It seems obvious that trees impact our communities in a beneficial way by providing shade and lowering temperature, absorbing carbon dioxide, and intercepting and absorbing rainfall. But quantifying these benefits can be challenging. Fortunately the USDA Forest Service “provides urban and rural forestry analysis and benefits assessment tools” that can help us. The USDA developed…
Author: Civil Engineer
Civil Engineer with a background in local, state, and federal governments as well as private consulting.
Can AI Be Used to Check Stop Control Warrants?
For some time I have been thinking about how AI could be used to assist civil engineers and the public works industry. While I have several ideas, one obvious application I’ve thought about is using it to check all-way stop control signal warrants as defined by the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Since…
Using AI to Generate Images for Public Works – Post 2
In the first post on this topic I introduced the Midjourney AI tool which can be used to generate images. In this post, I’ll talk about a few more image generating tools I have tried. The first is Canva. This tool is fairly easy to use; however, you will need to make a free account…
Using AI to Generate Images for Public Works
As noted in the last blog post, Can AI Help Fix a Water Main Break?, Artificial Intelligence or AI may eventually be a really useful tool for those of us working in the public works field. In this post, I’m exploring its use as a tool to generate images. This is helpful because many of…
Can AI Help Fix a Water Main Break?
Maybe you’ve heard about AI, and maybe you haven’t, but odds are you most likely will. There are many types of AI tools being developed. One example is ChatGPT, a text-based tool providing answers to questions in a conversational manner. Since ChatGPT launched late last year, it seems everyone is discussing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and…
April is National Safe Digging Month
Yes construction can and does take place all year long. But in the Midwest where frost can get down to about three to five feet, activity tends to drop off as winter sets in. We typically use this time indoors to plan for next year’s projects, and as the robins show up and warmer breezes…
National Building Code Adoption Tracking Portal (BCAT Portal)
In a blog post the other day I shared information about the No Code No Confidence website where people can put in their zip code and find out the status of building codes in their area. Today I am going to introduce a similar site called the National Building Code Adoption Tracking (BCAT) Portal. According…
What Homeowners Need to Know about Building Codes
In June 2021 FEMA released a Building Codes Toolkit for Building Owners and Occupants. While I encourage everyone to check out the publication, I thought I would summarize some of the main points here in addition to adding a few of my own suggestions. Why do we have modern building codes? There are four primary…
Interactive Sites, Games for Kids, and Building Safety Handouts
Today I am sharing a few resources available to help people learn more about building safety: Interactive Building Safety Month Poster – by clicking on the green dots on this site you can find out the codes which ensure these building components are safe. Fun Things for Kids: The ICC has available for download a…
Free and Online Access to Building Codes
Did you know anyone with access to the internet can check out current building codes at the International Code Council (ICC) website? It’s true! I am really excited about this because when I first started in the industry, I only had access to the physical books, and I always thought how much easier things would…