Related Links: Bentley Adds Cloud Support to Its Design Software With Connect Vendors Serving Construction Comment on Cyber Security Concerns Today The world’s largest cloud-services company is offering $250,000 in prizes to local governments that enter and win its cloud-computing competition. The competition is open to entries until August 21 from any municipality in the world. In its "City on a Cloud" competition last year, Seattle-based Amazon Web Services Inc. gave away Amazon cloud credits to eight winners that harnessed cloud computing in a new or innovative way. This year it will do the same. The eight winners are grouped in
Photo Courtesy of NRCS Arkansas' 116-ft-tall Lake Alma Dam impounds 8,000 acre-ft of water. Since construction in 1970, the community has flourished below it. Graphic Courtesy of DamWatch A national view of DamWatch shows alerts blooming as storms move through the Midwest in late June. Each flag is tagged to facility specific data. Related Links: DamWatch The precurser to DamWatch, ScourWatch Hartford, Conn.-based USEngineering Solutions unveiled on June 23 a national system to detect incidents that could imperil nearly 12,000 dams across the country. It integrates multiple data streams, including sensors and national seismic and meteorologic data, to issue alerts
Related Links: Bitdefender Box Keeping a network secure on a large corporate scale is a full-time job for a team of IT security professionals. But when running a busy network for a small business or offsite office, there often isn't the space or money for that level of security management.Bitdefender, a firm best known for its antivirus software, is getting into the hardware game with Box, a stand-alone network gateway that scans all incoming and outgoing internet traffic for suspicious activity. Unlike a firewall, the Box does more than allow or deny internet activity; it actively scans network traffic for
Photos Courtesy Atheer A worker wearing Atheer AiR Smart Glasses can interact with and manipulate floating images of virtual 3D designs and environments by using a depth camera and gesture technology, built into the headset and tethered to a processing pack. Related Links: Air DK2 Devkit Collaboration Technology for Construction Sees Rapid Improvements Augmented interactive reality glasses controlled by head and hand gestures now are available as a developer kit. The technology has the potential to help workers interact with 3D drawings and live-stream video.CTO Atheer Labs' AiR DK2 glasses and operating system are "closer to a mobile version of
Photo by David J. Odeh Odeh engineers work in early June with project collaborators from TRC Cos. to coordinate the design for an electrical substation. Related Links: Odeh Engineers Scalable Display Technologies Fully appreciating the implications of design alternatives for a major structure can take a great deal of analysis and an even greater ability to visualize changes. One Rhode Island structural engineering firm finds the stakes high enough that it has developed its conference space into a 10-projector BIM immersion room for collaboration with as many as 40 people."We realized BIM could be supercharged by creating a room where
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) were developed in the 70’s for military. Commercial application lagged behind because of the specialized skills required, the cost and regulations required to operate drones for private business. A reduction in cost and size of component parts, advances in battery technology and software development over the past several years has opened up the drone industry to business to leverage automation like never before with drones. Today there are many commercial and construction applications for drones, all of which await government regulation to catch up. Drones on today’s construction sites are used to capture information about ongoing work
Courtesy ASCE App sends ASCE infrastructure grades to elected officials. Related Links: Data Updates to U.S. Infrastructure Report-Card App ASCE Report Card Shows Slight Improvement in Nation's Infrastructure Health A new app allows users to see what letter grades infrastructure in their state received in the American Society of Civil Engineers' report card. Users can send the grade, along with photos and statistics, to local and federal representatives."Elected officials say their phones are not ringing with people talking about the failing infrastructure," says Emily Feenstra , ASCE's director of infrastructure initiatives, in Washington, D.C. "We need to elevate this message."The
Photo Courtesy Luke Yoder This aerial robot builds a 3D model of its surroundings, while flying autonomously within a predetermined bounding box. Related Links: The ARIA Project Researchers have developed an unmanned aerial vehicle that can fly itself. Taking 3D scans of its surroundings, the drone can process that data fast enough to navigate in real time, without hitting objects. The scans are accurate enough to use for other purposes, too, such as infrastructure inspection.Typically, inspectors visit a site every 12 to 18 months and generate handwritten notes that vary in detail and accuracy according to the inspector, says Daniel
Related Links: Bentley Connect Edition Looking to capitalize on recent advances in cloud computing, software maker Bentley Systems launched the Connect edition of its design suite at its 2015 Connections event, held in Philadelphia on May 18-19. First announced in November 2014, the Connect edition of Bentley's popular software, including Microstation and Navigator, will be available to Bentley subscribers in an early access program rolling out this summer.BENTLEYCEO Greg Bentley explains that the Connect edition combines a common modeling environment with a common project-performance environment and a common asset-performance environment. Tapping the Microsoft Azure cloud service, the system "extends beyond
Courtesy: SkySync SkySync migrates, copies and syncs files across multiple platforms and networks. A coming update will allow users to search and organize that data, as well. A Windows-based application that synchronizes files across cloud platforms, internal corporate networks and most data-storage systems is releasing a new version this summer that allows administrators to manage operations at a desktop level. A second update, scheduled for release late this year, makes data on all the platforms searchable.Joseph Lombardi, a superintendent with Boston-based Shawmut Design and Construction, was introduced to SkySync when his company won a $200-million contract and needed to expand the technology it
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