In our last article we briefly considered the differences between the traditional method of heavy construction, in which a project is built using stakes set based on final hard copy construction plans, and a more modern project, in which digital design files play at least some role in the construction process. In this article we will introduce the California Land Surveyors Association (CLSA) Central Valley Construction Committee. We’ll give some background on the committee, describe its goals, list its recently completed work, and talk about its current work-in-progress.
The CLSA Central Valley Chapter Construction Committee
The Central Valley Chapter of CLSA formed a Construction Committee in 2012. The committee was formed out of the interests and concerns chapter members had about the impact of automated machine control or machine guidance and digital design files on the construction project and the surveyor’s role on the construction project. The committee was formed with these initial goals:
- Research current surveying and civil engineering practices related to the use of machine control and digital design Prepfiles during construction.
- Prepare standard scope of professional service language related to machine control and digital design files for surveying services provided during BOTH design and construction of a project.
- Prepare standard license agreements that can be used to release digital engineering or surveying files to third parties. The license agreements would address liability, warranty, error reporting, and the role of the design/surveying firm during construction.
- Prepare standard construction specification language related to the use of machine control and digital design files during construction.
- Discuss issues related to responsible charge and professional licensing as they relate to the use of machine control and digital design files during construction.
- Prepare guidelines on the surveyor’s role during design and construction when machine control and digital design files will be used by the contractor.
- Prepare standards for digital design file or topographic data deliverable to the contractor or the construction surveyor for use during construction.
Completed Work
In the Fall of 2013 the committee released a preliminary draft standard for the “level of control” provided by digital design files on a heavy construction project. The draft standards defined the concept “level of control” and described its three (3) primary elements. It then described 5 standard levels of control that could be referenced in a scope of professional services, standard contract/agreement, or other construction/design documents.
In the Winter of 2013 the committee also released a schematic for the preliminary design of a standard computer file system folder structure that could be used to transfer digital design files from the design team to the contractor or the construction surveyor.
Current Work
The committee is currently working on a sample digital design file deliverable for a simple road design project. The sample deliverable will be based on the preliminary standard computer file system folder structure released in the Winter of 2013. The sample deliverable will provide an example of the folder structure in use. It will also include CAD files and text files that demonstrate other parts of the standard for the digital design file deliverable being developed by the committee.
These other parts of the standard include:
- CAD Layer properties (name, color, line type).
- CAD Annotation guidelines.
- CAD Entity type guidelines.
- CAD file content and organization guidelines.
- Guidelines of the provision of point data, route profile data, and route alignment data in a text delimited format.
- Guidelines on the provision of survey control for use with automated machine guidance.
In our next article in this column we will describe the economic and business reasons behind the migration to machine control and the push for design teams to provide better and better digital design files to aid the construction process.
