Team 1 - Things we learned from our Presentations

Sarah Hollis was the first to present in our team. We learned about the history of automated design. It was enlightening to learn about the world before Autocad and Revit existed. She walked us through the way Autocad broke into the world of draftsmen and eventually evolved into a comprehensive, 3D model. Before Autocad, she said that designers would try NOT to change designs because it would simply take too long for the draftsmen to propagate the changes throughout the drawing sets!

Dung Tran presented about his Revit model of the Glass House, where he modeled with immense detail each of the systems within his building. Dung explored some extensions of Revit such as the structural analysis that we had never seen before. He was also very thorough in modeling subsystems such as the plumbing!

Brad DiGiovanni and Cody Johnson gave a super interesting presentation on laser scanning and BIM. They gave an overview of the applications of 3D scanning and the benefit of generating a point cloud. It was crazy to see how 3D scanning can survey, in one day, a space that would have otherwise taken multiple weeks to survey. The point cloud is super accurate - and they were discussing the future potential of putting 3D scanners on drones.

Zac and myself presented on our interdisciplinary model that we constructed in Revit based on our AE 391 design. Building a Revit model as we progressed through the design phases helped to visualize how the various systems interacted in 3D, and definitely helped to identify conflicts as they arose.

Overall, all the groups walked away with a better understanding of modeling processes. We received the whole gamut of knowledge about modeling. We started with the origins of Autocad and Revit, saw two projects utilizing the interdisciplinary capabilities of Revit, and also learned the ways that 3D scanning can be integrated with BIM to incorporate detailed, field information.

Tran_D - B7 - Course Reflection

At first, I would admit that learning BIM software was my mandatory purpose to register for AE-510. However, course material offered by this class has more topics than what I expected. Intelligent Building is a wonderful seminar about the current trend of AEC industry, and future technologies that would apply to this industry. Moreover, Professor Mitchell constructed this unique class content that would avoid the traditional method in learning course materials: quizzes, exams, and long lecture. In fact, the structure of the course as a combination of short lectures, group works, and self-study allowed me to explore a lot more about the certain topics.

The design-based project offered a great opportunity to learn and practice Revit software. It is an interesting project for me as this is my first chance in modeling structure system, and MEP system in Revit as I came to AE-510 before taking Architectural Engineering Design (AE-390 and AE-391. In fact, I could conclude that MEP system design was the most challenge tasks on Revit, and Plumbing design is the most complicated and annoyed part within a MEP system. Thus, I enjoyed modeling a building in Revit, and would agree that BIM software will be a standard in AEC industry. However, as I mentioned in my project presentation slide, interoperability with other design and/or analysis software within a project is recommended since Revit is a jack-of-all-trade, but master of none software in building sector. 

Guest lecturers from AEC industry makes this course wonderful, as they introduced many different ideas and current trends in the industry. In fact, guest lecturers from the industry offered a different viewpoint in Revit application and other software relates to BIM. Dynamo, introduced by a first BIM guest lecturer, will become a good supplemental programming software to benefit Revit, but will also offer a challenge to engineers on coding and programming. Moreover, virtual design and construction (VDC) is an evolution technology on construction management, which helps manage the project from the beginning to end. Navisworks is a great software in project control, which allows professionals to integrate and review models from different stakeholders. I wish I could use Navisworks in Senior Design to have a chance to evaluate my design abilities. Moreover, a guest lecture for database topic would make its more interesting than driedly theoretical definition, and the repetitive process in database assignment.

In conclusion, this is one of the best graduate-level courses in terms of professional development. Building sector is actually the career path that I would love to pursue even though I got Water sector firms on both Co-Op cycles through ranking. This course helped me understand the nature of Revit, and BIM in a wide picture. My last wish after finishing this course is to experience future technologies discussed in lectures and Evernote articles throughout ten weeks that will become a new standard on AEC industry.

Comments

To Cody Johnson: 

Cody,
I found that your final project is interesting, as how 3D laser scanning benefits to Building Information Modeling (BIM), and I hope I could experience about the technology that you will introduce. I believe that available technologies are changing daily with the advancement of computing devices and equipment, and that current technologies would be phased out after 10 years. You are right that we will become valuable for the industry by having a good knowledge on current technology trends. I wish you could success in contracting industry after graduate.

