Course Reflection - zhijing zheng

Course Reflection-Construction field

Intelligent building information and techniques are very beneficial to current society. During this class, I had been told the advanced technique such as 3D printing or robotics implementation. It is pretty fascinated that future construction field implement more robotics principle.  Additional, the AI technique is one of the main advanced information. My major is mainly focus on structural engineering and I prefer the building industry. Therefore, it is very helpful and meaningful support information from building perspective. Especially, nowadays, current building systems implement sensors to monitor and analyze the building and provide necessary database for LCA. There are different types of sensors such as temperature, electrical or pressure. Among these sensors, the typical types of sensor that applied for building are temperature sensor, humidity sensor and smoke sensor. For me, when the building contain these advance techniques for either construction purpose or managing g and monitoring purpose, it is sounds like artificial intelligent for me. It looks like the buildings can function and run by themselves. The human beings just gather the data from the screen. Then, organize the data into logical format. In order to sort and store the uncountable data, we need to create the database to accomplish that. Therefore, in this class, I learned the SQL terminology, which is a domain-specific language, used in programming and designed for managing data held in a relational database management system [1]. Also, I learned the surface about the MS access application to create the database to organize the sensor information for each room from each building. The implementation of database is very useful for my future career; I am working for engineering firm and specialize for construction service. From my perspectives, I feel the database is very useful for construction purpose; it will shorten the duration to recreate the relationship or formula for similar information. An advanced database system and technology will become high demand from all construction fields such as infrastructure, aviation and heavy highway.

From construction perspective, it is quite beneficial of applying database techniques. For example, the construction routine is deal with tons of paper trial and data such as submittals and shop drawing. If there is an improved database system can serve each construction category like aviation. For example, if PHL want to extend the runway 9R-27L, DOA could just pull out the similar project by defining the similar underground soil condition or similar region. It will help to avoid to irrelevant uncertainty and save the time for designer. 

Comment

Arthur Mccloskey

In Arthur’s post, he lists the overall topics from this class, which is helpful to audience to notice the big picture. Also, he provides the personal experience as construction management. And he mentioned the BIM is priority for his career. He also states that database is useful for his career and provide the reason. Overall post is well organized and clear.  And I totally agree the point of view from the construction perspective.

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/03/course-reflection-arthur-mccloskey.html

Sarah Maminski

In Sarah’s post, she mentions as new learner for BIM and database, she express the general feelings about the new topic like little bit of everything. She has not dig into deep to explore that into professional perspective due to the limited experiences. I think she can probably just search for one topic and go deep to explore the topic as another chance of self-learning. 

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/03/b7-course-reflection.html

Egla Qori

In Egla’s post, she incorporate her real work experiences with intelligent building course and appreciate that she took this class. I totally agree her points. In real work, it is always good to know a little bit of everything can help the team member to complete the project.

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/03/b7-course-reflection-egla-qori.html

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL

Course Reflection - Arthur McCloskey

In this course, a lot of the forward-thinking technologies and capabilities that are revolutionizing our field were explored in good detail.  The highlights of these capabilities were BIM, artificial intelligence, robotics, relational databases, and sensors.  These lectures were supplemented by class visits from people in the industry that were able to bring a practical aspect to these ideas.  This class was comprised of many different types of students across many different concentrations and majors.  After graduation, many of us will branch off into various different job types in our industry.  From planners, construction managers, structural engineers, MEP engineers, I think we can take away something from this class that could be useful in our professional lives.

I personally will be going into the construction management field after graduation, and looking back on the things that I have learned in this class, there are several major takeaways.  The first is BIM.  The presentation by Whiting Turner was particularly helpful in extending what we learned in BIM to what I could use in CM.  Even over my limited co-op experiences, I cannot count how many times the proposed plans caused clashes and conflicts across trades.  Navisworks and Revit were a particularly useful software to use for this, and I had wished that the companies I was with were using it.  That would have certainly helped reduce some of the issues in the field.

I think the database lessons were really useful.  I didn't necessarily enjoy it to be completely honest, since large data management is never really that interesting, but I see how if can be very important in my industry.  Many of the projects I have been on require management of a lot of equipment, machinery, finance, etc.  The knowledge of Access and other database programs could make the aggregation and manipulation of data much easier for managers, which allows them to focus on more important things, like coordination and execution.

Overall, I think this class was a good introduction to the future possibilities of technology to our industry.  I can see how it is beneficial for all kinds of students, no matter their major or concentration.

