Trimble offers 59% Premium for Tekla : Hardware meet software : Software meet hardware. : BIM
Posted by Jim Foster in BIM on May 10, 2011
As Scooby would say, “yoinks”. As reported in WSJ and I am sure many other places.
HELSINKI (Dow Jones)–Finnish software company Tekla Corp. (TLA1V.HE) said Monday U.S. Trimble Navigation Ltd. (TRMB) has offered to buy the company for EUR15 a share in cash, a deal potentially worth EUR337 million.
One can see that an integrated hardware/software approach in the building industry could be a true winner. If you talk to people about wanting to introduce technology into the construction trades and what they will say in between the laughing is ‘good luck.’ Easy to use deployable field technologies just don’t exist as they should, Trimble with their know how acquiring Tekla seems like a no brainer as when I first got into this biz, the one product that came up time and time again, before anyone mentioned BIM was that people were using Tekla from design to fabrication because it worked. Recently Tekla announced their own flavors for BIM and 2D drafting, now being able to integrate those tools with the knowledge/expertise or even the combined sales force of Trimble, well, it starts to make a compelling argument. Queen to Bishop 7, Autodesk what’s your next move.
“Owners have to be willing to spend more upfront” : Suffolk saves over $800K on one project. #BIM #Revit
Posted by Jim Foster in BIM, Uncategorized on May 2, 2011
Soft costs. Used to be that 20% of any one project was the yardstick for soft costs, design, engineering, etc. And it always seemed like it was the money that owners/developers loathe to spend. Think about it ‘soft costs’ even the term makes you want to get rid of it or squash it. But we are getting closer to full BIM embrace and a recent post on the Building Design Construction Web Site which highlighted some of Suffolk Construction’s experience using BIM. Says Peter Campot, President of the Healthcare/Science and Technology division of New England’s Suffolk Construction
We need to transition from design as you go to a design and construction process. We reinvent the wheel everyday right now. Would you ride in an airplane that was a prototype? Buildings are the same way, each is a one-off, but if you build it virtually you’ll build it right. Value-engineering, I would argue, is neither. If we get the construction model right there ARE no RFIs. Higher quality is what I care about. I’m in a reference business. We need a paradigm shift. We need to restructure and transform the industry. Owners have to be willing to spend more upfront. It does come back to them in the end.
Jeff Yoder’s on his post goes on to state that Suffolk uses BIM on every project over $10M. They use clash detection on every BIM project and recommend full BIM on any project over $50M. They also purchased ipads for all their full time employees and use over 50 BIM related technologies and software.
What would be interesting to know is to see a costs schedule of building the ‘typical’ way and then using virtual construction methods. For example, how much did a fully realized BIM model cost vs. 2D CD (Construction Doc) package, and then see the costs savings layered on top that. Let’s get to apples v. apples, dollars v. dollars comparison, but I can’t believe there is any doubt that BIM saves you money, and maybe owners would be willing to split the difference in ‘savings’ or maybe there is a carrot out there the industry can adopt to share the ‘BIM’ winnings.
Pretty Sweet 3D : Nokia Launches Ovi : Wants be your new map destination. #GIS #3D #BIM
Posted by Jim Foster in 3D, GIS on April 27, 2011
Thanks for Bruce Lang for bringing this to my attention. Browser Plug In to Navigate the Earth, many cities are in 3D, I quickly browsed the East Coast and both Boston and New York look pretty sweet. Utilizing technology from C3 and from their blog:
C3 uses modern camera equipment to capture as many as one image per second of the same object from up to 100 different angles. The images are then used to automatically reproduce the shape of the objects with very high accuracy. After that, an image processing software automatically drapes each shape with the texture chosen from the pictures of each object. The same process is being applied for all objects – buildings, houses, trees, and hills – the result is a seamless canvas of 3D-data where the resolution (8 to 12 centimeters per pixel) and quality is consistent over the entire model. This is the secret to C3 maps’ realistic look compared to competitors’ hand-made and cartoonish appearance.
