Construction Tech of the Week | Threshold, Combining Plans and Photos

Project documents in the cloud are nothing new. Any decent software that deals with plan files should allow upload, download, and sharing capabilities entirely through a web-based plan room. But Threshold, a new service from San Francisco-based 383 Studio, has added another incredibly valuable step...attaching photos directly to plans to illustrate various spaces/conditions and tagging the photos by service or trade for easy reference and search. 

"When a shot is pinned to a point in the plan, a "room" is created with a click and the image dragged to it. Images are tagged by trade or with custom labels. Items tagged "electrical" show up on electrical plans, "plumbing" on MEP, etc. They show up on multiple plans if several tags are used. Clicking a room shows all photos tagged to that place, in order of upload." 

Click here to learn more about Threshold project plan and photo technology

Scheduling Tech of the Week | Tungle.me

So this week's tech is used less on the jobsite than to get everyone to the jobsite. Or office. Or conference room. Or Skype conference. Wherever project owners, GCs, subs, and any other stakeholders require a meeting. The question is always, when?

"Eliminate the back of forth of finding a time to meet. Easily share your availability with anyone. Prevent double bookings and forget about time zones." 

You can sync almost any type of calendar you have (see list here) to Tungle.me and only share as much info and details as you want with those viewing your profile and availability. Meetings can be proposed and requested directly from your profile and synced back to your calendars. 

Click here to learn more about Tungle.me's technology  

Construction Tech of the Week | The Space Elevator

Alright so this may be month's old news to some - but we just discovered it and had to post. By 2050, the Japanese construction firm famous for the Tokyo Sky Tree claims it will be possible to build a 22,370 mile tall elevator into space. And it will only take you a week to get there. 

"In Obayashi’s plan, a carbon nanotube cable would stretch one-quarter of the way from the Earth to the moon, about 60,000 miles (96,000 km) and attach to some type of spaceborne counterweight. The other end of the tether would be anchored at an Earth-based spaceport...The elevator car could carry up to 30 people and would travel at 125 MPH for a week. Tourists could stay at the waystation at 22,370 miles up, and scientists and researchers could go all the way to the end of the tether."

Before you start packing, you should know there are no estimates on minor details like buildling or passenger costs yet...but still, pretty cool to think about. And Obayashi Corp? Please let us know if you need a bid software for that.

Click here to read more about this space elevator technology 

Announcing SmartBidNet Integration with Barryhund Online Plan Services

COLLEGE STATION, TX (PRWEB) April 05, 2012

SmartBidNet construction bid software recently announced its latest industry alliance with fellow solutions provider, Barryhund Online Plan Room Services(OPS). Over 45 plan rooms across California, Montana, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah and Washington use Barryhund’s OPS platform to distribute details of over 45,000 projects per year to general contractors andsubcontractors subscribing to each plan room. The integration between Barryhund and SmartBidNet, launching this summer, will connect project news from Barryhund’s plan rooms across the United States with private bidding in the SmartBidNet system.

Click here to read the full article

Construction Tech of the Week | Airless Travel at 4,000 mph

That's right, 4,000 mph. Meaning it would take you less than two hours to get from New York to Beijing. I'll let you ponder that while Construction Digital explains the actual design of what could be the infrastructure of the future. 

"The system consists of an airless tube five feet in diameter lined with a series of super-conductors. These powerful magnets levitate a streamlined, six-person capsule...The absence of air or contact with the tube reduces friction and drag to nearly zero, meaning the 400-pound passenger cars can simply coast to their destinations once the desired velocity is reached."

With the idea's patent secured, some investors are eager to see a prototype while many skeptics question the feasibility of such a system. But there's no doubt the concept is intriguing...

"The system provides 50 times more transportation per kilowatt-hour than electric cars or rail transportation, and has variable speeds for local, domestic, or international travel. The company claims that the tubes can be built for a tenth the cost of high speed rail systems, and nearly a quarter the cost of a freeway."

