It’s been a very busy couple of months for us at CE News: First, we executed an eye-opening survey about civil engineering technology in September. Some results of this survey were published in the November article, "Civil engineering technology: The state of practice," and presented last month during our inaugural CE News Webcast series presentation, "Civil Engineering Technology: Today and tomorrow." This month, we deliver more of our findings in my article, "BIM and civil engineering: It’s time to pay attention."

I wanted to write this article because I discovered that many readers aren’t familiar with building information modeling (BIM). Given that many experts believe that the A/E/C industry, including civil engineering, is shifting to more integrated processes among various project stakeholders and throughout project lifecycles—elements that define BIM—civil engineers need to look at our industry from a broader perspective. Further, we need to explore how civil engineering, with adoption of 3-D modeling, GIS, GPS machine control, 3-D laser scanning, and more, is running on a parallel course with BIM in the buildings industry.

Looking at data collected from firms that applied for the Best Civil Engineering Firms To Work For list in 2007, we found that only one out of 146 firms selected high-tech to describe its culture or personality, when given opportunity to select three out of 12 characteristics. Considering that that the "high-tech" process of digitally sharing civil engineering information among
project participants for uses other than design can help firms provide better service to clients, collaborate better, and improve the integrity of their designs—namely improve upon the three most common cultural traits of most firms—I don’t see why more firms aren’t paying attention to the exciting technological changes occurring in our industry today.

Business experts always say that to excel you should distinguish yourself as a leader and find a niche. Given that only one in 146 firms is "high-tech" and that it is the eve of a technological paradigm shift, I’d say an opportunity is staring you in the face. Please share your thoughts with me by writing to sfauerbach@zweigwhite.com.