Two software vendors, CMiC and Vico Software, are forming a partnership to develop integration between their offerings for “enterprise resource planning” and building information modeling. The effort, if completed, would result in a framework for design and construction users of BIM tools to integrate BIM data with business functions, such as procurement and contract management, throughout the construction cycle between all operational departments of a firm, say the vendors. The goal is a product that will allow BIM information to flow seamlessly across an entire organization, not simply within an organization’s specific project. This would eliminate the need for re-entering
Saint Patrick’s Day brought a boatload of new “green” bulding energy-performance analysis tools, including a trio of emmigrant products with long resumes, to U.S. architects, consultants and engineers. In announcements on March 17, both Bentley Systems, Exton, Pa., and Autodesk Inc., San Raphael, Calif., introduced significant and quite different tools to a practice both companies expect will grow rapidly. “I think there is huge demand,” says Huw W. Roberts, Bentley’s global marketing director. “All design firms are integrating this kind of design analysis and addressing these issues. The demand for this will be 100%.” “It is becoming a bigger part
Tekla Corp. may lack the global recognition of its fellow Finn Nokia, but in the 3D-modeling software world it is every bit as familiar. Having cut its teeth in steel fabrication, the Espoo-based firm spread into engineering design and now offers modeling to construction managers. Related Links: Software Firms See User Needs Driving New Development Digital-Modeling-Standard Effort ‘SOS’ Tekla’s launch of worksite-management software began 18 months ago in Finland, where Tiina Koppinen was an early user. “It is a very important step to take modeling to the site,” says Koppinen, a project manager helping develop building information modeling at Skanska
The National Building Information Model Standard project committee is in dire need of volunteers to help it develop open building-information-model standards to foster interoperability among products of different software vendors. The buildingSMART alliance of the National Institute of Building Sciences, which is organizing the effort, is intent on delivering NBIMS at no cost to users. Related Links: Software Firms See User Needs Driving New Development Forty Years of Grassroots Development That is not an easy thing to do. Much of the standard will be published in the form of information-delivery manuals. Progress in developing the manuals is based on the
One future vision for virtual design and construction tools is for a "highly automated and seamlessly integrated environment" across all phases and processes of a project’s life cycle. The vision belongs to the FIATECH Consortium, which is devoted to opening up digital standards production to the world by developing the tool to achieve interoperability for interoperability standards. Related Links: FirmStretchesWorksharing to BIM Modeling Pathfinders Impatient To Have A Much Fuller Digital Toolbox Digital Box FIATECH wants a digital world in which all data is available to "whomever needs it, whenever it’s needed and wherever it’s needed," says Ric Jackson, director
When it comes to collaborative virtual design and construction, designers and contractors agree that the fractured, adversarial traditions of the construction industry and limits on digital technology are the two monsters blocking a building information modeling utopia, or "cheruBIM," a world in which projects are built faster, better, for less money, with less strife and fewer claims. As far as technology, interoperability deficits stand out as the biggest obstacle to cheruBIM, preventing team member-users from sharing digital applications from different software vendors. Slide Show GRAPHIC: Fiatech The roadmap outlines technology-enabled information paths for the entire life cycle of a capital
While pioneering firms strive to reduce risk and increase productivity by embracing virtual design and construction, the vendors enabling VDC struggle to anticipate user needs and differentiate themselves from their competition without losing customers in swamps of technological confusion. Slide Show Image: 2009 Open Geospatial Consortium Inc. and buildingSMART alliance Image: 2009 Open Geospatial Consortium Inc. and buildingSMART alliance Related Links: Digital-Modeling-Standard Effort ‘SOS’ Forty Years of Grassroots Development Modeling Pathfinders Impatient To Have A Much Fuller Digital Toolbox Digital Box There are myriad products addressing discrete aspects of virtual design and construction. Most work independently and share their results
Workshare provider Satellier and its 40-year-old CEO Michael Jansen are working to take building information modeling out of the confines of the workstation. "We are experts at sharing work remotely," says Jansen, who has built a thriving outsourcing practice in India that extends the resources of high-profile design firms around the globe. Photo: Satellier New system combines telepresencing and customized work-flow software. Related Links: Tool To Create Interoperability Standards Expected by Year-End Modeling Pathfinders Impatient To Have A Much Fuller Digital Toolbox Digital Box Satellier is implementing a new system that combines telepresencing using iRooms (a kind of video conferencing
With a trend toward integrated project delivery gaining traction, project teams are clamoring for a free flow of data between disciplines. In its latest response to the evolving market needs, on Feb. 9, San Raphael, Calif.-based Autodesk Inc. presented 2010 versions of its architecture, engineering, construction and geospatial products, as well as civil design software for transportation and utilities, with changes designed to ease the adoption of building information modeling processes within and across those sectors. The most ubiquitous change, as presented in a web conference showcasing key features of the new releases, is the replacement of tool bars across
Researchers in Blacksburg, Va., are testing snakelike robots that may prevent slips and falls. The Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at Virginia Tech unveiled them last spring and has been racking up awards since, most recently last month at a Korea design fair where the 3-ft-long critters took the grand prize. Photo: Virginia Tech Robot that crawls, twists and rolls is designed to work at heights. “These are really wicked cool robots,” says Dennis Hong, lab director, adding that the robots are designed to climb scaffolds, buildings and other high places that might pose risks to construction workers. Using built-in sensors
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