conference held by McGraw-Hill Construction in San Francisco this week.Two panel discussions, "Chief Information Officer Roundtable" and "IT from the CFO Perspective," on Dec. 13 reinforced the industry-wide movement
The toolbox to support building information modeling and field data management by cloud computing is getting better stocked with new app releases and, announced on Nov. 30, the planned acquisition of cloud-computing firm Horizontal Systems by Autodesk Inc.For example, Bentley Systems Inc. also released a new app, Structural Synchronizer V8i, for iPads and iPhones—with Android and Windows versions to come. It provides data synchronization, change management, revision history and model viewing, says Huw Roberts, Bentley's global marketing director for building.The latest jockeying by design software vendors Autodesk and Bentley points to the quickening pace of innovation in software to marry
COURTESY OF BURNS & MCDONNELL COURTESY OF BURNS & MCDONNELL Layers of project and customer data flow via Google Earth to give field crews ground specs. As the federal government launches a top-down initiative to fast-track power transmission projects nationwide, Kansas City, Mo.-based Burns & McDonnell is applying a bottoms-up approach to streamline its line projects with layered GIS data.The company is using its OneTouch PM system to mobilize modules—including real estate, customer relations and construction status data—on Google Earth maps. It lets everyone on the project navigate to real-time project status information.The company is using the system on 26
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