Construction Technology and Software Rundown: Dec. 18, 2020
COVID-19 Resources
Planyard (formerly Fizure) cloud-based cost control software for managing large-scale construction projects offers a free plan that includes bids management, contract and charge order management, progress reporting and forecasting. The full version of the software is free for COVID-19 related projects.
Apps
eMOD’s construction safety app promotes job site safety, from project onboarding and safety audits to toolbox talks and daily safety plans. eMOD’s integrated platform connects management to the field through a shared KPI dashboard so they can monitor safety activity.
Software & In the Cloud
With NavVis’ Cloud Processing Add-on for NavVis IndoorViewer, users convert laser scans into survey-grade, photo-realistic point clouds from data captured by NavVis M6 and the wearable NavVis VLX.
Autodesk Tandem (public beta February 2021) brings a digital twin to BIM, bringing project data together for a data-rich digital hub that tracks asset data from design through operations. The digital twin creates an up-to-date reflection of a model’s physical self for operational insight into any structure and their components.
Corecon Technologies’ updates to its estimating module include Kanban View to group vendors by bid response status; Bid Analysis for insights into vendor pricing; and Estimate Property Fields with proposal date, proposal valid-thru-date, status, and review by contact, review due date and date reviewed.
AutoCAD imagery plugin Plex-Earth offers images from Airbus, Maxar, Nearmap and Hexagon in addition to Google Earth. Users can export drawings and models so stakeholders can see what a design will look like.
Partnerships, Acquisitions & Integrations
EarthCam has merged real-time webcam imagery with Autodesk platforms. Project teams can view synched live camera streams meshed with model views and zoom in on architectural details while seeing the corresponding model alignment. View Builder offers a customizable way to create and save different layered views within Forge Viewer. VR Dollhouse views, created by merging 360° photo content with Navisworks or Revit models, walks the jobsite. PlanGrid users can upload EarthCam visual data to PlanGrid Tasks to assign teams actionable items, supported with imagery, on work that needs to be completed and when.
Sage is offering GCPay platform for managing the subcontractor pay application process as an add-on with Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate and Sage 100 Contractor.
Video & Cool Stuff
iBUILT design-build-operate company combines technology and controlled offsite manufacturing to integrate design, detailing, fabrication and onsite assembly for high-quality smart buildings with 20% lower construction cost and 50% faster construction. With its Fast Track program, deliverables include comprehensive interior and exterior designs; 70% of architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire prevention drawings; a complete schedule of finishes; and a guaranteed price and schedule.
Asite’s report, ‘Smart Retrofitting: The Key to Decarbonizing the Built Environment,’ analyzes and evaluates the technologies and approaches to mitigate carbon emissions in existing residential and commercial buildings. It provides an insight into the role of digital twins in the industry’s journey to net zero and discusses digital engineering, smart grids and smart cities.
Marla McIntyre is a digital editor of CE This Week and ConstructionExec.com. She edited Construction Executive’s Tech Trends and Risk Management eNewsletters and is the author of more than 200 articles and publications, including Construction Executive’s annual technology predictions, Technology & Software Rundown column and an award-winning series for the Risk Management Association. Her extensive construction and risk management background includes stints as executive director the Surety Information Office and American Subcontractors Association of Metro Washington.