Monthly Archives: February 2008

EPA Launches Multimedia Site

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The US EPA has started up a multimedia site at www.epa.gov/multimedia that offers videos, audio/podcasts, and images. Some of the videos and podcasts cover information about Radon, water infrastructure, indoor air quality, and other topics related to the environment.

Visitors can also access an area of the site that allows for interaction between the EPA and the public. Here there are “green” tips for citizens and a link to a blog written by the Deputy Administrator, Marcus Peacock. The EPA also holds an “Ask EPA” session that is described as an “online interactive forum where you can discuss a wide range of environmental and human health issues with EPA’s senior officials.”

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Free Concrete Pavement Design Manual – for the next month only!

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I just found out that the Portland Cement Association is offering the Hydrologic Design of Pervious Concrete manual for free as a pdf download off their Web site for the next month only. The manual is a 72-page publication for engineers, landscape architects, developers, and other design professionals who are interested in designing or reviewing designs of pervious concrete pavement.

Pervious pavement is a newer type design that creates a pavement with voids. This design allows storm water to drain or percolate through the pavement material into an underlying collection layer or into the native soil.

The URL for downloading this manual is: http://www.cement.org/bookstore/profile.asp?itemid=EB303

But hurry because it is only being offered until 3/31/2008 according to their site.

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Jeff and Sadie’s Bricklayer Display

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Jeff Brody and Sadie Edelman have collaborated on creating a cool bricklaying animation and display and have set it all up on the dock near the education display (under the wind turbine) on the Public Works sim. If you teleport to the island, look for the red poseball by the brick wall, right click on it, choose “lay brick” and your avatar will begin placing brick on the wall.
Bricklaying in Second Life on Public Works
This animation came about because we had been talking about how there really are no construction-related animations in SL, so Jeff and Sadie started by making the bricklaying one which is really cool for all of us working in construction-related fields. If you need an animation like this for your site in SL, you can buy the animation by clicking on the red poseball and paying $250L. (Jeff and Sadie have graciously offered to donate the money to help fund the tier on the island.) A brick trowel and brick are located in the poseball and can be pulled out if you buy the poseball. Then you can wear these attachments to make the animation even more convincing.

Sadie worked on the other elements of the display like the wall, mortar pile, bucket, and cement mixer (which turns and looks awesome). The two of them have done a great job, and I can’t wait to see more of their creations! If they are able to make enough of a variety of animations, we talked about being able to have a construction site display with avatars demonstrating the different trades.

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For all things pavement….

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Throughout my travels in Second Life, I have seen the impressive vision expressed by people who work for government agencies located in the United States. There are a number of creative and innovative government employees who have seen the potential of using Second Life to better perform their jobs and to reach out to citizens and other government professionals. The builds they have helped create provide an educational and intellectually stimulating location in which to learn and interact with others.

Today I found out that a group of government professionals, in partnership with the University of Washington, has been working with Internet-related technologies other than Second Life to come up with an impressive tool to share knowledge related to pavements. The result has been the Pavement Interactive Wiki. According to the site, “this document (or ‘Guide’ for short) is an Internet-based multimedia document whose primary purpose is to provide a general pavement overview covering all aspects from materials to design to construction to maintenance. It functions as a ‘Collaborative Web site’ that resides on the Internet and requires only a PC/Mac and minimal freeware to access the information.”

The site provides a multimedia and interactive product that engages the design and construction community and offers them training, information, and the ability to collaborate on all pavement-related topics.

Because all the content from a former Web site, Pavement Guide Interactive, was imported to the wiki, there is already a large amount of pavement-related information in the reference section. Other areas of the wiki are “portals” or areas where members of the original pavement consortium can create distinct pages for their agencies. Other groups, such as organizations, can create their own pages for collaboration in the “Groups” area of the site.

Users who register at the pavement interactive wiki can add research and content in the “articles” section. I registered immediately and added this wiki as a resource on our own Public Works wiki under the transportation section of the Public Works in Real Life page.

As a government worker myself, I applaud the leadership, vision, and innovation that continues to be exhibited by engineers and other public works staff employed by federal, state, and local agencies of our government. I figure it is only a matter of time before I can visit DOT, FHWA, and EPA islands in Second Life.

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Second Life Builds Take you from Cradle to Grave…

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Well, maybe not really cradle to grave as in the lifetime of a person, but more in the lifetime of a project. Everyone seems to have realized the benefits that Second Life can offer during the planning stage of a project, but few have discussed how Second Life can be used throughout the remaining phases of a construction project. Because I tend to focus more on the construction and operation phases, I find myself looking for ways to use Second Life to streamline tasks within those areas instead of just for planning and design.

The other day I was thinking about two engineers I know who work for a local construction company. Both have seen the Second Life demo I give everyone who dares to visit my office, but I don’t think either have taken the time to check it out on their own. I was wondering “what would finally push them to use Second Life?” and started thinking about the bidding process. If I could build my project in Second Life and tell bidders that they could visit a representation of the project while they were trying to put together their bid, perhaps this would entice them to check out this new 3-D world.

The more I thought about it, the more I thought that this actually might clear up a lot of issues and questions engineers and architects get during the bidding process. Which could help minimize costly add-ons later on that occur because something was not caught early on. As questions came up, a build in Second Life would offer a representation of the completed project where engineer/architect/contractor/owner could meet to go over concerns about the bid package. And although making the whole build a completely accurate replica is not feasible, smaller builds could be placed nearby to serve as details of specific components – just like details are used in plans.

If the build was left in place during construction, engineer/architect/contractor/owner could again use the 3-D model as a place to meet and discuss specific concerns or questions that arise during construction. It would be so much easier to discuss problems with a completed model. Also, a builder/contractor could make his own solution and display that in-world for analysis and review by the architect/engineer.

Even after the project is completed, the build could be left in place for monitoring and operation – particularly for structural builds, (the ability to monitor equipment in the real world from a location in Second Life has already been accomplished) but that is another topic for another day. In the meantime, we have a new wastewater plant that will be going out to bid soon….

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