An industry group that hopes to automate code compliance checks for 3-D building information models scaled back its proof-of-concept project recently because the process it hoped to measure against—manual 2-D plan review—turned out to be wildly erratic.

Image by Tom Sawyer Full Picture Photos are assigned to points called "rooms" on plans. Opening a plan and clicking a room delivers a gallery of all photos assigned there. Photos are further tagged by trade and will show up on the appropriate plans in a set. A new cloud-based construction photo-and- plan managing collaboration service is drawing praise from beta testers who started throwing projects on it within hours of its April 30 release."It's brilliantly simple. I can't believe we've been living without it," says architect Oscia Wilson, Boiled Architecture, San Francisco. Now launching a project, Wilson is tagging

On May 30, Budapest-based Graphisoft will release ArchiCAD 16. A few key advances separate the version from other BIM software.One feature, the trademarked MORPH tool, allows users to transform simple forms into complex, customized objects. The tool is 100% integrated in the BIM environment."There is nothing else out there in the market that does what the MORPH tool does," says Richard Crowe, a beta tester of the software and founding partner of GRC Architects, Tallahassee, Fla. "You can grab any object, saving the original, and pull or stretch it in any way."Any element in the software, such as a slab,

Members of the construction community are a famously inventive lot. You don't get shut down by problems; you invent your way through them. From methods to materials, and tools to techniques, you innovate equipment, software and communications systems, and often do it by combining commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) components in new and clever ways.Indeed, in 2011, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued 1,360 patents in the field of static structures (e.g., buildings) alone, and many more in other fields related to construction and infrastructure. Another indication of the broad range of construction innovation is the listing of recipients of the

Photo courtesy Mike Shahan and North Texas Regional Airport Replaceable? Some small airports can afford manned control towers, such as North Texas Regional Airport, shown here. Related Links: More ENR Information Technology News NextGen Ramps Up Amid Flat Airport Improvement Funding Air Traffic Is Reviving and Construction Is Back To Basics Deterred by the $2-million cost of constructing an air traffic control tower and the $400,000 annual cost to operate and maintain it, managers of the Raleigh County Memorial Airport in Beckley, W.Va., are considering the installation of the first unmanned, virtual control tower as an alternative."This would answer all

Photo courtesy of Lloyd's Register Deeper Insight New software mines historical equipment-failure data down to the component level to improve management strategies for rotating equipment. Related Links: Engineering News-Record Lloyd's Register Energy Americas Facilities engineers often manage rotating equipment on a time-based schedule. Absent that, they may have to run systems to failure or until something breaks as part of their maintenance plan.A new software tool is helping them get a better handle on life-cycle performance by diving into historical data about the machines.The software, called Capstone RBMI Rotating Equipment, is from Lloyd's Register Energy Americas, part of the 252-year-old

Related Links: More ENR Information Technology News ConsensusDocs Coalition A new cloud-based platform lets users of ConsensusDocs, a popular library of more than 90 best-practices contract-document forms, collaboratively edit and prepare contracts in real time with Microsoft Word on a Mac or PC.The new tool, released on April 23 by the ConsensusDocs Coalition, accesses new and updated contract templates and enables document sharing with multiple collaborators, either live on the web or offline. Among other improvements, it also enables comparison of document versions of Word and PDF files."It's easier to use, and you don't have to send copies [to each

+ Image Source: 2009 Robert Wible & Associates Example of sreamlineing Savings for Typical 50,000 Sq. Ft. Commerical Project During the next four years our construction community and state and local governments will face immense challenges as they strive to revitalize, build and maintain sustainable economies, get Americans back to work, help the nation recover from the “Great Recession” and become a more disaster-resilient society at the same time.As a result of the recession, building and land use department staffs have been cut to the absolute minimum in many local jurisdictions. And now, as construction begins to rebound, it is

Image courtesy of gm/nasa Get A Grip General Motors and NASA teamed up to produce the so-called Robo-Glove, which helps workers hold tools for long periods without tiring. Construction workers of the future may be able to manipulate their heavy hand tools with a high-tech assist from a new robotic glove being developed jointly by General Motors and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).Officially called the Human Grasp Assist device (a.k.a., the "Robo-Glove" or "K-glove"), the device is designed to help alleviate the hand-muscle fatigue that astronauts and factory workers often experience from continuously gripping a tool for extended

Courtesy Autodesk CEO Carl Bass discusses the new cloud-based features for Autodesk software to industry press at a company media event in San Francisco on March 27. Courtesy of Autodesk The 2013 edition of the Revit design suite was previewed at the event. Seeking to capitalize on the rise of cloud-based computing, Autodesk is offering a subscription-based software service as a complement to its extensive suite of design tools.The 2013 editions of Autodesk's Building Design Suite, Infrastructure Design Suite and Plant Design Suite, for example, would include basic access to the company's cloud-based Autodesk 360 service. The Autodesk 360 service