“This is for every manager that I can’t teach to use CAD,” said Ron Gant, global marketing director for civil engineering at Bentley Systems, about Bentley’s newest paradigm-pushing technology, the ProjectWise Dynamic Plot.

At the Be Inspired Awards in Charlotte this October, Gant gave editors from Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure a sneak peak at the smart pen, which the company began developing about two years ago after CEO Greg Bentley got the ball rolling.

“It’s a well established technology — been around for a decade — originated by a Swedish firm [Anoto] for use in healthcare,” explained John Simmons, Bentley’s director of product management. “Bentley has adapted it for markup of AEC drawings.” The Dynamic Plot uses technology from Anoto, which also has a partnership with Seattle-based Adapx.

“This was a huge priority for Greg," Simmons said. "They saw the use. They saw the simplicity. We pushed it through."

According to Bentley, here’s how it works: “When plotting a drawing, a unique pattern of dots, along with the design data, is applied to the paper. At the same time, a record is made indicating which design file was used to create the plot. As a result, when markups are retrieved they can be registered to the appropriate design data. Even though the pattern is almost imperceptible, the digital pen can detect it when writing on the plot and track the pen marks on the paper. After the markups have been applied to one or more drawings, the digital pen is docked to the computer through a USB port. In real time, the marks are then retrieved as vector data, converted to the design format, and stored in ProjectWise as an associated redline file to the original design file.”

Here’s a demonstration, courtesy of Bentley:
 

According to this story on Cincinnati.com, "85 percent of kids say 'no way' to an engineering career." The article goes on to look at the prohibitive stereotypes associated with the career, and ways we can encourage precocious minds to pursue math and science. Quick videos like this could help the cause, too:

I'm sure this will cause quite a stir over the next few days: "According to the California Highway Patrol, the three-axle truck involved in the latest incident was carrying pears and traveling about 50 mph in a 40-mph zone."

To learn more about the bemoaned S-curve, read this piece in the Silicon Valley Mercury News.

Starting in just a few weeks, San Antonio will become the temporary epicenter of all things steel bridge, as the Texas city plays host to the 2009 National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA) World Steel Bridge Symposium. From Nov. 17-20, state bridge engineers, erectors, design engineers, fabricators, construction professionals, and professors from around the world will connect at this once-every-two-year event to network, attend technical sessions, participate in bridge-related workshops, and discover what 50 exhibitors have to offer. Click here to learn more about the extensive workshops and training opportunities available at the event.
 

A time-lapse look at girder erection for the Kicking Horse Bridge in British Columbia,
featured on NSBA's website

Rebuilding America's Infrastructure editors had the pleasure of seeing this performance live at Bentley's Be Inspired Awards in Charlotte earlier this month. It's about time infrastructure had a theme song...

In this article, a University of California, Berkeley, civil engineering professor argues that Caltrans should "replace, not just repair, a section of the Bay Bridge that collapsed on drivers." On Tuesday, a rod snapped and fell on three cars causing no injuries.

In this AP video report, another U.C. Berkeley engineering professor points at the elephant in the room: If increased wind is causing these failures, what would an earthquake do?

In the July issue of Rebuilding America's Infrastructure magazine, Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct was our "project spotlight" story. In that story, we focussed on the design options for the $4.2-billion replacement.

This 2007 video, commissioned by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), which simulates an earthquake and a resulting collapse of the viaduct, was released to the public this past week by Washington state officials. The Seattle Times tries to explain why it took two years for this video to become public, highlighting the dissonance that remains in the Emerald City.