Cadalyst - May 2008 - (Page 46)

aecinsight software, mostly as add-ons for Autodesk products. The current Eagle Point portfolio includes comprehensive tools for surveying, site design, road and intersection design, hydraulics and hydrology (storm and sanitary sewers), landscape and irrigation, and an innovative suite of process and project management tools called the Pinnacle Series. The last of these gives engineering firms unique capabilities to map their processes, manage their tasks, and monitor their workflow. All Roads Lead to Home In the real world of traffic and weather, getting roads and other infrastructure designed and built is only part of the civil engineering solution. A recent report by the U.S. National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission recommends that in the United States alone some $225 billion will be required for civil infrastructure upgrades in each of the next 50 years. The total monetary investment is staggering, but the risk of costly conflicts and overlapping work is even greater. Consider that infrastructure projects by multiple owners and responsible parties all share a common roadway or street. Municipalities might have separate departments for roads, sewer, and water services, each with varying needs and time cycles for digging up and repaving streets. Electric and gas companies, private water companies, and telecommunications companies also compete for access to the same rights of way. Cutting newly paved roads damages the roadway itself and is disruptive to the traveling public (who also are taxpayers and rate payers), but moratoria to protect investments in recently laid paving can delay other vital infrastructure upgrades. Although software is available from companies such as Munsys to help individual municipalities, agencies, and utilities manage their infrastructure assets, there has been no easy way for these diverse entities to coordinate their plans to work on the same streets within any town or metropolitan area. However, a new company and eponymous product called Envista brilliantly targets this problem. Envista provides a simple, browser-only interface (figure 2, p. 45) whereby all subscribing parties with infrastructure projects in a given area — such as the municipal public works agencies; water, electric, and gas companies; and so on — can post the location and timing of their own planned projects as well as view the location and timing of all other parties’ projects. As with Internet-based collaborative tools in other industries, Envista helps users of civil infrastructure avoid costly conflicts by identifying problems before they arise in the field. Industry analyst and consultant Jerry Laiserin helps AEC/O businesses — and the technology providers who serve them — build smarter through the integration of technology strategy and business process. E-mail him at jerry@laiserin.com. Advance your career in CAD management. Broaden your tech, business, and management skills with savvy insights and real-world advice from Cadalyst columnist Robert Green. 978-0-470-11653-1 www.cad-manager.com/book Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and /or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 46 www.cadalyst.com cadalyst May 2008 http://www.cad-manager.com/book http://www.paulaubin.com http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - May 2008

Cadalyst - May 2008 Contents Editor's Window Cad Central A Solid Job in AutoCAD Today’s Power — Quad-Core Workstations Performance — Tomorrow’s Possibilities Reverse Engineering an Antique Italian Treasure Trends in Reverse Engineering NextEngine 3D Scanner — Reverse-Engineering Tool Setting CAD Standards Fight for Your Hardware Rights The Jack and Jill of Ergonomics Technology for Civil Infrastructure Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes Shortcuts and Solutions

Cadalyst - May 2008

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