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
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
Photo courtesy of Skanska The MEP manager on a Skanska site in Boston dropped plans for conventional lights and went to LEDs. He sees big benefits and no downsides. New product development takes money, ingenuity and patience. When the product is built around a new technology—such as light-emitting diodes—money, ingenuity and patience are needed in spades."We have learned people really need to play with it and test if for awhile before they believe you," says Daniel Lax, the 31-year-old vice president of business development for a division of his family's plastic injection molding company. In 2008, he branched out from
SOURCE: ACI 318-11 Structural concrete building code In a response to Bostons Big Dig failure, overhead, horizontal and slanted panels, installed using adhesive anchors, are included in the 2011 concrete standard for the first time. There are radical changes in the works for the concrete design standard of the American Concrete Institute. ACI committee members are about halfway through a six-year overhaul of the 502-page tome, aiming to validate its content and make it more user-friendly. It is the first major revamp in nearly 45 years.In a big departure, the 2014 edition of the ACI 318: Structural Concrete Building Code,
Physics problem or engineering challenge? Wireless networking company LightSquared argues that, with some technical engineering work, its $14-billion plan to expand wireless broad-band to millions of consumers can work without disrupting the majority of the industry's global positioning systems.But on Sept. 8, during a hearing in the House, major U.S. government agencies that rely on GPS disagreed, calling the company's plan a major physics problem that essentially would create too much signal noise in spectrum bands adjacent to sensitive GPS networks, causing widespread disruption.For example, the U.S. Geological Survey's David Applegate told the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology
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