Comments on Others:

Egla Qori – I think that your post was really beneficial to read, considering you seem to know what structural engineering firms are looking for in a candidate.  Since most of us are probably structural engineering, it is important to know which of these capabilities we learned in this class are important for those employers.

Paulina Gawor – I agree with Paulina in that I was expecting a lot of the class to be more in depth into Revit and programs like it.  I suppose this allowed us to cover a larger amount of information in such a short term, especially when it came to the sensors and databases.

Drew Hovey – I also enjoyed the presentation on NavisWorks.  It still surprises me how little I have seen it used in industry.  I suppose as we graduate and the industry catches up, we will see it used more.

Singh, Prahlad - Reflection

This course was one of the few interesting courses that explored the current state and the future of the industry in a very “futuristic” way.  It combined the various new technologies and ones that could possibly be witnessed by our generation in the future. I would have preferred the class to be split into 2 classes of 1.5 hours each as they did end up becoming pretty tiring. On originally signing up for the class I was expecting it to be more BIM and Revit oriented. Through the various assignments and blog posts I learned a lot over the short 10-week class.

The Weekly blog posts allowed for in depth research into specific topics while also brushing up in general topics other classmates read up on. This was extremely educational as there were many topics I had not even heard about. It also provided for a few different views on each topic due to each group working on it individually. Each classmates’ personal experience helped she da new light on their topics. On the other hand, the projects were in depth projects of two important aspects of Intelligent Buildings (BIM and Database’s). Being fairly new to databases, I was still like learning new aspects about what goes into them and how they are used in the industry. It showed the capabilities of databases and how big corporations use them to achieve greater efficiency. The guest lecturers also helped highlight certain software’s and how they are used and to what affect within their firms. They also spoke about the changes the industry is undergoing and what we as future employees can and should expect in a couple of years.

The class had a huge impact on me personally. I hope to, in the future, take back all that I have learned in this course and help in the installation of some new “Intelligent buildings” back home in India. I am sure that I will be using software’s such as Revit and Access to help provide and efficient and “Smart” building. Overall, I learnt a lot from this class, be it within the classroom or during my research for the various assignments.

Comments to others

Abdulaziz: Even I thought that this was going to be more of a designing course at first. I am also of the same mind as in I share your idea of travelling back home to further integrate myself with “Intelligent Buildings” as they are the future.

Abdullatif: I too like the Whiting-Turner presentation and the way they spoke about BIM and modelling in regards to construction management. I also find it very interesting that you incorporated this class into your senior design project. I hope to do the same and incorporate what I learnt into my other classes.

Maissoun: I like how you related your personal goals to your final project. You are right that green building are not necessarily intelligent buildings and vice versa. I look forward to reading your paper of the differences between Intelligent and Green buildings. I agree with you on how this class was both creative and technical at the same time.

Assignment B7 - Group B - Maria Raggousis

Reflection of the Course and its impact to my Profession and Future

This is an extremely loaded question but one that we are always asked to answer. 

This course was worthwhile to me because it opened my eyes to new things that I had never seen before. I understood the sensors and how we use them for temperature control and window blind rotations and I actually thought this class would be more about that aspect because my definition of intelligent buildings tends to fall under intelligent operation. 

The other reason it was worthwhile to me is because I was able to speak with more sophistication on topics that I otherwise would have stammered about and not known anything about. I applied to a scholarship and they asked us to write a technical paper on an innovation in construction and honestly I was so ready to answer that question because of all the things that we were exposed to in this class! I typically am skeptical of the future but after seeing proof that this stuff works and then researching it for the paper was the most valuable part. The research portion allowed me to set aside time for this class and digging in more about what I was mostly interested in. I am glad that I chose to do a research topic as opposed to a project because I was getting frustrated with the different programs we were using at the end of their respective assignments. The paper almost felt like a creative outlet that was somewhere between opinion and research - taking the facts and formulating thoughts relevant to them. As someone who is both creative and technical, it was a nice part of my daily routine that was not of the ordinary math problem or computer project type. 

The other aspect of this course was the hands-on projects with the database and the Revit model and while I really enjoyed working with both of those - it is hard to see those new tools particularly impact my career outlook. I understand the need for databases but it is not something that I believe will ever be asked of me and even if it were I would still choose Excel, even after this class introduction (although I am thankful for the introduction). 

