Products

Alliance between Bentley and Trimble
January 2, 2013
A strategic alliance has been established by Bentley and Trimble – Mike Woof and Guy Woodford report A major move in the construction software sector has been seen following the announcement of a strategic alliance between Bentley Systems and Trimble. Both companies have been acquiring smaller firms and expanding their product portfolios and have worked together in the past but this new development will result in far closer integration.This alliance between Trimble and Bentley aims to create a new benchmark
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Slough welcomes Siemens
December 20, 2012
Slough Borough Council (SBC) in southern England has joined the growing number of UK local authorities to deploy the latest version of Comet, the advanced traffic management and information system from Siemens. Comet aims to enable SBC to meet its policy, operational and travel information requirements including the ability to set network strategies. The solution will provide a command and control system for strategic VMS and car park guidance and will also provide dynamic content seamlessly to SBC’s plann
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Trimble’s latest Quantm leap
December 20, 2012
Trimble has launched version 7.3 of the Trimble Quantm system for road and rail alignment planning. Version 7.3 introduces Trimble Quantm Enterprise, a locally hosted version of what the US firm says is the proven Quantm system for alignment planning. Said to be designed for government planning agencies and large, multi-disciplinary consultants who perform transportation planning in-house, Trimble Quantm Enterprise is described as offering all the functionality of the Quantm system, operating on the users
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Sokkia’s “redefinition of robotics”
December 20, 2012
Sokkia has unveiled what it describes as “redefinition of robotics” with its SX series of total stations. The SX series are said to be compact and lightweight systems containing the most modern technology available. Sokkia says the SX’s high-accuracy robotic technology includes an advanced angle measurement system, RED-tech technology, reflectorless EDM, Bluetooth Class 1 long-range data communication, and what is said to be an extremely accurate auto-tracking system using RC-PR5 remote control. Combining t
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Safety covered
December 20, 2012
Saint-Gobain PAM UK says it has developed the Opt-Emax, a range of one-man operable access covers, in response to health and safety concerns over a perceived increase in accidents occurring from drainage operatives lifting heavy access covers. Through an innovative design, each triangular cover section is independently hinged, said to considerably reduce required effort when lifting compared with traditional access covers. Once opened, the hinge blocks at 900, preventing accidental closure. Paul Thompson, m
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Vintage crash
December 13, 2012
In France a rally driver committed a major sin against French culture when he crashed his car during a race. The driver lost control of the racing car and smashed through a vineyard as he was attempting a rally stage in France’s Alsace region. After ripping its way through the carefully tended vines the car came to a sudden halt when it rammed into a telegraph pole, which collapsed amidst a shower of sparks. The race was halted temporarily until the downed phone lines could be isolated and removed from the
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Costly speed
December 13, 2012
A Belgian driver was filmed by a friend as he drove his Aston Martin at speeds of up to 292km/h (182mph) along the highway. The video was uploaded onto the Internet and was soon discovered by the police, who wasted little time in tracking the offender. The Belgian authorities were less than impressed and the driver received the maximum sentence. As the offending driver was able to afford an expensive performance car he would have easily been able to afford to pay for a track day at a nearby race track. Or i
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Holiday surprise
December 13, 2012
A German couple arriving back in the city of Düsseldorf after a vacation had an unwelcome surprise with the car service they had arranged to pick them up from the airport. The vehicle that arrived to ferry them back to the car park where they had left their car was in fact their own, and they were understandably less than pleased. The car owners immediately looked at the odometer, which revealed an unwelcome truth. During their holiday break the car had been used to shuttle numerous passengers between the,
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Long cycle ride
December 13, 2012
A 100 year old Frenchman recently set a new world cycling record, pedalling his bicycle 100km in four hours, 17 minutes and achieving an average speed of 23.3km/h at Lyon velodrome. Competing in his first cycle race 86 years ago when he had to lie about his age to enter, he only retired when he reached the age of 89 and worked at an array of jobs including sports instructor and fire fighter, while he also boxed and weighlifted competitively in the past. A keen cyclist, he commented that after he reached the
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Shopping for power
December 13, 2012
An American vehicle enthusiast has constructed what he thinks is the answer for short trips to the supermarket. His specially-built shopping trolley (cart) is powered by a V8 engine displacing 5.8litres and is capable of burning rubber away from rest. Whether supermarkets will allow this petrol-fuelled trolley down the aisles seems unlikely. Fellow shoppers are also unlikely to want to follow in the wake of a vehicle belching exhaust fumes from its tailpipe. And in terms of size, this shopping trolley is so
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Family fun
December 13, 2012
A British mother and daughter both lost their driving licences after French police decided the pair were rather too enthusastic about driving at high speeds. The French police were monitoring traffic along a stretch of the A7 Autoroute when two cars roared past at 180km/h. One car, a Ferarri 599 GTB was driven by the mother while the other car, an Aston Martin, was driven by the daughter. Both women had their licenses taken away immediately by traffic officers and the speed-crazed pair were also given on-th
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The market is due for a slowdown
December 13, 2012
There is nothing that fuels economic uncertainty like economic uncertainty. Lack of confidence amongst investors ensures a reluctance to invest, and that is a common problem for many of the markets around the world at present. The financial crash that started in the US in 2008 and then spread to Europe is an economic malaise that has lasted longer than previous recessions and has had a wider effect for the world economy. Europe has been hard hit and speaking at the recent Committee for European Constructio
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Road safety challenge for Europe
December 3, 2012
Europe’s road safety drive is highlighting key issues - Mike Woof reports In Europe there is a growing understanding that alcohol use amongst drivers still has to be tackled effectively. Accident data reveals that safety standards are improving across most European countries, with steady reductions in numbers of serious injuries and fatalities. But there remains a problem with alcohol use amongst many drivers and it is amongst this group that accident levels have not fallen. In Spain in particular, there ha
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Football success for MB in Brazil
December 3, 2012
Italian Company MB has seen its products used at various sites in Brazil in preparation for the 2014 Football World Cup. Following a partnership with Grupo Monte Sinai Locação, MB's crusher and screening buckets have been used during construction of the Arena Pernambuco stadium in the city of Recife, eastern Brazil, which is being carried out by Construtora Norberto Odebrecht. It was Odebrecht who contacted Grupo Monte Sinai for the hire of its MB crusher buckets. Following initial contact between Grupo Mon
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JCB opens Brazilian factory
December 3, 2012
US$32.45 billion of infrastructure improvements are scheduled in Brazil and companies are looking to capitalise on this JCB’s new US$100 million factory in Brazil has been officially opened as the company strengthens its position in rapidly-expanding Latin American markets. At full capacity, the new plant will have the capability to produce 10,000 machines a year, and it replaces two smaller plants in Sorocaba, São Paulo State, the first of which JCB opened in 2001 to produce backhoe loaders, and the second
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