townes

							This Office recognizes and appreciates the contributions TOPCON has made in
promoting this technology that transcends sales. The trips, time and efforts that Randy
Noland personally made and the commitment that TOPCON made to the Georgia
Quality Conference is outstanding. This office wants to continue to partner with you in
promoting this technology. As a public agency, I believe you understand that we must
offer our services to all vendors who are interested in improving the quality of the
Nation's transportation infrastructure while accomplishing this by the most economical
means. I have discussed this conference with my supervisor. We are committed to
promoting this technology as we believe it will result in higher quality pavements to the
traveling public and eventually result in lower bids from contractors who adopt this
technology. We are a little hesitant to commit since the conference is being sponsored
by only one vendor. As pointed out in the Georgia Quality Conference, there are three
challenges with implementing this technology into the transportation construction
industry. 1. There needs to be "education of all government participants about the
benefits of adopting this technology. " 2. There needs to be a universal language that all
users can use without having to put data through conversion processes that duplicates
efforts and subjects the data again to "human error". 3. While there is probably not one
definitive sentence or paragraph for the application of electronic survey data that will fit
every State specification manual, wording can be developed which does not impede the
Contractor's use of this technology. Let me explain these elements in more detail: 1.
Government Surveyors have traditionally had one primary customer and that was the
planners/designers of a proposed project. Not sure how many government surveyors
are aware of how the traveling public can benefit if the data they generate can be used
by more than a CAD design office. It is only within the past 5 - 7 years that contractors
have had the ability to use electronic survey data. Many times Government surveyors
are not aware that the initial survey data they generate is unusable by contractors later
in the field. This can be overcome by educating the surveyors about the "new" users of
survey data. This conference should attract many government surveyors so an
educational session about the many end users of the initial survey data should be
informative. One of the benefits of the Georgia Quality Conference was that
Government construction representatives and contractors were in one place trying to
solve problems to the mutual benefit of the traveling public. The session that TOPCON
participated in was an excellent example of this. We had top Georgia DOT Construction
policy makers in the same session along with many of the biggest Georgia contractors.
Both sides came together in one room to hear one of their industry's leading contractors
espousing the benefits of adopting this technology while a government representative
was there outlining the challenges that still must be overcome before the full benefits
can be realized by the traveling public. We need to keep this dialogue/education
process moving into other States and other government groups. 2. The second
group of government survey data users is the CAD Office. The CAD office is usually
under the DOT's design office. Because this group has traditionally taken the surveyor's
electronic input data and produced a set of paper plans, there has not been a need to
share the raw, electronic survey data. With more Contractors requesting electronic CAD
files, the electronic survey data has been passed on in some states but with mixed
results. The CAD group needs to be educated as to "why" contractors are
requesting this data and how this data can result in a higher quality product for
the Department at a lower cost to the traveling public. Of the Contractors that have
received electronic files from State Transportation Authorities, many have said the data
was either unusable or in a language that was not compatible with their survey
equipment. In at least one State, the data resulted in a construction error. State
Transportation Authorities are going to be reluctant to pass on electronic files if the data
can be misinterpreted or misapplied in the field. Passing on electronic data through
the bid process or "post bid" process that can possibly result in construction
errors is a situation that all State Transportation Authorities strive to avoid. 3.
Some State specifications inadvertently eliminate the use of GPS machinery control
technology. As an example, some states specify that a certain type machinery has to be
used to obtain finished grade. Georgia's specifications that call for a "trimmer" type
machine is an example of this. This specification was written years ago with the
intention of improving the final ride quality using the latest construction machinery
technology. However, this type specification is now an impediment to a contractor who
can employ newer technology on existing machinery to achieve equal or superior quality
results at a lesser cost. As this technology is adopted in more State transportation
construction projects, there may be a need to "facilitate" its use. Some states may want
possible insure that the contractor uses this type technology on "new alignment" type
projects. Because of the accuracy of this technology, some states may want to tighten
the tolerances for base grading and final surfacing. "Stakeless grading" was the term
that was used by contractors that originally deployed this technology. Because the term
"stakeless grading" or "stakeless construction" was originally used to describe this
technology, many government construction offices have been reluctant to adopt a
technology that could eliminate the time honored method of checking grade elevations.
The thinking has been like this: "If a contractor eliminates staking, then this will cause
extra work for the government construction offices that must come behind the contractor
to verify quality." The successful resolution to this type challenge is not difficult to
overcome but must begin with education or all the partners. I believe the way to make
this conference successful and cause government managers to attend or to have
representation is by educating the attendees of these challenges then offering workable
solutions. Can this conference meet the needs of the government transportation
construction sector by explaining these challenges then offering workable solutions? I
think this will be the way to generate the largest amount of interest from this sector and
make this conference more successful. By including these challenges in the sessions
and generating discussion about workable solutions, this conference will be a
meaningful event and will generate a reputation that will be sustainable for future
conferences. I have a specific recommendation for my topic. A better title for my
presentation might be "Transportation Construction Application." A suggestion for
resolving challenge # 2 would be to invite a CAD vendor to the conference. I have
spoken to Randy about this challenge. Dean Bowman of Bently Systems is aware of
this challenge and is working on making to make sure Bently products produce
electronic data, in a universal language, that will be compatible with all contractor
survey equipment and machine control programs. The contact information for Dean
Bowman is : dean.bowman@bently.com phone (954) 343-9350. This conference is a
big commitment by not only TOPCON but by the government attendees. It is my hope
that this e-mail, while long, will offer you some suggestions that will contribute to the
success of this event. Please do not hesitate to contact this office for ways this office
can contribute to the success of this conference.
Thanks,




