Category Archives: Construction/BIM

Crystal Ball: Housing 2019

If you pay any attention to the news you’ve probably heard the drumbeats of the “R” word: the possibility of a recession this year. Because of the ups and downs in the tech, automotive, and telecom sectors, you’re probably starting to get nervous. Then there’s the housing market, which seems to be stalling. Because housing...

Silent Sentinels

An artist’s rendering of the south entrance portal of the Rotterdamsebaan tunnels under construction. Credit: BAM Infra. Monitoring Dutch tunnel construction under The Hague requires technology integration for tight tolerances. To address congestion in densely populated cities, transportation engineers and city planners are increasingly turning to tunnels. An example is the Rotterdamsebaan tunnel currently under...

Coaching Robots

Continuous surveying (to support smart cities, infrastructure, geodesign, and construction) is opening expanded—but unconventional—roles for surveyors and geospatial practitioners. Photo above (added Nov 19th, 2019): A concept partnering Hilti, Trimble and Boston Dynamics on a walking platform, here shown with an X7 scanner (press release: prn.to/33XYbcJ). A member of your field crew that’s a bipedal, survey-rod-carrying...

Seen at Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure

Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure Conference (YII2018) is a global gathering of executives in the world of infrastructure design, construction, and operations.  Open Environment for Digital Twins The zeitgeist of YII2018 was the term “digital twins.” It pervaded every session keynote and presentation for the awards nominees – many that are the largest and most digitally...

Examining Captivate

Above: A crew chief with BL Companies of Connecticut begins his day working with Captivate. The evolution of 3D surveying field software and Leica Geosystems’ Captivate might surprise you. Editor’s Note: Captivate has been widely implemented among Leica Geosystems users for several years now. In many ways it was a dramatic leap for Leica Geosystems—going...

Esri – Autodesk Partnership

Year one of a bold partnership—that the world of infrastructure really needed to happen. Geospatial Giants Esri president and co-founder Jack Dangermond and Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost both agreed to our interview request to provide insights on the Esri-Autodesk partnership, now entering its second year. Of course, they discussed the specific fruits of the collaboration...