New Google Earth 6

New GEarth 6 with new features is out for download
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The Official Google Blog has recently announced the launching of the new version of google earth. 3D trees and integration with Google street view are some of the main added features. See the intro below.



You can download the new version here.

via Oriol Llevat.

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Free Unit Converter

How many square meters are there in a square foot? Need a unit converter? Here you'll find a good one.
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When working or gathering information on projects in countries the use different units, we sometimes need to convert the units to get an idea of the dimensions of that project, or simply to compare that project with others that use another system.

I am not going to enter into the discussion of why US has not yet adopted the metric system, so take this simply as a post to get a converter for as long as this is needed.

The one I am relying on for a long time is called "Covert for Windows" got it from my last job and it is actually freeware. below you can see the interface with all its different possibilities. Pretty light weight and easy to use.


You can get Convert at the author's page or download it directly here.


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SketchUp Plugins: Instant Roof

A great plugin for creating pitched roofs extremely quick
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I haven't posted much about SketchUp lately, but I just saw this Plugin and though it was worth posting about it. The video says it all. Easy roof creation. Pretty amazing the level of detailed reached with just a few steps.


You can download the Instant Roof Plugin directly at ValiArchitects website. They have some otehr pretty cool plugins, I'll post about them on the next few days.

Via the official Google Sketchup blog.

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The evolution of Scholar research on BIM

More and more scholars are lately doing, and publishing research about BIM. See the evolution.
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Based on on my previous post where I published a table with the Journals that have published articles about BIM and that showed an increase in scholarly research in recent years on the topic, I created a chart to better show this. Because the table was quite dense, I decided to simplify it to better show the evolution of this research with easy numbers. Here it comes.


This is part of my Master Thesis, so I'd appreciate if anyone who wants to use this can reference to it as it is shown below, or at least link to this page so people can find the updated Reference.

Broquetas, M (2011) 'Using BIM as a Project Management Tool.
How can BIM improve the delivery of Complex Construction Projects?', Master thesis, Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences.

This is still a working title, if I finnally change it, I'll let you know

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Autodesk Project Butterfly is now AutoCAD WS

Project Butterfly from Autodesk has been officially released as AutoCAD WS.
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Not so long ago, I posted about the Autodesk project to run AutoCAD on the Cloud. Now the project has been officially released and the new name is AutoCAD WS. If you had an account on project Butterfly ur files will still be there, but you will need to log in directly from www.autocadws.com.

The cloud application is free and it is intended for dwg file sharing. As I mentioned in another post, it can also be used to convert files from the latest versions of Autocad to the older one you might have installed in your computer.

A Great initiative by Autodesk. For more information check this great post on the topic.
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How to find a Job with the current market situation

The AUGI salary survey comes with some podcasts with advice on how to find a job.
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If you are in the process of finding a new job, you might be interested on this post. The September / October 2010 Issue of the AUGI World Publication, comes with several podcasts with advice on how to find a job. You can access the full publication clicking on the image below, or you can access the podcasts directly on the links at the bottom of the post. AUGI stands for Autodesk Users Group International and is the official Autodesk Users Group.


The above mentioned podcasts can be accessed directly from the links on page 5 of the Publication or for ease of use I am copying them here.

1. Where to look for job postings
2. Salary survey and how to use information from many sources to get the best overall picture
3. The importance and benefits of giving as well as receiving (networking)
4. Good practices with resumes and cover letters
5. Interviewing skills
6. Presentation, public speaking, your internet presence

The titles I used here are taken from the Mistress of the Dorkness post by Melanie (Stone) Perry about the topic because the original ones (part 1 , part 2, etc) where not very descriptive.

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Definition of BIM

My own definition of BIM. What do you think?
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I need to come with my own definition of BIM for my master thesis. For now this is the one I am using for I think it explains in a general way all the aspects that BIM (as a process not only as software tools) embrace.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is the set of tools and processes for the creation and maintenance of an integrated collaborative database of information regarding the design, construction and/or operations of a building, with the purpose of improving collaboration between stakeholders, reducing the time needed for documentation of the project and producing more predictable project outcomes.

What do you think? How would you define the term?


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Revit Architecture: Set Up Project Units

When you start a project you might want to set up the Project Units the way you want. This is how to do it.
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Starting a project is important to set up the units to display the way you want. to do so, it is pretty simple. Simply go to the Manage tab on the ribbon and select Project Units (see the image below).


