PHOTO Courtesy of TurboCAD TurboSite's Geolocation feature allows users to tag photos and video to site plans and then share the info as a PDF. Related Links: TurboSite The GPS Device that Utility Workers Love TurboSite, an iOS app that leverages a smart device into a field reporting tool, has rolled out a new plug-in that turbocharges the app for Autodesk Revit users.The plug-in for TurboSite uses a device's built-in GPS and gyroscope to collect a user's geographic location and orientation within a structure and tie it to the multimedia collected on an iPad or iPhone."TurboSite was cost-effective and was
Pictures, notes and video are captured in a social network-type of news-feed format that can push alerts to select workers. Related Links: Textura IPO Turns Up the Heat on Construction Tech Startups FieldLens The most important elements of social networking sites are their ability to share media, post comments and store all that data and more as a permanent web record. The same can be said for web tools that manage a construction site. The new web application FieldLens aims to become the Facebook of project management services."I tried using Facebook on a project two years ago," says Todd Wynne,
Related Links: Fluid Contract Manager's YouTube Channel Collaboration Apps Top ENR Survey Results A web-based construction-management platform optimized for an iPhone's screen size and mobile ergonomics is coming out on Nov. 1."It was born out of complete and utter frustration," says Don Speedie, president of Sparks, Nev.-based Fluid Contract Manager, about what provoked him to create his iPhone-inspired design. When he came up with the idea, Speedie was working as a construction manager, a position he occupied for more than 14 years."I built it from the ground up with the iPhone in mind," says Speedie.The design's fluidity was such a
PHOTO courtesy of white clouds Autodesk's redesign of Hyperloop requires specialized equipment to weave transit tubes out of carbon-fiber composite materials while maintaining the tubes' original 7-ft, 4-in. diameter. PHOTO courtesy of white clouds The proposed new design for Hyperloop's transit tubes weaves them out of one ring of carbon fiber and then pinches it into a figure 8, forming two independent tubes. Related Links: Video of Autodesk's Design Oak Ridge National Labs A design software leader is rethinking the construction methods and materials for Hyperloop Alpha, the high-speed mass-transit proposal that shoots passenger-filled capsules suspended on air cushions through
Elon Musk’s recent Hyperloop proposal resurrects discussion in the U.S. about the advantages of true high-speed ground transportation. The country desperately needs a national consensus as to what constitutes fast and cost-effective HSGT before a single track or guideway is laid, but as of yet the conversation has failed to develop the required consensus for true high-speed ground transportation. Mr. Musk’s proposal gets the discussion going again.But as to his proposal, while Mr. Musk correctly criticizes the California high-speed rail proposal for being too slow and too expensive to build and maintain, his own Hyperloop technology is only a concept. U.S.
Photo courtesy of U.S. Army U.S. Army Barracks Complex at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Within five years facilities assessments and life cycle maintenance scheduling and planning for all $830 billion worth of Dept. of Defense facilities are to be brought into the Sustainment Management System developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Related Links: Sustainment Management System homepage On Sept. 10, Frank Kendall, the U.S. Dept. of Defense under secretary for acquisitions, logistics and technology, issued a memorandum notifying officials at all military components of the DoD and the Washington Headquarters Service that they will all be required, within
Image Courtesy of Autodesk Get The Point software users say the tool, for integrating design files with total stations for layout control and construction verification, has saved them money by avoiding rework. Related Links: Get The Point website Service provider network based on similar total station/design file integration from Theometrics Autodesk Inc. has acquired the technology assets of Larkspur, Colo.-based Get The Point LLC, which developed software to transfer information from Autodesk's design applications to robotic total stations and move CAD and BIM control points directly from design files to layout in the field.The software is also bi-directional. It can
Related Links: A live cyber attack dashboard from Deutusche Telekom State-Sponsored Attacks research report from Lieberman Software Technology security experts in many sectors surveyed at a recent conference shared a common concern: 74.3% of them could not say with confidence that their systems have not already been breached by a foreign state-sponsored cyber attack or an advanced persistent threat. Further, 62.9% think it likely their companies will be targets of such attacks within the next six months.Most (52%) were not confident their staffs could detect such intrusions, and 57.7% said they think the U.S. is losing the battle,although 30.3% said
Like almost everything else the world of construction, the world of project planning is increasingly moving toward processes that draw upon data—including what is often referred to as “big data,” which holds keys to spotting large-scale shifts in communities.This matters to construction because planners, architects, engineers and contractors often are on the front lines of spinning up projects that impact the masses. And the quality of the data used in the studies undertaken to justify the economic validity of those projects can make the difference between projects that bomb and projects that succeed—and in the construction industry languishing or flourishing.Embracing