To Alyssia Deutsch:

Alyssia,
I have a good time reading your course reflection by the complaints about heating issues in our CAD Lab. I hope that the air conditioning in this room will work properly during Summer time. Also, I like your discussion about the integration of technology and engineering knowledge discussed in Intelligent Building, and how they are applied in a real-life project. I believe this is a biggest aspect of the course. Throughout my project, I also learn that while designing an architecture model, and a structure system for a typical building, we will have to leave some spaces for MEP system, and AI devices to monitor the building. 

To Dee Dee Strohl:

Dee Dee,
Professor Mitchell, and our guest lecturers who he invited for AE-410/510 are very knowledgeable, and have a solid experience in these topics discussed in this course. I also believe that our course is one of the most unique course offered in CAEE departments that briefly introduces current technologies in building sector, and leaves rooms for us to explore more in our career. Blog post is also a powerful tool in this class to communicate with classmates, and learn from their experiences about the certain topics of intelligent building. 

Dung Tran - B5 - Relational Database Theory

Building Information Modeling also involves interacting with databases stored within the BIM software. On Week 4, our guest lecture from Whiting-Turner mentioned that properties data of all components ranged from structure to MEP that organizes the entire project were tabulated to design and modify building components better. This process can develop a massive data sets, which working with parameters are strongly required to manage. Relational databases would benefit the work by grouping these regulated parameters of building components together. But, what is the relational database in the world?

Database

Before discussing about the theory of relational database, we should summarize about the definition of database. Britannica defines database as "an organized collection of data or information for rapid search and retrieval by a computer" [1]. Database was introduced in mid-1960s to replace the tape-based storage system, at which computers could capable of processing data from direct-access storage such as floppy disks. At that moment, the information within database was stored in a tab delimited file, which is a horizontally long, and unorganized text file. In fact, it was challenging to neglect the unnecessary information in a large database while organizing reports for only a specific field. Therefore, relational database was introduced in 1970 in E.F. Codd's research paper "Relational Completeness of Data Base Sublanguages" as a standard on database construction.

Relational Database Theory

In his e-text "An Introduction to Relational Database Theory", Darwen defines relational database as a database set, which information was organized into a collection of relations in a tabular form [2]. Relation is a set of information that is associated with each other in algorithms, constraints, and more. Even though relation can be a table as stored in a tabular form, the term "table" is not completely defined relation. In fact, information stored in table can be free from any constraints or algorithms. Figure 1, on Darwen's e-text, demonstrates the comparison between tables that are either a relation or not. On the above table, raw information is organized in specific information such as Name, Student ID, and Course ID. For example, a student named "Anne", whose ID number is S1, registers for courses C1 and C2. 

Figure 1. Table depicting relational database (above), and not a relational database (below) [2]

According to Darwen, relational database theory includes the structure of a relation, relational algebra (mathematical theory that operates on relations), variables (set of parameters needed to operate the relational algebra), and constraints that regulate those associated variables [2]. A structure of a relation includes a table, whose columns represent its attribute, and rows represent tuples or the degree of the relation. Each row contains unique inputs, whose amount is respected to number of attributes (or degree). A complete dataset of the tuple is the combination of these unique inputs. A set of tuples generates a complete set of relation. Figure 2 represents the structure of a relation with their terms defined by E.F. Codd in his research paper. 

Figure 2. The anatomy of a relation [2]

Reference

[1] The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Database" <https://www.britannica.com/technology/database>

[2] Darwen, Hugh (2010) An Introduction to Relational Database Theory, Bookboon.com.<https://dvikan.no/ntnu-studentserver/kompendier/an-introduction-to-relational-database-theory.pdf>

Comments

Milligan:

Kerry, this is a good introduction about relational database for someone who does not take INFO 210, or take a course in database management system. It looks like relational database has been a standard for constructing a data set for years, and most of our presentations involving with tabulated information uses relational database to present. Your examples are familiar about processing everyday data using relational database, which reduces the abstraction of theoretical discussion. Great work!

