Photo by Holcim The WeatherAPP is a four-day weather forecast that accounts for air and concrete temperatures, wind speed and humidity. Related Links: The Holcim Weather App Concrete contractors should take note. A free, new tool just arrived to make their lives easier. It's a mobile app that instantly displays a four-day forecast to predict whether the weather is right to place concrete."In Utah, we have a huge issue with cracking. It's dry and windy, and the humidity is very low," says Mark Sweats, tech services manager at cement and aggregate provider Westroc Inc., Pleasantville Utah. "We use the app
Related Links: The Building Research Information Database The American Institute of Architects National Institute of Building Sciences A new website formed by two buildings organizations aims to be a bank of peer-reviewed research projects and case studies that dive into every phase of the building cycle, from predesign through occupancy and re-use."I believe that it has the potential to be transformative in our industry," says A. Ray Pentecost III, chairman of the board of direction for the new site: BRIKbase.org.BRIK stands for "Building Research Information Knowledgebase" and was formed by the American Institute of Architects and the National Institute of
Related Links: Latista The LATISTA App LATISTA, a leading field data management software vendor, is set to release a new iPad version on Jan. 15 with upgrades that include increased speed for viewing building information modeling files in PDF format."We benchmarked it against many leading companies," says Patricia Remacle, vice president, product management at LATISTA, Reston, Va. She says the product was faster in most tests. The benchmarking was done by opening 20 files of varying size and complexity on the same iPad. The programs tested against were Good Reader, Adobe Reader and PDF Expert. She says LATISTA was faster
Photo courtesy of Livescribee Livescribe's pens allow users to record written and verbal notes and synch them directly to a computer or device via WiFi. Related Links: Livescribe Sky Smartpen Evernote Whenever ENR editors find a tool we want for ourselves that also has crossover appeal for architects, engineers or construction managers, we like to show it off. Livescribe's Smartpen is one of those tools. At first glance, it just looks like a stocky pen, but the technology inside allows users to record audio and, at the same time, turn any written notes into digital files that users can save
Related Links: Thing Magic “In the old days, we would hire a security guard at the door of every clean room so no one would go in,” says Osman Chao, project executive at DPR Construction, who recently adopted Trimble’s ThingMagic, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system that has replaced the guards at egress points and helped automate his site security.Before the job began, Chao was faced with securing a 900,000-sq-ft site with many work zones and four phases of building protocol in which the level of cleanliness would increase with each phase. “Cleanliness isn’t a big issue when we’re building up
Skip Pennington, Brasfield & Gorrie Job Site in a Box is a rugged connectivity portal to get remote job sites up and running fast. Related Links: Feeney Wireless' Mobile Ready Office Williams Scotsman's Techsuite Construction companies and service providers are getting together to offer multiple solutions for instantly connecting remote job sites with all the technological trimmings needed to operate at the speed of 2013.One general contractor found a quick, ruggedized solution to wiring job sites to the internet anywhere in range of 3G or 4G cellular connection, which would free staff from having to wait for utility companies to
Courtesy Buckaplan.com Inevitably, as technology jets forward, some business models are hurt, maimed or left in the dust. One example of an industry under assault is reprographic services, which have been taking a yearly shot to the checkbook as mobile electronic plan-visualization tools get more popular by the day.To fight back, one printer decided to simplify, refocus on subcontractors, extend service boarders and, most important, get a catchy name."When the industry took a nosedive, we didn’t want to lay off people, so we made a change,” says Brian Burke, president of Buckaplan.com, a subsidiary of Universal Copy LLC, Waterbury, Conn.
Related Links: BIM 360 Glue Amazon Web Services Health Dashboard From BIM 360 programs and remote desktop protocols to amped-up graphics-processing units, cloud-based tools are the top priorities of Autodesk. The cloud theme rang out at the firm's Autodesk University 2012 conference in Las Vegas last month. Many companies at the conference featured cloud technology that helps smooth remote access to large amounts of data or functions as a powerful workstation.Anthony Governanti, Autodesk's technical marketing manager, found his BIM 360 booth very popular during the conference."It's one click to BIM," Governanti told the users crowding around his booth and during
Screen shot courtesy of Autodesk Finger Models The new graphic modeling iPad app from Autodesk displays building area and volume and also allows for sun diagramming. Related Links: FormIt on iTunes Autodesk YouTube Video of FormIt in Action At first glance, Autodesk's FormIt app looks like SketchUp, Trimble's 3D modeling tool. But Autodesk says this app does more, such as adding more site information to the building information model. Users can pinpoint site location on imported satellite images and run sun diagrams, among other features. The app debuted at Autodesk University 2012, Las Vegas.Matt Jezyk, senior manager of the AEC
