SIGELOCK HYDRANTS One of the more interesting new products unveiled at the show was the Sigelock hydrant. The connections are all completely enclosed and do not extend beyond the body of the hydrant. The inventor of this hydrant showed us how easy it was to take off the protective covers and access the operating nut…
Category: Civil Engineering
Awesome Products/Demos from the ACE2010 Expo – Part 2
This second post highlights the dampener system manufactured by Blacoh Fluid Control. This display caught our eye and no wonder – the vendor, Marcus, told us that they won an award at the show for having such an awesome booth! Here's a quick video showing how a regular pulse metering pump doses chemical in short…
Awesome Products/Demos from the ACE2010 Expo – Part 1
Today a coworker and I had the chance to attend the ACE 2010 Expo put on by the American WaterWorks Association (AWWA). We learned a lot about traditional products and some new innovations. Fortunately I brought my Flip camera and thanks to some great vendors was able to get short videos of their products to…
Civil Engineering Blogs
Civil engineers often get a bad rap for being poor communicators. But this is probably due more to the nature of the business rather than actual skills. Our typical work involves peering into sewer manholes, measuring roads, inspecting concrete pours, drawing plans, calculating water flows, and discussing the cool, new fire hydrant design; not necessarily…
The Promise of Data.gov
Last month I had the incredible opportunity to participate in several Gov 2.0 events. One of the greatest take aways for me was finding all the people who are either working directly on the Data.gov project or involved in related initiatives. Data is a big deal for local government – particularly for those of us…
Augmented Reality for Public Works
Augmented reality (AR) has been gaining ground over the last couple years—most likely as a result of an increasing number of applications incorporating AR and an increase in the capabilities of supporting technology. But while the advances have been useful and impressive, I have not seen much related to the public works industry. This surprises…
Smart Tagging Engineering Plans
The city of Manor, Texas, has been successfully using QR codes for some time to convey information to citizens. And a while ago, I blogged about Microsoft tags – another method of conveying information through the use of a code and mobile reader. The Microsoft Tags have intrigued me because if you have time, you…
A GPS Twist on Overweight/Oversize Permits
Each city seems to have set up some form or policy for issuing overweight/oversize permits. But other than filling out the form and securing necessary certificates of insurance, what else should be done to perform a proper review? And how can GPS eventually help improve this process? My thoughts on the overweight loads are that…
Trench Backfill: Is it best to compact, jet, fill, or dump?
A discussion of construction methods for installing trench backfill.
Boots on the Ground: Building a GIS, Part 1
The beginning in a series of blog posts focusing on building and implementing a GIS in local government.