DiGiovanni: 

Brad, I am working on BIM project for this class which recreates a glass house built 80 years ago as a Revit model. It would be great if a general database is available for the building so that I do not have to skim through 20ish technical drawings to look for material components. Revit is also a great help by storing these information of a respective component. You are a right to mention about the importance of historical data of previous projects for design firms. It is essential for any design firms to be competitive by keeping records for maintenance, and case studies. In short, I believe 'Glass House' did not become a trend based on the data report about its vulnerability with outside environment / weather.

Liu:

Xiaoyu, I have struggles on my blog post about relational databases as well, and I hope we could be covered after the end of lectures on Tuesday. Your post is very informative about the definition object-oriented databases which is distinct from a tabular-based databases such as relational database. I believe an example of object-oriented databases is material properties stored in a respective BIM component, as all of its attributes is under a large umbrella. It is also great by controlling permanent and temporary data, that is how different elements in a same Revit family can be created.  

B4 - Project Description

For my term project for AE510, titled “Revit House Model with Major Systems”, I am working independently to create a 3D Revit model of Glass House in New Canaan, CT. Designed by Phillip Johnson as his own residence and a weekend retreat in the future, Glass House has affected the architect in many of his further designs. Influenced by ideas of German architects “Glasarchitektur”, the structure of Glass House features a steel-framing system with mainly glass panels anchored in place [1]. It inspired the modern architecture in design open floor plan and using steel and glass in residential house design. Before his death in 2005, Johnson donated his property to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the building is now an art museum stored David Whitney’s collection, and furniture designed by Mies van der Rohe. These gentlemen have developed partnership in art world through years. Figure 1 features the current Glass House in CT, and below is the current model that I have done so far.

Figure 1. Phillip Johnson's Glass House [2]

Figure 2. Glass House architectural model at its current state

I chose to create a Revit model including primary systems: architectural, structural, and mechanical to expand my BIM skills through the course and learn about how these systems integrate within Revit and BIM. It is also a great opportunity to gain skills from modeling structural and mechanical system of the building, which I wish to expand while taking AE 390/391 sequence next year. The simplistic design of Glass House provides a good individual practice for modeling structural system, as it was not hindered inside wall system. In fact, Architectural drawings found in Glass House’s homepage provides a nice reference to accurately create its architectural and structural models. lively reflections created by glass panel are also interested to figure out through shading in Revit. I aimed to finish the architectural model within Week 5 before working on other systems.

Expectedly, several challenges have emerged since I started working on this project. Learning a new software and applying it into a certain problem is a time-consuming task, as I am still watching tutorials to solve some Revit problems while modeling the Glass House. Moreover, once I start working on structural and mechanical models of the building, it will be more challenging to discover how elements within each system connect with each other to generate a workability model. In fact, connections between structural members such as beam, column, etc. are tricky to assemble with details provided on the technical drawings. For this project, HVAC system will be newly customized into the building model for learning purposes as it was not included on the technical drawings provided by Glass House’s homepage. Moreover, multiple components that are not stocked in Revit libraries must be created to closely accomplish the accuracy in modeling the historic house. For example, the brick cylinder, served as Glass House’s bathroom, may consume a good amount of time. Therefore, the past assignment was essential to learn about creating a workable family to depict those components.

Upon project completion, I hope to accomplish a final model of that can accurately describe the existing structure and provide a possible plan to install HVAC system into the historic house. For example, several mechanical elements are attached to the ceiling of many Drexel’s historic buildings including Randell Hall. Furthermore, one of the possible outcomes of intelligent building is using computer technology to understand building. Therefore, depending on how quickly I can finish the complete model, structural analysis and energy analysis will be aimed for inspecting the functionality of the structure. Finally, I wish I could discover about the fact that Glass House has not been used as a daily residence throughout the project.

Reference

[1] Pierce, Lisa. (2010). "Through the Looking Glass", pp 1, A4, The Advocate, Stamford, CT.

[2] Perez, Adelyn. (2010). "AD Classics: The Glass House / Phillips Johnson".  <https://www.archdaily.com/60259/ad-classics-the-glass-house-philip-johnson> (Feb. 5, 2018)

Comments:

Zac A and Mark O

I am looking for your future update, and presentation of your project at the end of this term. Your project is even deeper than my goal as building a project from a sratch. A design following the industry standard would benefit largely in your Senior Design as well as your professional  practice after graduation. I have never touched to the MEP side of the building (AE220 is the basic of the basic), so I wish you two could finish your model to enrich my reference. Good luck!

