AASHTO has always been an awesome organization. So it should come as no surprise they have embraced social media and are rolling out information about transportation through several channels. One of the cooler offerings has been a Transportation TV channel hosted on a dedicated website at http://www.transportationtv.org. Below is an example of one of the…
Category: Public Works
The Computer Named My Subdivision
Sometimes, naming a subdivision can be easy – for example a subdivision located in a shady grove of oak trees might be called Shady Oaks. But how do developers choose a subdivision name if there isn't an obvious candidate? Last week I was surprised to find out there are online generators designed for the sole…
Get Your Geospatial Services Here!
The U.S. federal government is continuing in their efforts to deliver data with the launch of the Geospatial Platform. "The Geospatial Platform will be a managed portfolio of common geospatial data, services, and applications contributed and administered by authoritative sources and hosted on a shared infrastructure, for use by government agencies and partners to meet…
Awesome Products/Demos from the ACE2010 Expo – Part 3
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…
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…
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…
Bryan’s Consumer Confidence Report on Stage at Gov 2.0 Expo
Each year, water utilities all over the U.S. have to prepare and distribute Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR) to their customers. Usually these documents are sent out as two or three page sheets of tiny text filled with standard, required language reporting on water sources and chemicals found in drinking water. My guess is most Americans…
Radon and Wastewater
On Tuesday the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) will hold a public hearing for the purpose of enacting a new regulation concerning radium in land application of biosolids. I tried to find out from their Web site and Facebook and Twitter pages about the ruling, but it was not prominently displayed. Finally I found it here: Licensing…
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…