You can get the plug in here. Understand that the photo is screen shot from the product, you can spin it around change perspective, go around the building to the other side, sweet.
However, Why? Think of it this way, how many times do you use google maps, or live maps, in a week, in a day, to navigate, to check something out and then think of all the ways I can sell you stuff if you are using/looking at my map? So if I have better eye candy to get you in my store, so be it. Not like Nokia is a small company but certainly like to see people swinging at the hegemony. And did you notice the comment ‘competitors handmade cartoonish appearance.’ Who you talkin about Nokia.
Google now to Digitize the Earth and Every Building On it : #BIM #GIS #3D
Posted by Jim Foster in Uncategorized on April 26, 2011
So trying to digitize every book, and mapping every street was not enough so Google (GOOG) has now gone after the earth and all its GIS data. Matt Rosoff of the San Francisco Chronicle Reports, “Google Attacks Huge New Market with Earth Builder” Google is stretching its brawn into specialized verticals that use to cost $millions to play in.
However, if you look at Autodesk and how it has started to push what they are calling “Reality Capture” and the energy modeling of the existing environment you understand the play. Additionally, existing buildings are the biggest consumer of energy out there and the first to really to look to identify savings and efficiencies, there is a movement toward 20 by 2020, that is 20% increased efficeiny in commercial buildings by 2020, and capturing/modeling/retrofitting, etc. all part of it. Well, I’m getting a little bit off topic, let’s repeat the SF Chronicle Headline, “Google Attacks Huge New Market”. Google starting to frighten anyone yet?
UK Hits Pause Button on BIM Roll Out
Posted by Jim Foster in BIM on April 25, 2011
As reported by Barry Sullivan on building.co.uk
Efforts to roll out Building Information Modelling across all public projects have hit an obstacle after a key government report on the effectiveness of the software has been met with a three-month delay. An independent report into the effectiveness of BIM on a number of pilot projects was submitted to the Construction Clients’ Group in March and the government was expected to produce its response that same month. However, sources close to the government said that it was put on hold because of local government elections in May. Paul Morrell, the chief construction advisor, subsequently confirmed to Building that the government response would be released in June.
In other BIM news Trimble joined the BuildingSmart alliance in a push to set standards so developers, manufacturers, etc. can leverage a common BIM thread.
BIM @ The London Olympics
Posted by Jim Foster in BIM on April 15, 2011
Da na, na na na Na, na na (okay that was my best attempt at keystroking the Olympic theme song) also makes me wonder if I can say Olympics without some legal disclaimer. Anyway, BIM is at work with the London Olympics, and not for what you orignally might think, but rather for the engineering and widening the M25 Motorway.
M25 Motorway Project
The M25 motorway that circles London is one of Europe’s busiest highways. In 2009, England’s Highways Agency awarded a US$10 billion contract to the Connect Plus consortium for future development, operation and maintenance of the M25 motorway.
Part of that contract includes widening over 23 miles of the motorway’s northwestern quadrant and 17 miles in the northeast from 3 lanes to 4. Construction commenced in the spring of 2009 and must be completed before the London 2012 Summer Olympics. This requires finishing construction in approximately half the time it typically takes for a project of this scope.
In fact Autodesk, in an Oscar worthy, let’s give awards to ourselves turn, awarded the joint venture of Atkins & Skanska Balfour Beatty a Autodesk BIM Experience Award, while I don’t know if you get a statue of glass obloid sort of thing, what I do know, is you don’t do this for the award, you do this because it makes sense, it saves money, it gets things done, so Kudos to you Atkins & Skanska Balfour Beatty, you real men (& women) of genius.
You can read more about the project here: BIM Motorway Project
Revit Technology Conference : RTC is coming : Down Under or Cali; your pick.