After clicking here, you will get a dialog box, where you can modify the number of decimals, unit type, currency, display of symbols, etc. One of the basic things to set up when starting a project, pretty easy to do though.



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AUGI AEC Edge available online

The AUGI AEC Edge publication about BIM is available online
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Quoting from the AUGIAECEdge website: "AUGI | AEC EDGE is an exciting new print and digital publication designed to enable architects, engineers, designers, and builders using Autodesk AEC products to be more productive, better informed and help keep them at the top of their game".

It has content related to Autodesk AEC products, specially (at least this issue) about BIM and Integrated Design. Worth taking a look at it. I guess this simply means more reading to do for my master thesis...

You can access the online version or download the full resolution PDF or a lower resolution version.

via (BIM)x
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Project Vasari: Free Lite Version of Revit?

A new project from autodesk labs has gone live. A free lite version of Revit? Let's take a look at it!
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During the last weeks there has been a lot of noise on the Revit / BIM blogging community about one of the latest Autodesk Labs Projects. The project is called Vasari. Some bloggers see it as a sort of Revit LT, more oriented for the initial phas eof design. I am still downloading the sowftware from the Project Vasari autodesk labs website so I have no opinion myself yet. So for now, i'll leave you with this preview video and a link to a great article by David Light describing the technology.


Looks promising, soon more.

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New BIMStorm Washington DC-13514

New BIMStorm coming up.
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BIMStorm is an initiative sponsored by Onuma, Inc. As the name hints, it wants to be like brain storming sessions based on BIM. It basically tries through case studies to have teams from all over the world collaborate and find solutions for a specific case study using BIM, open standards and collaboration. From the BIM Storm Website:

BIMStorms have been the perfect environment to learn how to BIM in a big way. You do not have to be a techie to participate, but we certainly welcome everyone. You will learn how collaboration on projects at an unprecedented way will make you more relevant in the 21st century. Best of all this is all free or close to free. Many owners and agencies have watched what happens in BIMStorms.

This time, the BIMStorm also focuses on the sustainable challenges that the Executive Order 13514 of the White house wants to face. So if you think this is for you and want to give it a try, go to the BIMStorm DC page and read more or sign up. Below, you can see a video were Kimon Onuma presents what BIMStorm is at GeoWeb 2008.




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CAD Addict at The Daily CatchUp

CAD Addict has been featured at The Daily CatchUp. Thank you guys!
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The Daily CatchUp is a reference blog for all news related to SketchUp. I've been following them for a long time and of course linking back to some of their great resources posted there.
I just saw that they had featured CAD Addict on one of their posts. I was wondering were did all those new visitors come from, and now I know.
This post is just to thank the friends at The Daily CatchUp for the post and to welcome all those visitors who might have stoped by CAD Addict coming from there.
To everyone else, I am back, i've been some weeks off on a trip, but soon more content will pop up here.
Cheers!


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Just a few more answers please

Those who haven't filled the form, it would help me a lot if you do!
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I just need a few more answers to complete my survey on BIM and Project Management. Please if you haven't filled the form, please do it, it will take less than 10 minutes.

Click on the image below.




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The Business Value of BIM in Europe. SmartMarket Report

McGraw-Hill Construction has published the SmartMArket Report about BIM in Europe.
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McGraw-Hill construction has been researching the adoption rates and business value of BIM. On previous editions, the BIM Smart Market report covered the adoption and business value of BIM in North-America.

I just read that there is also a SmartMarket report on BIM based on analysis, surveys and key studies from Western Europe (UK, France and Germany). I had been looking for something like this for a long time for my master thesis. I am on the precess of reading it so I'll just share the link to it and main chapters. I think it is a vey interesting read for those thinking to transition to BIM or to understand better the ROI of the investment they have already made.



The main chapters of the report are:

• Adoption
• Overall Value of BIM
• Internal Business Value of BIM
• Project value of BIM
• Player value of BIM
• Case Studies
• Industry and Technology Perspectives
• Thought Leader Perspective

Click on the image above to access the Report.

via Autodesk-Revit Blog.