Thomas S and Allison A

Martian settlement is a new, but ambitious topic through years, with a boost from the movie "The Martian". Your post already emerges a solution on using automated technology to construct structures in Mars without human intervention, which is very interesting even though human still have to control the robot to construct a dwelling right in Earth. You also clearly describes your challenge in your research, as supplying power for automated systems are a big problem in such an isolated situation (140 million miles away from us). However, please keep up with your work, since your idea is very innovative.

Carlos H.

I am coming from a developing country, so I can understand your statement about difficulty in applying new technology to improve lives on these countries. In fact, lack of investment, group of interest and law regulations in construction are tightening any innovative idea that is trying to emerge to the public. There is one problem that I want to share with you. It is about operating and maintaining those technologies which you will present about in Week 10. There is a huge probability that it would require high budget, and high-skill engineers to maintain technological devices, and the local government would practice corruption while operating those devices. Anyway, I am looking forward for your presentation, which I will reserve as one of the options to discuss while going back to home. 

B-3 - Dung Tran - Possible future problem of BIM/Revit

Soon, we may have to encounter the inconsistency between the rapid development of BIM software and the advance of computer hardware. In fact, BIM software will contain a tremendous amount of database requiring a hi-end processor to execute. Also, a good Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) will be essential for aesthetically rendering a BIM model that contains a huge amount of graphical data. Therefore, investment on computer hardware is crucially required for supporting BIM. However, companies will face a real trouble on repeating these investments, as BIM technology continues to increase massively. I interviewed at a small consultant firm in the suburb that shared his story about purchasing a workstation that can support BIM/Revit. That was a huge bite on his budget to operate the company.

Another possible problem is the establishment of curriculum for Civil, Architectural, and Environment Engineering (CAEE) students that will mostly focus in BIM/Revit. As BIM will become a bright future on building design, I am strongly agreed that adding some technical electives, and student projects concentrated on BIM topics will benefit students on their professional career (In fact, they will not rely on learning BIM/Revit at their Co-Op firm). However, several engineering and natural science courses will be cut if BIM becomes dominant courses in CAEE curriculum. It will be dangerous for engineering education as students will not understand on foundation, and theoretical knowledge behind BIM design and database. For examples, you can successfully create a complete building model in Revit with a little knowledge on building construction, but you will struggle in selecting a reliable material and interior features for the model, or running a structural, HVAC, and energy analysis to improve the model. In the other word, it is unrealistic to construct the actual building based on unrealistic data.

The previous problem proposed a trouble in overdependence on BIM software. As the software packages includes data to make design decisions, faulty data selection contains negatively impact on the design decisions. Moreover, it contains a possibility to be replaced by unreliable data that would awfully affect the whole project, or the software can be hacked for purposes. Therefore, blindly trust on software is dangerous, but it is unavoidable as more and more projects are designed through BIM technology. As a fact, BIM/Revit can be a powerful toolkit only for professionals that contain an ability to express their design idea to the computer, and have enough experience to control BIM data.

Comments

Mark Odorizzi 

Thank you for sharing real experience during your Co-Op throughout your blog post. While building my new PC two years ago, I chose a used core i3 processor (CPU), and a pre-owned motherboard for affordability. However, I suffered in staring and the monitor to wait the computer for responding my MS Excel task. I believe fast data processing would be a keystone for BIM technology, and a huge demand on hi-end CPU on AEC industry will be a real thing. My only concern is about thing happened at a time when none of the hardware could support BIM technology.

Zac Arnold

It is absolutely true that AutoCAD is a digital version of pencil and drafting paper. Thus, it is very time-consuming while architects and/or engineers decide to replace something in the technical drawing of project. During my first Co-Op, We have waited for 2 weeks for changing an elevation of 7' sanitary sewer in the technical drawing due to a mistake. That mistake was a misrepresentation of  linetype (the correct linetype was a dashed line instead of straight line on the previous drawing). Thus, a BIM drawing represted on 3-D should solve this miscommunication between the design unit and the contractor. However, it might raise into another issue as foremen should be educated to be able to read a BIM drawing.

