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
Going live on Nov. 22, the U.S. Green Building Council's new App Lab features an initial eight computer applications that aim to support the green building movement.USGBC's third-party LEED automation partners developed and contributed each application in this new searchable database.Making the application mobile is a sensible course to follow, says one of the partners. "As the need becomes more mobile, so will our product," predicts Dave Weinerth, executive vice president of business development at SCIenergy, San Francisco. Other automation partners agree, although only one app is currently available in Apple's App Store.The council says the potential number of apps
Related Links: Software Roundup: Make Way for App Builders in Construction MWH Global Spin-Off Innovyze Leads With 'Wet' Infrastructure Apps Top Paid and Free Construction Apps As part of its ongoing review of productivity apps for construction professionals, ENR reached out to its readers, Twitter followers, Facebook friends and other social network users for their favorite construction and productivity apps.Listed here are some of the apps that came through ENR's social graph, including some apps from engineering students at George Mason University.Although by no means complete, this latest review will be published and updated online on at ENR.com/technology/social_media with the
GRAPH COURTESY OF CURT A survey conducted by a committee of young professionals in the Construction Users Roundtable offers a profile of technology use, adoption and attitudes across four age groups in the industry, suggesting strong engagement among the youngest but also the oldest, with a sag in the middle.The results of the 30-question survey, conducted by CURT's Young Professionals Committee, are being analyzed. A report will be available on the CURT website soon, but a peek at the data is provocative.Of 304 respondents, the largest number, 110 (36%) came from the cohort 51 years old or older. The second
By ENR Art Dept. Whats in your app? ENR asked developers of construction apps for tablets and smart phones what features are most desired and requested in field management and productivity. Related Links: Top 10 Construction Apps by ENR Readers Top Paid and Free Construction Apps MWH Global Spin-Off Innovyze Leads With 'Wet' Infrastructure Apps Tablets Take Off in Construction iPad App: Learning Curve for All Ages Tablet adoption is exploding on construction sites. Amid the blast radius of that adoption, a new generation of applications is following, many designed by construction firms using in-house teams or partnering with vendors."It's
Related Links: Software Roundup: Make Way for App Builders in Construction Top 10 Construction Apps by ENR Readers MWH Global Spin-Off Innovyze Leads With 'Wet' Infrastructure Apps ENR asked Apple to query its developer community in a quest to help idenfity the most popular construction apps in the App Store.It was a tricky call.Although plenty of apps are considered useful in the A/E/C realm, Apple doesn't have a specific A/E/C category as it does for business and productivity. But it's fair to say that these are among the more noted amid a rise in construction industry apps, and our list
The digital native generation—people born since about 1985—grew up immersed in digital technologies. They are now starting to become dominant in the employee and consumer pool and as those in older generations seek to maximize their interactions with them, it is important understand their values.Five observations about the mindset of digital natives will help employers harness their distinct worldview to achieve business objectives.Observation 1: Digital natives live publicly online.Businesses must address the expectations of a generation raised in the social networking world; one that routinely shares the details of activities and opinions online with potentially limitless groups of people.How to
Normally, assessing wall thickness in a pressurized water or sewer line and main requires shutting down the line and cutting into it. But broadband electromagnetic scanning is finding increasing use as a viable, non-destructive testing alternative that does not interrupt utility service.This fall, BEM scanning contributed to a condition study of a 1970s-era force sewer main for the Metropolitan Sanitation District of Greater Cincinnati. Malcolm Pirnie, the water division of ARCADIS, Highlands Ranch, Colo., is the assessment contractor.The consultant hired InfraMetrix LLC, Tampa, Fla., to use BEM to scan select locations in the line where analysis and other tests predicted
There often is a disconnect between the problems researchers tackle and those that society most urgently needs to solve.Researchers seek out interesting problems to work on, and the nature of research is such that it is easy for them to be lured into problems that call for complex, mathematical solutions that, while interesting, may have little actual benefit to the world.Three years ago while I was looking to find interesting and socially important problems to address through my own research in civil engineering, I came upon a report published in 2008 by the National Academy of Engineering on the engineering
With a boatload of announcements about acquisitions, new products, agreements and promises delivered over several days beginning on Nov. 7, the provider of a suit of software and services widely used for infrastructure design, construction and management unveiled a raft of moves that, taken together, help define its technology strategy, especially with respect to 3D information model files and point clouds.During the three-day conference, users from many disciplines and sectors that employ Bentley Systems software reacted with approval as the announcements rolled out at the company's annual "Be Inspired: Thought Leadership in Infrastructure" conference, held in Amsterdam."We are at the