Currently the application will only handle small files and is primarily web-based, so there are still limitations. However, kudos to Mr. Keough for being the first to provide a solution with such tremendous potential.

Having the ability to access Building Information Models on portable devices will someday allow facility managers to easily identify issues, create work orders, and aid in critical response by using Augmented Reality. During the construction phase of a new project, contractors will be able to walk through a site with their iPhone, Android or iPad and see any phase of the project overlaid on the portable device using the its digital camera. The benefits and possibilities are endless.

BIMable will be keeping a close watch on this technology and will post updates as it matures. In the meantime, be sure to congratulate Mr. Keough and provide input on his contribution to the industry.

The latest talk of the town in the Apple blogosphere is 3D head-tracking. Apple recently filed a patent for technology that allows users to change perspective of an object by moving their head or body. So instead of dragging your mouse to rotate a graph or chart, you simply look behind it; a more intuitive approach (at least in the eyes of Apple engineers). Here’s a quick video of how this could be used to view 3D construction plans:

With all the attention augmented reality is getting, we’re not surprised to see big players like Apple experimenting with this genre of technology. Novelty aside, there seems to be endless applications. We think the technology would be great for the construction industry. Combined with construction software, contractors could use it to visualize complex construction projects, like the example above which uses 3D building models from Synchro software.

Rumor has it the technology could also be used with more traditional 2D images like electronic building plans (i.e. digital blueprints). Using the iSight camera to detect head movement, users could potentially scroll up and down or left and right by moving their head.

We’d like to see this work with takeoff and estimating software, a system that allows contractors to measure areas and lengths to determine quantities of construction materials (e.g. how many 2×4s are needed to build a wall). This is currently accomplished by tracing an electronic plan with a mouse or digital pen. Could the same activity be performed with a head nod?

It’s probably a few years before any of this technology trickles down to the construction industry. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts on other ways – and other industries – that this could be used with.

Imagine walking down the street, looking for somewhere to eat. You use your phone to photograph a restaurant, and the overlay on the screen shows you menu items pulled from the restaurant’s online menu, reviews from newspapers and so forth.

Science fiction? No, this is available right now from a startup called Layar (www.layar.com), with content from Yellow Pages, Google, Flickr and Wikipedia.

Modern smartphones, such as iPhones and Google Android devices, can determine their own location through GPS and an internal compass, they can download data through mobile broadband connections and they have reasonably powerful graphics-processing capabilities. These provide the necessary ingredients for mobile augmented reality.

While consumer applications have come first, the possibilities are endless for retail, medicine, education, engineering and construction. Imagine standing at a construction site, viewing it with the wireframe model overlaid. What value would that have for the client or in planning submission or public consultation? Imagine being able to click on a balcony four floors up and get the flat’s information — number of bedrooms, sales cost, floor plan, the environmental specifications. And being able to “view” the shadows of buildings play across the plot and any existing buildings through a time-lapsed year — what would that be worth?

This is far better than either a traditional CGI or expensive physical models. As nice as they are, CGIs and models do not place the viewer in the site; they do not have context and relevance. But visualizing the building in its real position — albeit a muddy field — will speak volumes.

By blending augmented reality with local social media sites — blogs and wikis set up to allow comment on new developments, one could obtain residents’ comments, images and questions about the design, resulting in a very interactive and pertinent consultation.

During construction, site visits could be augmented by being able to view the actual versus the planned in 3D while at the site —simply point your phone at the building and see the actual and the digital overlaid.

Post-construction, facilities management and maintenance could walk round the finished building, being able to “click” on the building components and getting specifications, data, construction methods, or being able to control the elements — HVAC, security, fire, lift logic and so forth. This would be further enhanced by the use of BIM (building information model) cad tools and software in the design process.

The possibilities for this “new” technology are constrained only by our own visions of use of technology and the hardware with which to support it. At the moment, companies are nibbling at the edges of the technology, with no commercial products yet on the market. But with all the opportunities out there it is surely only a matter of time before someone grasps the mantle.

The lowdown on augmented reality

What is it?
An interactive experience based on the overlaying of digital information onto real world imagery in real time. A mix of computer graphics and live video, if you will.

Think, for example, of a sports clip with an overlay showing the direction and trajectory of the ball.

The beauty of augmented reality is that the user can interact with the digital component, accessing and changing the information displayed.

Why are you hearing about it now?
Giant leaps in mobile technology mean that many of us are now walking around with mini-computers in our pockets. All of a sudden, there are exciting possibilities for working applications that don’t cost the earth.

Want to try it now?
Start with Wikitude — available for iPhones and Google Android devices. It overlays Wikipedia information onto an image of what you are looking at on your phone. Also check out Layar (www.layar.com) or Google Goggles (www.google.com/mobile/goggles)

Postscript :
Simon Johns is an IT consultant and former director of IT at Broadway Malyan.
Visit his website at since68.wordpress.com

Phoenix, November 11, 2009 – ecoScorecard, the technology platform that helps building product specifiers evaluate environmental attributes of products, today revealed the new ecoScorecard plug-in that works with Google SketchUp and provides a critical link between popular BIM (Building Information Modeling) tools and important environmental rating systems such as LEED. The announcement was made today in conjunction with the opening of the US Green Building Council’s annual Greenbuild Expo.

The new integration will enable users to easily access environmental product attributes and rating system calculations for ecoScorecard enabled products that are in the Google 3D Warehouse, resulting in faster and more accurate rating system documentation for Google SketchUp users.