Joshua Lovett

It was interesting to read about future advantage of BIM/Revit, which looks like a contradiction to our discussion topic. Your first paragraph made me think about modeling-related department staying within a large firm. Its role is creating Revit families that benefits for engineering department within the same company in their design (i.e. structural detailing, weld, gusset, shear tabs, etc..). It would be a future tasks for drafters during the transition between AutoCAD to Revit or any BIM software.

B-2 - Dung T.

This blog post starts with my expression about next topic discussed throughout this week. I believe BIM would become an integral part for my future career, as many of BIM applications have been subscripted by AEC firms recently. Moreover, at my first Co-Op with the city, we had to delay our construction process when a design change was accepted. In fact, if a BIM model of the pipe connection was created, construction could seamlessly continue instead of waiting for 2-weeks due to re-investigating and re-evaluating of the old design. However, I have neither experience nor knowledge about BIM before enrolling in the class, which has haunted me since transferring to Drexel. My blog post may contain ambiguous statements, and I am waiting for our lecture next Tuesday for discussion about BIM.

The first part of Chapter 2: “BIM Design Tools and Parametric Modeling” discussed about the development of object-based parametric modeling. Several researches were conducted to generate three-dimensional model during 1960s. After the introduction of solid modeling in 1973, two modelling techniques has been competed for years: Boundary representation (B-rep) approach and Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) approach. The first technique developed an object through operations and object arguments, when the second one applied algebraic expressions to define object. Contemporary parametric modeling has been established after the combination of both techniques, as the CSG-like tool acts as a database to create a visual model in the B-rep tool. Frankly, although it is boring to read, the development of object-based parametric modeling established a solid foundation for further techniques that could not be applied until computing power would handle highly complex models.

The development of object-based parametric modeling tools inspired basic capillaries of BIM design applications, which can currently handle more capabilities than a basic 3-D object designing tool (as SketchUp). By involving with different uses, BIM design applications must split into three distinct way to describe: a tool, a platform, and an environment. For instances, BIM environment applications can utilize tools within the application for crafting and managing design database (In other terms, “libraries of objects”). Moreover, most BIM platforms can perform other engineering or management tasks such as structural analysis, energy analysis, rendering, and cost estimating, etc.… through add-ons interfaces. In short, BIM provides a faster, more precise, and affordable option to design, build, and manage a project.

Revit platform was introduced as current market leader for BIM in architectural design by the authors. It is still a best-known BIM platform in the building construction, since Revit has been listed as either required or recommended skills for design jobs. Being an Autodesk product, Revit users can access to Autodesk-provided library (SEEK) for object specification. Also, many vendors create libraries of their products for Revit platform, which supports a big list of file types: RVA, DWG, DWF, DGN, GSM, SKP, IES... Moreover, due to its dominant market position, many add-ons and softwares in diverse sector under civil engineering umbrella have been associated with Revit including structural (STAAD), mechanical (MagiCAD), energy (EnergyPlus), rendering (3D Max), facility management, site analysis (Civil 3D). However, it can only process smoothly for projects lower than 300 MB, and provides limited support for complex structures.

Source:

C.M. Eastman. "Chapter 2: BIM Design Tools and Parametric Modeling" in BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers, and Contractors, 2nd ed., Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2012 pp.31-97.

Comments:

Kerry, 

Thank you for summarizing the long chapter into 3 paragraphs, which I was used as a guideline to skim through 66 pages of dry writing. I believe Revit has changed drastically than at the time this book was published, and additional options have been added. Similar to Zac comments from above, it is essential for a large multisector company to open a BIM-related modeling department to fully understand about the software as well as the technology

Dee Dee,

Thank you for sharing your Co-Op and Revit experience at your blog post. I really wonder about the central model function of Revit. It is really cool to design models of structural system or MEP system without depending on Architect's model. Also, I am curious what would happen if the architect decide to change a design? Otherwise, it is really cool to know that Revit MEP has developed add-ons for air duct sizing.

Thomas,

A company that can control the interoperability between BIM and its add-ons becomes a winner in this competition. I agree with you on your concern about Autodesk's domination on BIM software, as it is currently the only software company could be able to create Revit-friendly add-ons to fulfill the seamless transition of a model between every software. Collaborations between multiple companies to create a public BIM tools to transfer models between software are good, but then it might lead to an interest group of these companies controlling BIM industry because there is no such thing as a free lunch. 

