AEC-APPS Officially Launches

A fantastic new site launched at  the end of last week, named AEC-APPS. This is a collaboration between CASE and SOM and is aimed at AEC professionals and students throughout the world. The concept of the site is to bring users together in a social environment to, add, review, and share AEC related apps that they use and find useful with other users on the site. The ranking system allows a good overview of each app, with every member getting the chance to have their say.

One of the key features of the site is the ‘social interaction’ aspect, where every member has a profile with their  ‘App-kit’ a ‘news feed’ similar to that in facebook, and a follower/following system close to what you see on Twitter. It is clear a lot of hard work has gone in to the design and programming of this website as it is a very detailed and well developed system.This will help to ensure that users continue to register and return regularly.

With thousands of Apps and add-ins for different AEC programs available and on the market, there is certainly a need for a portal like this where you can get a good overview of all of these apps in one place. It will also be a place where you can go to review and decide whether a certain app or peice of software is right for you or your business. There already seem to be a large number of active users, so the more it grows, the more the benefits will become clear.

The main page of the site (pictued above) has a clean and user friendly interface with a list of featured apps, ‘Community activity’ (news feed) and a featured user. Haven’t worked out yet whether it is random or there is something else to it, yet. The site was under a private beta for the last month or so, and is now fully functional and ready for new members to sign up and start building their profile.

Once you have registered on the site and started to build up your profile, you get the oppurtunity to browse through different categories of Apps to add to your’App Kit’. In principle you can add any app you want to your toolkit, wether it’s a program you use every day or maybe just one you are interested in starting to learn. The apps are split up in categories shown to the right. It is also possible to filter and browse applications by platform. Once you have found an app that you use, or want to add to your ‘App kit’ you simply click on the +add button. You will also have a chance to rate and write a review of the software. Those who review and contribute most will be highlighted on the site as featured contributors- A good motivation to get actively involved.

“AEC-APPS is a crowdsourced library of applications relevant to the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries. AEC-APPS was launched in August 2012 in partnership with CASE Design, Inc. and Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill llp. 

Our goal is to connect AEC practitioners to the latest software tools of the trade with a comprehensive app database. Our community keeps you up to speed on apps you like, professionals you are following, and even hosts apps developed by our talented members.”

I’m confident the site will continue to grow and will be put to use by many AEC professionals and also content creators who wish to advertise and share their tools to a open, worldwide portal of potential users. Thanks to CASE and SOM for creating another great site for the AEC community, providing a fantastic resource FREE of charge. Register today if you haven’t already – Click HERE

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BIM360 Glue iPad app has arrived!

The eagerly awaited Autodesk BIM 360 Glue iPad app has finally been released! The app appeared in the iTunes store yesterday morning and was officially released on Twitter via a statement from @Navisworks around 16:00 BST. Unless you’ve been living under a #BIMrock the past couple of months, you will have heard a lot about BIM 360 Glue, and the app release on iPad is an exciting development from the Autodesk team bringing the cloud based management system on to the site!. 

BIM 360 Glue is a cloud-based management solution for building and infrastructure projects that provides easier access to project models and data to support collaborative, multidisciplinary workflows across authoring tools and project control applications. It enhances cross-team coordination globally as updates are immediately available in project models. More information can be found here: BIM 360 Services. 

“The Autodesk® BIM 360™ Glue mobile app enables BIM 360 Glue users to more securely access Building Information Modeling (BIM) projects from anywhere, at any time. Building, infrastructure, design, and construction professionals can access and intuitively explore multi-disciplinary models online or offline, access all saved views, and review intelligent object properties.” 

You can download the FREE app today and try it out for yourself from the iTunes store here. You will need an Autodesk ID to log in and upload projects from your computer which will then be synchronised and made available on your iPad.

My top 5 AEC mobile apps!

If you browse through the app store on adroid or itunes you are guaranteed to find hundreds of apps related to the AEC industry that sound interesting. The problem is, a lot of the apps are under developed, and in some cases, pointless to have on a mobile device.

Saying this, there are also many apps which exceeded my expectations in their capabilities. Bearing in mind just 10-12 years ago we were still playing  snake on our mono / STN screen Nokia 3210! What we have witnessed over the last decade is a huge shift in mobile technologies, and as AEC professionals this comes as an advantage. 

I have searched through and downloaded many different AEC related apps for my iPhone and I will now list my 5 favourites. I am not 100% sure that all of these apps are available on the android market, but I assume most of them will be. I have chosen the apps which I find most useful, and this will reflect my work interests, which are mainly 3D modelling, software packages, detailing and visualisation.

The Autodesk Buzzsaw mobile app lets Buzzsaw users securely access Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) project designs and documents from anywhere. View Autodesk® Revit® and Navisworks® models and metadata about elements in your designs, view 2D and 3D DWF® files, view standard office documents and images, and upload project documents. FREE

Design Review Mobile Expedite the design review process by viewing and redlining design files while in the field or out of the office. Autodesk® Design Review mobile app enables you to review Autodesk 2D and 3D design files directly on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. View and mark up drawings on the spot, reduce the need to carry around over-sized paper. FREE

REVITKeys Handy for BIM users on the go, this app is a simple reference guide for Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010. It includes 260 keyboard combinations separated into 14 categories. Never forget your Revit shortcuts again! List was made for Revit Architecture 2010-2012 but I can confirm that most, if not all of the shortcuts are still functioning correclty on Revit 2013. iOS £0.69p

 Adobe Ideas This digital sketchbook is a neat design tool that comes with a set of simple vector-based drawing tools that allow users to easily mark up existing plans, documents, and photos making it great for communicating field changes, construction errors, and other job site questions. The price of this app reflects the tools and details that you will be purchasing at £6.99. 

Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring all your photos, docs, and videos anywhere. After you     install Dropbox on your computer, any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all your computers, your iPhone and iPad and even the Dropbox website! With the Dropbox app, you can take everything that matters to you on the go. FREE