Posted by Jim Foster in Revit on April 15, 2011
Met with Steve Stafford, who has an excellent Revitcentric blog @ http://revitoped.blogspot.com/, the other day in Waltham the other night over a beer, he was in town to talk the mothership about all things Revit in 2012. I gave him a brief preview of PKNail and he was telling me about the Revit Technology Conference, which is kind of like AU but imagine AU where it’s all things Revit. It started down under and because of popular demand and a lot of folks in the industry seeing where the wind is blowing is now in the States for the first time. While those out there who have been living Revit for 5 years and might not feel like it’s cutting edge anymore, it still is, and is still new too many people. Show your Revit chops, hook with other Reviteers, get your game on, get down under or get to Cali, the Revit hordes have arrived.
Autodesk Freewheel : Browser enabled Design Review
Posted by Jim Foster in Uncategorized on March 14, 2011
Now that’s cool. While I have not dove into the backend on posting a file and to tag it from a web page, the ability to do that, most excellent.
Full Jump Here: Project Freewheel
Excerpt From The Labs: Want to view a design, but don’t want to install viewer software? Want to view a design on a Mac, a PDA, a Cell Phone, on Linux, or in Firefox? Would you like to embed a design in your own web page (HTML) and not require visitors to install anything? If so, then the Project Freewheel has the answer. It is both a web site where you can type in an URL for interactive design viewing, and a web service that allows you to embed an interactive design viewer in your own HTML pages.
In the BIM Room : “Your Chocolate is in my Peanut Butter”
Posted by Jim Foster in BIM on March 4, 2011
So not a lot new here in discussing the use of BIM in the ‘Freedom Tower’ , or Tower 2, or WTC 2. I have mixed emotions using WTC, as I imagine many do when mentioning the World Trade Center but having grown up in Jersey, commuting on the PATH to come out of its bowels and having so many friends working down there, well, mostly, it’ still good to say ‘WTC’ anyway while not much new about using BIM in the project except for the fact that this latest was reported by Fox News of all outlets. So for most of us who troll for information about BIM and its uses in esoteric trade magazines, websites, and blogs the fact that Fox News picks up this BIM thread? That part to me is news.
Quick excerpt from article below. Full Jump Here
Serge Demerjian is a Development Manager for Silverstein Properties, the company building Tower 2.
“This is where the trades come together and work all the mechanical, plumbing, fire protection, electrical systems to make sure that they all fit within the space of the building that’s been designed,” he said.
Before the BIM process, a building has been designed and put on paper. BIM then creates a precise computer animated 3D model of how every part in the building will fit together. The goal? Make sure it will.
The chocolate and peanut butter reference was used by Serge in the article, while it’s “two tastes the taste great together” having them in harmony, now that’s beauty of it, then again, maybe chocolate and peanut butter always taste great together, even if they’re just a mess on the plate that your 2 year old put together, so strike that metaphor with BIM, how about engineered tastiness, all right still working on it. But mainstream media and BIM, now there’s two tastes that taste great together, wondering if BIM is right for you? It is.
Shaking the Cage : Trimble to Distribute Teklas’s BIM Sight
Posted by Jim Foster in Adoption, BIM on February 16, 2011
So on the heels of Tekla’s announcement that BIMSight will be free to use for BIM coordination, clash detection and the like, the next Press Release is that Trimble will be a ‘preferred’ distributor, what preferred connotates is anyone’s guess, however, the business model of Trimble corporate carrying Tekla software is different. Now I know plenty of hardware resellers carry Leica and then are a VAR for Autodesk because they see the crossover but that’s not at the corporate level. Corporate level commitment, that’s different. Now I have heard people from Autodesk state, ‘we don’t do hardware’ meaning that their play is not to merge the worlds, however, Trimble and Tekla, different matter. Trying to rattle the Autodesk hegemony, not sure, but one thing is sure and it’s that this BIM thing is a big tent, from design to energy modeling, to CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) etc. and that going BIM to Field is going to get bigger. In fact, you can get Tekla’s software on Trimble’s Web site, BIMtoField.com –
“a Trimble Website dedicated to helping building owners, contractors, and engineers better understand the potential of solutions that allow the transfer of Building Information Modeling (BIM) data to field level systems for increased productivity and cost savings.”
A lot of people streaming into the Big BIM tent.