Current Project Idea

Dung T. - Project Idea

I am thinking about creating a Revit model from a simple pre-existing residential house. It would include primary system of the building: architectural, structural, and mechanical system. Also, if time is allowed, a structural analysis and/or an energy efficiency analysis should be evaluated. I am looking forward to Glass House (built in 1949) of Phillip Johnson, but its mechanical system might not be really detailed on this set of drawing below. Some disadvantages are: this is my first touch to Revit program, and none of my Co-Op would touch with mechanical system, but I really love to learn these aspects of Revit through this project to benefit my other classes, Senior Design, and future career.

Source:

<http://theglasshouse.org/learn/architecturaldrawings/>
<https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jgedorzkwajrvrf/AACE6OONOzrwCgooPlCJbWcta?dl=0>

Dung T. :Implication of A.I. and robotics for safety

A.I. and Robotics directly interacts with human, laws and regulations should be established to protect human from safety issues. For instance, autonomous car users should have knowledge on programming to control their car's artificial intelligence through commands. Such that, it can function as a normal car driver that includes communicating with other drivers through sensor, and regulating the traffic law. Also, they should have knowledge on internet security, which prevents their autonomous cars being hacked by hackers. In fact, it would severely impact the users if these hackers could fully access to the control. A good example is that autonomous car users would have to deal with legal issues if their cars were used to commit a crime. 

B1 - Dung Tran

A.I. & Future

Robotics has been already a mainstream for endless discussions and inspiration since the eighties. Many developments and experiments are conducted for an ambition to introduce a human-like android, which can function as a naturalized human. As a result, artificial intelligence (A.I.) was introduced, and has been developed as a centralized control unit for robots. At first, I never thought that robots could learn their own skills or abilities without being instructed by their human supervisor in the future. Thus, I had not realized about technology improvement on A.I. e before reading this article on Berkeley News. Brett Israel, Berkeley News reporter, described that simple actions or assignments could be foresaw by robots through this visual imagination technology (called "visual foresight"). From above achievement, Israel claimed that described technology would assist robots to perform tasks without knowledge about physics or surrounding environments. Afterward, I had been unclear about how A.I. performed analysis and commands without any database or knowledge until Professor Sergey Levine (Assistant Professor of Berkeley's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences) claimed that A.I. would mimic human's brain through his research. He stated that "At the core of this system is a deep learning technology based on convolutional recurrent video prediction, or dynamic neural advection (DNA)". His statement claimed that his deep learning technology would assist robot to process its next action by predicting images of its previous one. Even though this technology is in initial stage at the moment, I predict that it would open a pathway for A.I to function as a human brain. As a fact, it would become a big leap for robotics industry if an android containing an A.I. that can function similar to a human brain was introduced.

Resources

Israel, Brett. "New robots can see into their future". Berkeley News. <http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/12/04/robots-see-into-their-future/> (Dec. 4 2017)

Computer & Future

This below article inspired its reader at the first paragraph by directing the contemporary issue during high-rise building era in the 20th century before The Information Age: casting "long shadow" to the urban area. Computer modeling has begun an integral part for AEC industry since computer was powerful enough to operate design software such as Rhino or 3D Max seamlessly. Even though the article did not conduct a general solution to tackle its stated problem, it introduced how architect firm NBBJ in London transform their proposed design for shadowless building into a design package as visual analysis method. NBBJ proposed for a pair of skyscraper reflected sunlight of each other, which can minimize the darkness at the street level. In fact, results generated computer-aided design package would eliminate the unreal assumption of architects with visual solution for improving the design. Also, construction phase would be processed smoother as design change issue would be rapidly minimized. This idea will be a role model on designing skycrapers and urban light mapping for recent developed countries such as China, where skyscraper building is still a mainstream.

