Connected Construction

Bentley Systems has unveiled a wealth of new construction software technologies that can help optimise the progression of road projects - Mike Woof writes A host of new tools and software developments from Bentley Systems will help designers and construction firms deliver projects more quickly and efficiently. Senior vice president for Bentley Systems is Bhupinder Singh and he explained, “Our users are using more software and more devices than ever before and they’re creating more data.” He said that

Topcon Positioning Group has acquired a significant share of Finnish design software specialist Viasys VDC. The company offers a comprehensive suite of tools and services for building Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) models for infrastructure and site-work projects. This will add to Topcon’s portfolio of (BIM) technologies. The VDC models from Viasys can be used to optimise the construction process throughout a project lifecycle delivering better quality, higher efficiency and reduced costs.

The Norwegian Government has unveiled its preferred solution for Hordaland road and railway route. This will be the so-called K5 alternative for the future E16 highway and Bergensbanen railway. The transport connections will run through the county of Hordaland in western Norway. This alternative will offer shorter distances, increased capacity and improved security. Journey time between Bergen and Voss will be reduced to 46 minutes from 72 minutes by car, and to 24 minutes from 63 minutes by train. The N

Caterpillar has launched a 24/7 monitoring service to oversee the human factor in machinery operations. Through in-cab and wearable safety technologies, analysts at Caterpillar’s 24/7 Monitoring Centre correlate data about the health and productivity of operators and equipment. The information can reveal the magnitude of conditions such as fatigue and distraction and their impact on operations. “Our customers want better visibility of how behaviour impacts safety and productivity,” said Tim Crane,

Trimble has won a major contract in China, which forms part of the airport capacity expansion for Beijing. The new Beijing airport facility is expected to handle up to 72 million travellers, 2 million tonnes of freight and 620,000 flights by 2025. This is a massive construction project requiring a huge investment in civil aviation by the Chinese Government. In order to construct the airport efficiently, safely and within a strict timeframe while achieving optimum quality, the Beijing New Airport Project is

Topcon Positioning is establishing a new partnership for photogrammetry technology. The deal has been struck with digital photogrammetric solution provider Agisoft. This move will further expand the Topcon portfolio of solutions for mass data collection (MDC). Agisoft is a leader in the processing of digital imagery for generating high-accuracy 3D spatial data using photogrammetric and computer vision techniques. Topcon will provide the Agisoft Photogrammetric Kit for Topcon – Professional Edition software

Juniper, spruce, cranberry, cottonwood and rose. Most people think of pine trees and berries amid beautiful country fields. But for one contractor based just below the Arctic Circle in the US state of Alaska, the names represent a successful job completed using machine control. Valley General Construction recently finished a US$350,000 contract for the upgrading of country roads in the local borough of Matanuska-Susitna. The colourful names belong to roads in a heavily wooded residential subdivision located

Topcon Positioning has developed a new, no-cost app for the LN-100 Layout Navigator system. This now allows cross-platform support for the MAGNET Construct app and was initially released for the Android market but is now available for Apple devices as well. The free MAGNET Construct app offers options to wirelessly connect to and drive an LN-100 for fast as-built measurements as well as graphical guidance to design data. According to the firm, this cross-platform compatibility of the MAGNET Construct app al