Software
Portland, Ore.-based Viewpoint Construction Software was purchased by Trimble for $1.2 billion in cash in a deal announced this week.
Trimble’s technology for the construction, agriculture and transportation markets has long been a boon to the respective industries. The California-based company...
Virtual reality (VR) has been a staple of mass media for decades, but only in the abstract.
Popularized in television shows and in the movies, largely science fiction-related, VR has now moved past static media to the realm of interactive video games, and, to some degree, infrastructure project...
Always ask Mom if it is OK.
Seriously, if someone is going to be trusted and depended upon, it is going to be the one who carried you around for nine months. Dale Keller, senior project manager with the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT), had a skeptical mother when the designs for...
Engineers are well-versed in using 3-D design tools and imagery to carry out their designs and display their work.
Still, it’s like watching a scene through a window—you see it, but you cannot experience the fullness of what is taking place. By putting designs into a virtual reality (VR) or...
Article
March 26, 2010
To summarize the first article (see On the flyover, February 2010), citing a study done in 1977 as motivation, development work began in 1995 on a thermal infrared (IR) system to surpass the existing bridge nondestructive evaluation technology of that day. That 1995 technology effort has now been...
Article
January 08, 2009
The emotional send-off was all one needed to see to fully understand the deep connection between a town and its 80-year-old bridge.
On Sept. 20, Norridgewock, Maine—a town of roughly 3,300 people located along a bend in the Kennebec River, some 90 miles northwest of Portland—bid farewell to the...
Article
November 13, 2008
Citizens in the Louisville metropolitan area have a virtual bird’s-eye view of road plans for the Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project. The megaproject, currently the third-largest federally funded transportation project in the country, has taken unprecedented steps to communicate...
Article
October 23, 2008
The mission of the Indiana Department of Transportation (InDOT) is to “plan, build, maintain and operate a superior transportation system enhancing safety, mobility and economic growth.” In an effort to improve the safety and mobility of the traveling public during snow and ice events, InDOT has...
Article
May 14, 2008
Owners and engineers have started using structural monitoring technology as a means to provide precise, objective and timely information to improve the management of bridges and other civil structures.
However, there are other powerful, commercially available analytical tools, when coupled with...
Article
November 16, 2007
Three software programs are among the resources that are having some profound changes on concrete pavement design. Along with other resources currently being developed, these programs hold great promise for optimizing pavement design and returning greater value to all stakeholders, including the...
Article
November 16, 2007
Without fanfare or ceremony, there is a great and profound change beginning to take form in the concrete pavement industry. It is not by accident or coincidence that these things are occurring, but instead, the result of great foresight, planning and execution.
What is this profound change? It is...
Article
October 01, 2005
The technology known as SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) is unquestionably one of the greatest innovations for increasing the efficiency of a water/wastewater utility. But the very nature of the technology involved in monitoring and controlling a utility’s remote operations makes it...
Article
October 01, 2005
Many water and wastewater operators have implemented private wireless telemetry supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems to monitor and control their pumps, valves and lift stations.
They believed the high level of performance and reliability required dictated that they “roll their...
Article
May 10, 2005
Some North American utilities watch 45% or more of their water go down the drain as “unaccounted-for water.” Although Halifax (Nova Scotia) Regional Water Commission has lost only half that amount in recent years, it was still too much for this conscientious utility. That’s why the Halifax team...
Article
November 14, 2003
Water is the most essential element for life. From
environmental preservation and economic viability to population growth and
vibrant ecosystems, the water supply affects every aspect of a continually evolving
and expanding society.
Because water is so essential to life, the ability for
government...
Article
August 18, 2003
Imagine sitting in front of your computer, playing a video
game and calling it "work." Sound too good to be true? It might not
be. A group of researchers at the University of Washington are working on a
first-generation 3-D hot-mix asphalt (HMA) compaction trainer called the
Xpactor. The Xpactor...
Article
August 16, 2003
Last year a growing, rural county in the heart of Texas—located between Dallas and Austin—met its looming GASB 34 financial accounting deadline by using an automated van that records digital images of its pavements at high speeds.
The van, employed by Bell County, Texas, collects high-resolution...
Article
August 14, 2003
It seems like computers have found their way into every human endeavor, even various construction functions, in the field as well as the home office. Here are some of the latest software products for road and bridge construction.
Time your travel
GPS Travel Time software allows traffic engineers...
Article
February 04, 2003
One of the biggest concerns in Utah is the impact of
increased population growth. This concern is especially acute in the Greater
Wasatch Area (essentially Salt Lake, Provo and Ogden) where the population is
expected to increase nearly 70 percent (from 1.6 million to 2.7 million) by
2020. When a...
Article
September 04, 2002
Technologies for metering water and sewage flows have
developed rapidly over the years since the formation of DWSD in the mid-1800s.
Meeting ever-increasing metering needs has meant keeping up with developments
in metering and trying out new methods. Today, we have several basic types,
including...