What I liked about this class is now I have the ability to talk the language of Revit and communicate to someone else what I would need in Revit if at all - based on the families and the models and the schedules and the database component, I now know what it is capable of. Communication is key in this industry as a professional and I think that is the best take-away form this course. The guest speakers only added to this benefit because hearing from a professional that is immersed in this technology gives us the empowerment of oh I can do this, too! 

In general, I feel that although the details of this class will not help my future - the over arching themes and what we discussed will and has already helped my professional career and future. I see much research and development in the technologies discussed and I think I would be interested in becoming involved in that aspect! 


Responses to Other Students:
Nick Pawlikowski: I think what we got out of this course was different because of personal preference and past experiences. I had dabbled in MS Access before and the material that was brought to this class was not new based on what I already knew and it still didn't fulfill my needs as a database program. I think your last summation sentence is valid in that it depends what the students brought to the table as existing knowledge to make the difference of if the value of the course expanded on that or did not. 


Brandon Mengel: It is easy to see that most people's favorite part of the class was the personal project because afterall, we were the ones who set the scope and decided what would be in it based on our interests! I have to agree with you though, this class is such an overview that it is fulfilling to go deeper into one particular area. To me, BIM and 3D Printing stood out the most although we did discuss other technologies in this class. I think it had to do with the guest speakers and our ability to visualize how it actually works and makes a difference in the world. 


Peter Dannemann: I love the great comments you have about Professor Mitchell's drive. I completely agree - some professors do not use any original material or offer any discussion and the fact that this class was more seminar based and discussion based with real world examples and content from Professor Mitchell's actual interests made it that much more impactful. I didn't realize you were an environmental engineering major but I think that while your points are valid about not actually using the database and Revit families, I think you will be able to better talk to people who do use them in the data collection processes which are all around us. 

Uses of databases in construction firms-Yang

The database is the foundation of design and innovation. When a design team wants to develop a project, they need lots of the documents, files, and sources. One of the main function for database in the construction firm is to do the resource management, which is a critical issue among construction firms. Since organising, sharing, and using those resources in construction are crucial, resources management is considered to be one of the key sources of success for the construction projects.


Storing and organising materials are very critical in the construction firm. Every construction firm will have many finished project documents, researched materials, or their own designed documents. Those files are valuable for a firm. Ten years before, some firms had all the documents in paper, and they might have room or library to store those paper documents. And label the shelves to sorting the documents for people to find the documents they need. But this method wasted the office space and wasted the time to find the documents. If the office need move, it will cost lots of time to transfer the paper files. Now, the firms develop their electrical database. They scan the old file and store the new files in their own database and develop the data dictionary to search the files. Database helped them to save time, office space and improve the efficiency.


One construction project will not only include one person, it will involve several different team and party. It will include at least owner, designer, contractor, and the manufacturer. How to share the information to other team will be a critical problem to the construction firms? If they use the traditional delivery method like mailing, will cost time and money. And mailing will be hard for construction team to make changes on the file. If they use email to transfer the files, some of the design files will be too large to transfer by email. Database will help the construction firm to sharing the files to the other team efficiency and they can work together in the database.


Depends of the numbers of files increase, the database becomes to an efficiency method to help construction firm to store, search and sharing the files. Database will make the construction firm work easier.


Comments:

Mridual (Link): I agree with you that the easy access and utilisation of the data. Also, I like your example about the Revit Material Library and Dropbox. Currently, the database helps the design firm save lot of time. When they sharing the files in Dropbox, they save the time to upload files, download files and transfer the files. Some design firms will have their drawing standard library which includes the layer, line type, text font, it can help them to save the time to do the uniform drawings. 


Abdullatif (Link): I like your post about the ODBMS. Before read your post, I don't know what the ODBMS is. Your example of Relational Database Management Systems helped me to understand the ODBMS. You wrote that ODBMS are used to support and maintain simple forms of data such as employee name, date of birth and other pieces of information that combine to create a profile. Also,  audio, video, CAD modules and Geographical Information Systems all should be ODMBS systems. 


Arthur (Link): A relational database is a hard topic for me. Your post helps me to understand it which is a collection of data items that are organised in a manner that relates the parameters between the data items. Also, your scheme show the relational database visually. The diagrams simplified progression shows how the various schemes can be put together to relate the appropriate attributes.

B5 Uses of Database in Design Offices - Mridul Pareek

A database is a collection of information or data which allows for easy access and utilization of the data. To access this collection of data or database, database management systems or DBMS are used, which interact with user and other software to analyze or utilize the databases. Some of the popular database management systems over the years are MySQL, Microsoft Access, Oracle, sybase etc.