Resources

Woo, Marcus. "The Plan to Build a Skycraper That Doesn't Cast A Shadow". Wired. <https://www.wired.com/2015/03/plan-build-skyscraper-doesnt-cast-shadow> (Mar. 13 2015)

Software & Future

Since Virtual Reality (VR) has introduced to the public recently, the 3-D smartphone mapping software in below article was emerged on demonstrating VR. The project of Google with collaboration from University of Minnesota aimed for creating a next-gen 3-D mapping software. It featured a battery-friendly software generating a map instantly without GPS data. In fact, Professor Roumeliotis claimed: "it doesnt't use much processing power, about as much as the game "Angry Birds"" to emphasize its commitment in battery power saving. Even though this ambitious software has not been introduced to the public yet, this mapping software will be predicted as a powerful add-on for Google Maps on assisting homeowners or students to navigate throughout their building in the future. Moreover, along with the vast development of Virtual Reality, an unexpectedly powerful navigation tool, inspired by this software, will be a surviving tool for anyone.

Resources

Alexander, Steve. "U, Google pioneer 3-D smartphone mapping software" StarTribune. <http://www.startribune.com/u-google-pioneer-3-d-smartphone-mapping-software/250274411/> (Mar. 15 2014)

Comments

Andrew, M. (BIM) 
Your article would strengthen my belief about the future on Building Information Modeling (BIM) on AEC industry. You already pointed out how BIM would contribute as a central role to future building construction as a data provider for a giant 3-D construction printer. Even though laborers are still required for some complex tasks, it is an expected future to watch our design will be automatically constructed at the most minimum error as data generated from BIM.

Zac, A (Database)
One of my dream before entering AEC industry is creating my own house, and functioning it by myself, which are required lots of database management on architectural, structures, HVAC, lightning, control, etc... Your article served as a good warning about code violations, and how to mine available data from a crowd database toolbox. Also, I agree with you on using software's warning alert to avoid catastrophic circumstance happened for the future project in design process

Dee Dee, S (HVAC)
I used to sit in Drexel's ASHRAE GBM with a discussion about "Net Zero Energy Design". I recalled that the presenter introduced energy-efficiency sensor in HVAC part that could be related to your article. The discussion also inspired me to another part of HVAC: not only designing functionally but also managing energy effectively. I agree with you as zero energy equipment such as the smart vents will be widely accepted by the public

Dung Tran - Intelligent Building definition

My definition of the intelligent building is that a building containing an automatic control that manages all of building system including lights, HVAC. Also, this building was built from analyzing a set of data placed in a Building Intelligent Modeling (BIM) software to construct. 

Dung Tran's Introduction

Background Information

Hello all, my name is Dung Tran. I am currently a Junior BS/MS in Architectural Engineering (BS), and Civil Engineering (MS). My concentration is Structures, but my last and next Co-Op jobs are all in water/wastewater/stormwater field. I have self-studied a little on Revit, but not in professional setting.

Expectations

I am curious about BIM in general since this is a tool of future in AEC industry. Also, I would like to understand about an impact of advanced technology including robotics, and data science to transform Civil Engineering field as an old, stable industry.

Interesting Evernote article

"Three Tech Trends Shifting the BIM Industry in 2016". I believe there is more specific articles, but this article mainly talks about applying contemporary technologies such as virtual reality, IoT, and Cloud Data into BIM, and concludes that BIM industry is advanced daily and rapidly.

Intelligent Building

My initial definition for Intelligent Building is to combine advanced technology and relevant material in constructing a building project. Also, after being built, this project would feature advanced function to monitor and utilize itself.

Last Names for Tags

Below are the names of the student in Intelligent Building in AY2017-18.  This post is used to create the last names as labels/tags to be used when you enter a post.  It's initially alphabetic, but students added after 1/7/2018 may be at the end.

Amisial, Mariano Anibaba, Abd'Lmalik Oladepo

Arnold, Zachery Todd

Bihun, Oksana T

Chen, Lu

daCostaXimenes, Marino Hero Sutejo H S Dahroug, Shaden

Deutsch, Alyssia M

DiGiovanni, Bradley S

Gibson, Christopher A

Hillinger, Carlos Luis

Hollis, Sarah

Huxley, Jake

Johnson, Cody James

Kujawa, Lauren E

Lovett, Joshua M

Maita, Andrew

Milligan, Kerry M

Mutso, Maria-Irena

Odorizzi, Mark R

Oo, Nay Ye Quelly, Peter Isaac

Shuster, Jordan W Sisson, Thomas

Strohl, Diedre H

Thach, Christopher Tangari, Luciana

Tran, Bach Tran, Dung

Tufano, Sarina Angel Wahbeh, Jacob Tareq

Wicker, Tyler C

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