“The BIM process is built on the concept of coordinated information, and ecoScorecard takes that process a step further by providing an immediate to link to environmental product attributes and rating system calculations,” said Martin Flaherty, president of ecoScorecard. “Users can now pull data from ecoScorecard enabled products directly into the model and use that information throughout the design process.”

Introduced in 2007, ecoScorecard provides product specifiers with the ability to search and evaluate products based on environmental characteristics. The program does the calculations necessary for rating systems such as LEED, GGHC Labs 21, CHPS, and the NAHB Green Home Building Guidelines and includes and accounts for other third-party product certifications. The tool also produces the product documentation necessary for inclusion in the submission process. ecoScorecard is free to users and is supported by manufacturers interested in making the specification of green products easier for both their customers and their salespeople.

“Our original mission for ecoScorecard was to help make the specification of green products easier, and that has not changed,” explained Paul Shahriari, CEO of ecoScorecard. “Now, parallel to the growth of the green building movement, BIM is changing the entire building process. Never before has there been a single system that could provide context to all parties thinking about building. And the ecoScorecard technology platform is perfectly poised to link environmental product attributes and rating systems to BIM tools.”

Mr. Shahriari explained that ecoScorecard’s initial BIM integration was designed for Google SketchUp because of the accessibility and popularity of a Google tool. Plug-ins for other BIM tools such as Revit are slated for release next year.

For more information, visit http://ecoscorecard.com/.

# # #

Media Contact: Reva Revis, ecoScorecard
reva@ecoscorecard.com 312.929.5025

LEED is a registered trademark of the U.S. Green Building Council
Google SketchUp is a registered trademarks of Google, Inc.
Revit is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc.

Using Vela Systems software –including bar-coding and radio-frequency identification (RFID) tracking technology–builders on-site can access a data-rich Autodesk Navisworks project model during the construction phase. Instead of leaving the Autodesk Navisworks model and its data behind in the office or job trailer, jobsite users can work with Vela Systems software on mobile tablet computers to access the intelligent model on-site. This makes it possible to track material production and installation, manage commissioning, conduct quality assurance/quality control inspections, do punch lists and create electronic owner-handover documentation. Autodesk Navisworks users may designate which information will be managed in Vela Systems and, as a result, the Vela Systems software enables this data to be properly managed and used in the field. The integration between the products is bi-directional and automated. The result is that the information from the field connects the “should be” state-of-design to the “as-is” state-of-construction.

New Solution Applied to Autodesk AEC Headquarters in Waltham, Mass.

During the construction of Autodesk’s new AEC headquarters on Trapelo Road in Waltham, Mass., Tocci Building Corporation utilized Vela Systems Materials Tracker and Issues and Punchlists software products. By combining Vela Systems software with Autodesk Navisworks, all parties were able to monitor and track office workstations at the new Autodesk facility. Vela Systems Materials Tracker pulled objects from the Autodesk Navisworks model through an automated integration, and then captured their status information (for example, delivered, ready-to-install, installed or damaged) from the field. This field gathered data was then deposited into the Autodesk Navisworks model. Tocci and subcontractor Creative Office Pavilion were then able to visualize and monitor the installation and quality status of workstations in real-time, making it possible to plan for shortages or discrepancies accordingly.

The benefits of extending BIM to the field on the Autodesk headquarters project were threefold. First, upon delivery, the inventory of available workstations was confirmed against the model – this revealed that all necessary components were on-site ahead of the actual delivery manifests so the next phase of work could begin sooner. Then, the staging, assembly and installation processes for workstations were tracked from Vela Systems back into the Autodesk Navisworks model through color coding of model elements. This enabled the team to visualize available inventory and coordinate installation processes more efficiently. Last, the quality control processes of final inspection and owner punch lists were automated in the field with Vela Systems and linked back to the Autodesk Navisworks model, improving team communication and project delivery.

“Tying together field data with the model creates new opportunities for construction delivery methods and oversight,” said Tocci Building Corporation general superintendent, Bob Tierney. “By using the integrated Autodesk and Vela Systems solution on this project, we demonstrated how we can connect the ‘virtually built’ building to the ‘physically built’ one. The model gives us better oversight because everyone can instantly visualize problem areas as ‘hot spots’ with live data from the field. It is the obvious next step for contractors looking to maximize the value of BIM.”

“The combination of using 3D modeling tools and practicing BIM is helping to transform the building industry,” said Tim Douglas, Autodesk industry solutions manager, construction. “The integration of Vela Systems Field BIM solution into Autodesk Navisworks software provides our customers with better accuracy and efficiency for the duration of the project–beginning in the design phase and continuing through field implementation and handover.”

“By integrating Vela Systems and Autodesk Navisworks, our joint customers can leverage the transformative power of BIM beyond design into the construction process,” said Tim Curran, CEO, Vela Systems. “By leveraging the model in the field, contractors benefit from greater efficiencies and owners get a better end product.”

BIM is an integrated process that allows architects, engineers and builders to explore a project digitally before it’s built. Coordinated, reliable information is used throughout the process to design innovative projects, accurately visualize appearance for better communication, and simulate real-world performance for better understanding of important characteristics such as cost, scheduling and environmental impact.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc., is a world leader in 2D and 3D design and engineering software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art Digital Prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

Autodesk, AutoCAD and Navisworks are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

(C) 2009 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved

    Contact:  Paul Sullivan, 603-289-8987    Randi Tanguay, 617-692-0515
    Email:    paul.sullivan@autodesk.com     randi.tanguay@fleishman.com

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SOURCE Autodesk, Inc.

Website: http://www.autodesk.com