Almost every successful design office on the planet uses some form of database which allows the employees to access and share data without having to rely on word to word communication or physical presence of the team every time a member needs some form of data or information about the project. An example of this can be the Revit material library. It is a database which has information of various materials usually used for construction. It allows the users to quickly access that information without having to input every material's information every time they need it.

Other than using databases for the technical aspect of design, offices also use other databases like a shared Dropbox where employees can have plans, schedule, contact information, and a variety of other data for everyone in the office to see so that it becomes easier to co-ordinate and communicate relevant information.

Sources:
1) https://www.ntchosting.com/encyclopedia/databases/database/
2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database
3) http://www.herzing.ca/blog/winnipeg/the-importance-of-database-applications-in-the-office/


Comments:
1) Yuxiao Zhuo (https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/b5-group-e-yuxiao-zhou.html) discussed how databases are used in construction firms. I agree that databases have indeed made our lives easier with automatic sorting and quick search of plans, product cost, size, schedule etc, which used to be done manually taking a lot of time and money. Like he said, Databases are here to stay in construction industry since without them, cost estimation and scheduling would be a nightmare and those two are the cornerstone of our industry.

2) Abdullatif Alkandari (https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/b5-abdullatif-alkandari-groupc.html) talked about object oriented database management systems or ODBMS. These are used to store more complex form of data like audio, video and CAD files. Such Databases are paramount in a design office since these are the databases which allow the designer to use his engineering education using visual and audio cues and explaining them to someone who is not trained as an engineer to visually see what the designer is planning.

3) Ronald Park (https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/ronald-park-group-d-b5-uses-of.html) made a very interesting comment about the storage of data if there were no databases. I must admit i completely overlooked this factor when it is one of the most important advantages of using a database. Immense amount of information can be stored on the size of a penny which would have taken stacks and stacks of paper to write down.

Uses of databases in design offices

Uses of databases in design offices

The basic uses of databases are to structurally organize and capture large quantities of data by inputting, storing, retrieving and managing information. A database is defined as a collection of data that is stored in a computer in today’s world. A database application is a program that can retrieve and store the data. It is an inevitable component of modern companies and offices and some of the popular database applications are Oracle, MySQL and Microsoft Access. I will specifically talk about some uses of databases in design offices.

Customer Management[2]

A customer relationship management database can help companies manage the relationship with its customers. The database stores the information about customers including accounts, contact information, orders, details of customer service calls and anything that the companies have contacted with.

Employee Database[2]

The employee database manages the information about the employees. The database helps the human resource department and higher managers to organize their teams. Companies apply the database to smoothly run their internal operations. Not only the simple information about employees such as name, birthday, salary and address but also an intelligent method to find the right people to do the right tasks could be provided by the database.

BIM[3]

Building Information Modelling is also a representation of an advanced database. It shows that databases are not only limited to words and number but also 3D models like Revit. BIM could store and repeatedly use parametric designs such as families. Working with other cloud service, BIM could even be used in mobile devices to easily present your ideas to different stakeholders.

Cloud Service

Cloud services such as Dropbox and iCloud become more and more powerful. Cloud service is an advanced database application. You could easily upload your works into the cloud and use it through all your devices. Sharing is another significant function for cloud service application. You could work together with your partner on the same document from wherever you get accessed to Internet. It could save tons of time and money.

Reference:

[1] http://www.herzing.ca/blog/winnipeg/the-importance-of-database-applications-in-the-office/

[2] http://smallbusiness.chron.com/database-uses-business-64298.html

[3] http://www.autodesk.com/solutions/bim/overview

Comments

Joe Dressel

Thank you for explaining what object oriented databases are. You also compared relational databases with object oriented databases. Now I understand the differences between these two types of databases and the benefits of using object oriented databases. I think BIM is a good example that contains a huge object oriented database.

Rachel Frank

The idea of organizational memory is very interesting. I like how organizational memory helps the construction industry to quickly process information from the past. Also, web-based databases are also a useful tool because they are easy to learn and use. However, you mentioned the security issues about using web-based databases as a disadvantage. What would you like to use if you are a construction manager?

Ronald Herazo

Thank you for describing relational databases in detail. Your pictures really helped me to understand the concept. Also, you talked about SQL in the end. I thought SQL is one type of databases before. Now I know that SQL is a language to manipulate relational databases. It is like a communication channel connecting databases.