Click here to read more about the transportation technology of the future

18 handy tablet apps for AEC professionals | Building Design + Construction

The SmartBidNet Construction Bid iOS App made a recent Building Design + Construction list of helpful AEC industry tablet apps for everyday design, construction, BIM/IT and LEED processes. 

Click here to read the full list

Construction Tech of the Week | Smart Glass

Remember those glasses that change into sunglasses when you step into the sunlight? Imagine that glass on your office building. The Department of Defense is experimenting with such "smart glass" that changes from transparent to translucent to control the amount of light and heat transmitted through the window. The glass is being tested out on the Marine Corp Air Station Miramar in San Diego.

"We’re feeding the data back to the manufacturers, who have never gotten this kind of feedback from customers before, so they can address issues..."

DOD is investigating various green technologies and initiatives to find the obstacles to wide-spread adoption and help hurdle them with a little boost from the government. 

Click here to read more about this smart glass and other DOD initiatives

Construction Technology of the Week | SmartBidNet | Bridge Health Monitor

The Federal Highway Administration has released results on a five year study of using advanced technology to better assess corrosion on suspension bridges.

"The system was designed to detect the onset of corrosion as an early warning system by providing a corrosion rate for suspension-bridge cable so that the remaining service life and factor of safety can be reliably calculated."

The best sensor technologies available were combined into thousands of wires wrapped on suspension cables of major cities bridges like those in New York City. Acoustic, humidity, and temperature sensors also monitored conditions surrounding the cables. The data from real brirdges was combined from data obtained in the lab by simulating various extreme corrosive conditions. 

Researchers say the findings and responsibility to implement such monitoring systems on all bridges is now up to the owners. At only .001% of bridge cost, the system doesn't appear costly for the feedback it provides, and can even run off solar and wireless technology for minimal maintanence.

Click here to learn more about this bridge health monitoring technology  

Construction Tech of the Week | SmartBidNet | Buildings Made of Sand

A German 3D designer is working to prove that areas like the Sahara could be much more productive than the piercing sun and sea of sand suggest. Markus Kayser has built what he calls the Solar Sinter, a machine that "uses photovoltaic panels to power a computer and the electromechanical workings of a 3D printer." And he dreams of it being used to manufacture large scale objects, like buildings, out of mere sun and sand. 

"I would like to see changes in the way energy is used which in this case means to use the immense power of the sun in a more direct way than just the conversion to electricity.  I think there is a basic logic, which is that sunlight is ‘powering’ this earth as a whole and that this energy can also be used to produce the products or even buildings." 

He envisions the material produced by the Solar Sinter replacing concrete as a building material, consuming less fossil fuels and water during production. The head of the machine concentrates sunlight on a tray of sand at over 1400 degrees celsius, melting the sand to form the 3D object design programmed into the computer. 

Click here to learn more about this solar and 3D printing technology

Subcontractor Webinar: Learn how to help more GCs find you in 2012

Next week, two commercial construction industry CEOs will be presenting a free webinar for subcontractors on how to get found and qualified by more general contractors and dramatically grow their referral network. James Benham, of SmartBidNet - Construction Bid Software and Coty Fournier of Jobsite123.com will host webinars on Tuesday February 28, Wednesday February 29 and Thursday March 1.

As of November 11, 2011, Jobsite123.com and SmartBidNet have joined forces to allow all SmartBidNet general contractor users access to the Jobsite123’s database of over 100,000 subcontractor profiles. The detailed profiles, complete with project history, client performance ratings, bonding capacity, insurance coverage, and more, sync with SmartBidNet daily to provide the most current and relevant subcontractor and supplier information to its general contractor users who choose to access the Jobsite123 database for prequalification and bid invitation.

Subcontractors who create and regularly update their free Jobsite123 profile are putting their information in front of the biggest general contractors in the United States, those using SmartBidNet and even those using Jobsite123 independently. This webinar will show subcontractors how to optimize their Jobsite123 profile so that the thousands of general contractors with access to it can locate and communicate with them for more business in 2012.

Subcontractors can register for one of the three webinar times at this link: http://www.smartbidnet.com/sub-webinar