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BIM in Spain

A group for BIM professionals in Spain.Català - Castellano - Deutsch
Just discovered the LinkedIn Group Colectivo BIM España. I am researching on the implementation rates of BIM in Spain and came accross this group. It is good that despite the low penetration of BIM in Spain, there is people trying to push for it.



They also have a website where they share news about BIM in Spain. I added them to my BlogRoll so I can keep an eye on what is going on in Spain related to BIM.

Good work!




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(All?) Journal Articles Mentioning BIM

A list of Journal Articles about BIM by year.
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As part of my thesis I've been analyzing the evolution of BIM in scholarly research. I have created the following table that shows the number of results obtained in different Journals (all that I could come up with) using the search terms "BIM" and "Building Information Modelling".

Table 1.2 Number of Journal Articles mentioning BIM
Name of Journal	Search Term	Number of Articles
		2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	Total
Automation in Construction	BIM	1	3	4	5	11	49	73
	Building Information Modelling	-	4	7	5	12	58	86
Advanced Engineering Informatics	BIM	-	-	-	5	8	14	27
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	1	5	9	9	24
Architectural Design	BIM	-	-	-	4	18	2	24
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	-	2	17	2	21
Journal of Information Technology in Construction	BIM	1	1	1	8	8	3	22
	Building Information Modelling	1	1	1	1	7	-	11
International Journal of Architectural Computing	BIM	1	1	3	2	9	4	20
	Building Information Modelling	1	2	2	1	8	4	18
Tsinghua Science & Technology	BIM	-	-	-	10	1	-	11
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	-	4	1	-	5
ASCE Journals	BIM	-	-	-	1	3	6	10
	Building Information Modelling	3	2	2	5	8	13	1
Architectural Engineering and Design Management	BIM	-	-	1	-	-	6	7
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	1	-	-	6	7
Computer-Aided Civil And Infrastructure Engineering	BIM	-	3	-	-	2	-	5
	Building Information Modelling	-	3	-	-	1	-	4
Construction Innovation: Information, Process, Management	BIM	-	-	2	1	2	-	5
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	1	-	-	1	2
Building and Environment	BIM	1	1	2	-	-	1	5
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
Computer-Aided Design	BIM	-	1	-	-	2	1	4
	Building Information Modelling	-	1	-	-	2	-	3
Structural Survey	BIM	-	-	-	1	2	-	3
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	-	1	2	-	3
Design Studies	BIM	-	2	-	1	-	-	3
	Building Information Modelling	-	1	-	-	-	-	1
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management	BIM	-	-	-	1	2	-	3
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	-	-	1	-	1
Journal of Safety Research	BIM	-	-	-	1	-	1	2
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	-	1	-	1	2
International Journal of Managing Projects in Business	BIM	-	-	-	-	2	-	2
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	-	-	2	-	2
Computers in Industry	BIM	-	-	-	-	1	1	2
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
Data & Knowledge Engineering	BIM	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
Advances in Engineering Software	BIM	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
Energy	BIM	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
International Journal of Project Management	BIM	-	-	-	-	1	-	1
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	-	-	1	-	1
Project Management Journal & PMI Conferences	BIM	-	-	-	1	-	-	1
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	-	1	-	-	1
Software and Systems Modeling	BIM	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
Computer Journal	BIM	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
	Building Information Modelling	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
Totals	BIM	4	12	15	41	72	91	235
	Building Information Modelling	5	14	17	26	71	99	200

The search was done using Science Direct search as well as Google Scholar. I also checked the wikispaces page on BIM Journals as a reference.

There might be some incorrections due to the spelling of Modelling / Modeling in British or American English. I have done most of the search using Modelling, although when 0 results came with this term, I tried Modeling to double check and sometimes it gave results. I have placed links to the Search page of the Journals when possible. when the journals had no Search engine on the web site, I posted the link directly to the Google Scholar page for that Journal.

This is part of my Master Thesis, so I'd appreciate if anyone who wants to use this can reference to it as it is shown below, or at least link to this page so people can find the updated Reference.

Broquetas, M (2011) 'Using BIM as a Project Management Tool. How can BIM improve the delivery of Complex Construction Projects?', Master thesis, Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences.

This is still a working title, if I finnally change it, I'll let you know.

Hope this helps. And of course, I'd appreciate if anyone knows if i have forgotten any relevant journal. Thanks!

UPDATE: on the next post you can find a chart summarizing the table above to see the evolution in numbers.


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