Projecting the future:BIM Focus on Images? Legalities?

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the hottest construction tool and has been embraced by General Contractors,  Mechanical Contractors Architects, etc.  It has permeated the construction industry.  ConsensusDocs has addressed BIM extensively in their contract documents and large scale complex projects certainly are reaping the rewards of BIM everyday.  So what’s in the future for us now that we have deployed this technology?

How about 3D TVs and Projectors?  I went to lunch with Cheryl Farmer, Director of Client Development with Audio Video Resources and learned that many TVs now have a 3D switch in them, all ready for images  that you can almost touch.  DLP 3D from Texas Instruments has projectors on the market today although performance isn’t quite there yet.  What makes this of value to the construction industry and IT is:

•  These DLP units use LEDs (they’re Green)
•  Can you picture how a 3D projector or TV would enhance your BIM  and CAD models?

The 3D TVs & projectors are hot but there are also some cool gadgets on the horizon in this space too.  Read about the “Thrilling Future Releases We Want Right Now” according to Channel Web.

The future issues also center around legality.  While ConsensusDocs addresses many issues and the 2009 MCAA annual convention discussed “The Legal Aspects of Intelligent Estimating and BIM” I find firms asking telling questions like:   How do I extract all the documents BIM creates and store them in my Enterprise Content Managmeent Repository?  What is the recommended record retention period for BIM?  What are the Best Practices for utilizing BIM to support legal arguments?

If you have already deployed BIM, you are probably behind the curve in getting a handle around some of these issues.  Part of it has to do with the BIM technology itself. as it stores documents inside the model attached to each object.  Ask me how to effectively capture these into your ECM system…I can help.