- The ROI for moving to 64 bit and Linux appears to be very rewarding.
- The W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation at UTEP is focused on manufacturing and medical apps.
- We need an industry consortium for the built environment that is focused on 3D integration and innovation.
The comments continue to come in on the benefits of 64 bit and Linux. This is certainly an important topic considering the increasing density of point clouds and the size of aerial LiDAR projects. It is also interesting to note that this breakthrough in performance can be done at very low cost, which is not always the case.
Over the weekend I was searching the web for “3D innovation”. One of the more interesting hits was the W. M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation at the University of Texas at El Paso – UTEP. The Keck Center claims to be “a laboratory like no other.” My hope was that it would be involved with a broad range of 3D applications, but it seems to be more narrowly focused on state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing technology, particularly as it applies to the medical field, which of course is extremely valuable and important.
I was hoping to find a group that was focused on 3D innovation as it applies to the built environment. I thought I would have known about such a group, but I wanted to see what I could find. Turns out not much, which I think is a serious issue. There is the Center for Integrated Facility Engineering at Stanford. CIFE claims to be the “world’s premier academic research center for virtual design and construction in the AEC environment”. Sounds like the right mission, but a quick review of the projects did not reveal what I would like to see.
I think we need a consortium of vendors, AEC (architects,engineers and contractors) professionals, developers, owners and researchers who are focused on the integration of 3D technology with one major goal – increasing the productivity of the construction workplace. This to me is the bottom line, THE metric. Since 1980, while the rest of the world has seen amazing increasing in productivity the construction industry has seen steady declines – incredible.
How we can make this happen?