Douglas Townes, P.E.
Construction Administration Engineer
FHWA Resource Center
61 Forsyth Street, Suite 17T26
Atlanta, GA 30303-3104
(404) 562-3914
CELL: (404) 895-6158
Knowledge is not a destiny. It is a perpetual journey


From: Charles Rihner [mailto:CRihner@topcon.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 4:28 PM
To: Townes, Douglas
Cc: Randy Noland; Dominick Auletto
Subject: FW: APEX agenda


Hello Mr. Townes,
It was a pleasure speaking with you the other day. Attached you will find a tentative agenda for our APEX
conference in Albuquerque NM. You are actually “penciled in” on the agenda for Tuesday April 3.
To explain the agenda, April 3 assembles all attendees (200) in a large room at the start for Keynote
speakers until 9:30AM. The conference then breaks down into 4 smaller breakout sessions. Your morning
session will be from 11-12 in the TAOS room and then again from 4-5PM. You only have to present your
topic on April 3. These will be your only two sessions. Participants will choose which breakout sessions
they will attend and will rotate to the different rooms.
As per our discussion the other day, the focus for this conference is federal users and buyers for
surveying and mapping applications. At first I was struggling with a “fit” for you but I now have a
suggestion. If we go at it from a technology perspective first…., limitations for GPS…specifically the
vertical error…macro as follows:
- GPS Technology
o Macro benefits and applications
o Multi-constellation benefits
- Limitations of GPS
o Vertical accuracy challenge
- Laser enhanced GPS positioning
o How it works
o Accuracy improvements
- Applications for laser enhanced GPS positioning
o Elevation checking for surveying and construction
o Machine control applications
The idea is to present the technology in such fashion that the attendees can see an application that fits
their job requirements. Randy, Douglas, your thoughts?
Regards,
Charles


From: Anthony Trujillo [mailto:atrujillo@holmans.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 12:40 PM
To: Charles Rihner
Subject: RE: APEX agenda
Here is the latest. Let me know if you need any changes. Thanks.
Anthony


From: Charles Rihner [mailto:CRihner@topcon.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 5:50 AM
To: Anthony Trujillo
Subject: APEX agenda
Can you send me an updated APEX agenda? Thanks, Chas
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