FIATECH is all about interoperability. This to me is the common theme in most of what they are trying to accomplish, and they are trying to accomplish a lot with 23 research projects funded and in progress. So today Tad Fry and I get to make our pitch for this org and its members to adopt E57 as the standard for 3D laser data exchange. Wish us good luck.
On a related note, I did see a representative from the General Services Administration -GSA who said that they are going to require E57 on their projects.
As another example of the outstanding quality of the FIATECH organization I want to start with the end – last night’s CETI – Celebration of Engineering and Technology Innovation awards dinner. The name says it all. Having worked for the past 5 years on the ASTM E57 subcommittee I know the challenges of working on a volunteer basis. The accomplishments and the way they were recognized was very inspiring.
In general I don’t feel as though I am doing justice to the overall technical content that is being delivered. A sample of yesterday’s program included a keynote by Rajesh Agerwal from Disney Imagineering who pointed out that it is not about engineering it is about entertainment. There were presentations on FIATECH’s roadmap, automating the supply network, underground utility management, and a look into the future of what Microsoft is calling the “Post-PC” Era, but that did not include the breakout sessions.
One of the most interesting sessions was on the use of tablets for real time field reporting. The award winning research project demonstrated the effectiveness of a punch list application that was based in large part on the use of a COTS software from Bluebeam that specializes in intelligent markup of PDF’s. The productivity gains were impressive.
I could go on and on, but I will close with a comment that 80% of the challenge is not technical it is people and organization – 80%!!!!
