Don Phillips (usnatwdm@IBMMAIL.COM)
Thu, 20 Apr 1995 09:03:55 EDT
Message-ID: <199504201304.KAA24429@unb.ca> Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 09:03:55 EDT From: Don Phillips <usnatwdm@IBMMAIL.COM> Subject: Information Technology in Construction To: Multiple recipients of list CIVIL-L <CIVIL-L@unb.ca> On Thu, 20 Apr 1995 15:53:02 +0800 "Arion S.K. YAU" <bsskyau@POLYU.EDU.HK> wrote: >|Information Technolgy| >This project is about the implementation of computer IT to solve the >communication problems arised at site level between various parties (i.e. >Architect, Engineer, Contractor, etc...). I am posting this to the list as well as to you, Arion since most would find the following very interesting. I am employed by a major insurance company in the United States. Some of our facilites are built not only out of our home state, but sometimes across a couple of time zones. Not only are the codes different, the jurisdictions have their own way of doing things. It seems the western United States reinvented the wheel sometimes. We are a very involved Owner. This can be frustrating to Architects and Engineers during design since we have very strong ideas about our buildings and are not open to new ways. We are also very demanding in the need for constant communication from our consultants and contractors. We are a very hands on Owner. We like to visit the site daily if possible but adjust our site schedule per project. The cost of travel has always been a problem. Two major technologies that are now becoming affordable has helped us both stay in touch with consultants and contractors and helped us reduce travel expenses as well - both utilizing the plain ole telephone system. Of course I am talking about email and still video transmission. Email ~~~~~ I am based in Ohio and we remodeled and added to our facility in Portland, OR. Our associate architect in Portland already was on Prodigy so establishing email with him was very easy. The general contractor, a large, northwest United States firm, decided it was a project decision to use email to be made by the Project Manager. On one trip to Portland, I literally took the Project Manager by the hand to a computer store. I bought for him an external modem and Compu$erve software. I chose CI$ since I was familiar with WinCIM at home and could give him a 5 minute class on email. Within 2 weeks, the contractor was up and communicating. After a month, he wondered how he ever lived without it. Now the Architect, contractor and Owner all could send messages to each other - me on Eastern time and them on Pacific (a 3 hour difference). Still Video ~~~~~ ~~~~~ Our company looked at video conferencing many times and we do have sites set up for this. But at $100,000 a site plus $1,000 a month T1 telephone charges, none of our projects and crises could justify this. We did find a suitable alternative. AT&T makes a still video phone called Picasso. It plugs into a regular analog phone line. You plug into the phone either a TV for veiwing or buy software and cables for viewing view Windows 3.1. For input of images, you use a still video camera (like the Canon Zap Shot) or a camcorder or other video source. The phone captures the image and sends it to another Picasso phone on the other end. Now both parties have the same image in front of them to discuss. I think you can see the relavence in construction. A picture is worth a 1000 words and seeing it yourself is always best. The Picasso allows you to see a problem, discuss a resolution all without a 5 to 7 hour plane trip at about $1,500 per trip. The phone also has a mouse (yes, I said mouse). The mouse is used to annotate the image, like circling, underlining, etc. Each phone has one. Your mouse draws in white and the other end's mouse draws in black. Very slick. The phone can store up to 32 images for later retrieval and with the software and cables, can be saved in JPeg format on your hard disk. Each unit costs about $3,000 each but if it saves 4 man-trips, then you can see the savings after that. We used this phone again in Portland. The associate architect would video tape in the morning (8AM PST), capture and save a dozen or so images on the Picasso, and then we would have a conference call (the Picasso has a speakerphone) at 2PM (EST). Many decisions were made during that time and the images we received, we placed on a videotape to correspond to minutes taken. Very slick!!! I am excited about how World Wide Web will do for Construction as well. These lists alone are terrific! Sincerely, Don Phillips USNATWDM@IBMMAIL.COM "Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?"