Site Tourism: Not Just a Day Out of the Office

For office workers, a day outside amongst peers and equipment, can offer an exciting alternative to four walls and LED lighting. From a managerial standpoint, a site visit can give stakeholders real contextualization of a project’s progress; an opportunity to witness scale first-hand, to feel materials and a chance to count and verify equipment.

While those viewpoints might not sound negative on their surface, it’s only when we dig a little deeper that it becomes apparent that unnecessary visits - or site tourism - can create major pain points that can affect a project’s progress in a number of ways.

Safety

There is an element of risk that comes with multiple people on site. Their mere presence goes against the primary rule of construction: Safety comes first. Site tourism can be the reason for thousands of invites across a construction project’s duration to people with different degrees of familiarity or precaution on a site. The endless line of extra bodies can provide real threats to existing protocol and the continued safety of those that operate within it.

Cost

With the constant flurry of people from different departments and locations come accompanying time constraints that inevitably slow production and push deadlines to their limit. What might seem like a solitary hour or a single day out of the production calendar, can quickly add up over the course of a project’s duration.

In addition to this, are the not inconsequential costs brought upon by the relevant travel and accommodation required for those same persons.

Recent research has revealed that just 30% of construction projects meet their deadlines or are kept in budget.

Environmental Impact

Perhaps most pertinently of all is that with every site visit comes an accompanying commute – not just across a city, or even across the country, but often from one side of the world to another. Mega capital projects are multi-faceted operations with teams located on hemispheres opposite from one another. These combined commutes have a catastrophic effect on CO2 emissions.

The Answer

But what if there was a solution to all this? What if a project’s real time progress could be seen from anywhere in the world? What if thousands of construction workers, their equipment and materials could be tracked remotely? What if you could access every document related to the project without ever having to set foot on site?

Introducing: iHawk.

By harnessing the power of visual data, third-party APIs and IoT integration, iHawk provides complete situational awareness and project visibility to all key stakeholders in major capital projects. Recognized as the next generation visualization platform, iHawk has already been endorsed by major corporations globally and is set to lead the new digital revolution.

iHawk allows project teams to visualize the entire life of their construction project - and beyond - as a live asset. Enabling cross-organizational and cross-vendor workflows, planning of future worksite activities and tracking project milestones allows for big data to be managed in an intuitive and digestible way. The software allows users to visualize their site/facility in both 2D and 3D and combine functionalities together to become the single source of truth for its users.

Are you interested in finding out how iHawk can support your project?

Download your free capital projects capabilities overview pack now!

OrthoView

This module is the foundation of so much of iHawk’s functionality. This 2D view, taken from above, is the result of thousands of photographs taken by drone and ‘sewn’ together. This process can take place weekly or monthly and offers stakeholders an up-to-date, unparalleled view of their project’s progress.

iHawk also offers incredible timelapse functionality whereby a user can compare the drone imagery from two separate dates and view at-a-glance where site advances have been made.

Not limited to that, however, iHawk offers the functionality to overlay spot plans or schematics over this 2D view of the site. This layer’s transparency can be altered so that the real image underneath can be seen and offers stakeholders real insight on the initial planning of the project compared to its current condition.

360 View

This module gives stakeholders a 360-degree, fully immersive and interactive view of their construction site, from the air and from the ground.

Such is the strength and depth of the footage we capture, users can zoom fully into areas of interest and note, with impressive detail, where progress has been made.

iHawk also offers the opportunity to select images captured by the client or third party from the same location on different dates and to compare the two 360 View side-by-side.

3D View

This module visualizes 3D reality meshes and point clouds that can be rendered and navigated within any browser. Within the model, users can then measure distance, area, angles and much, much more – an invaluable option when planning moves of heavy-duty equipment or building on free space.

Find All

By far, the most widely used function on iHawk; Find All integrates data and information from multiple sources across the project to enable quick decision making on the go.

The module enables stakeholders to find any document in a few short clicks. By entering a keyword or tag into the Find All search bar, a search results page will quickly populate that will then reveal links to any document or part relevant to the searched item.

By using tag technology, users can also spatially locate items by entering a keyword or tag using Pin View. With the help of iHawk’s 2D View, users can then see where an item is located on the site map and offers accompanying co-ordinates to the user.

iHawk: Ready for Take-Off

For those involved in a construction project, the opportunity to visit the site in question can be tempting. It could be argued now though, that there is a moral question posed to those presented with the chance to do so.

With COP26 still fresh in the minds of everyone, a conscious decision must be made to alter the way we work.

iHawk offers users the opportunity to access a site virtually via any browser from anywhere in the world. Its capabilities are endless and was designed with the smooth operation, remote working and management of a construction project in mind.

By utilizing its unique set of modules, it can reduce manhours on site, manage who is there more efficiently and help deliver projects on time and in budget – without unnecessary risk.

Shell Pennsylvania Chemicals Capital Project

iHawk has performed a fundamental role in the planning and delivery of one of the world's ongoing mega capital projects. The software utilizes drone technology to visualize Shell's site and enables them to track their project’s progress - something that has helped revolutionize how they manage every other construction project around the globe.

Hear what Shell’s senior vice president had to say about our flagship software below.

Are you interested in finding out how iHawk can support your project?

Download your free capital projects capabilities overview pack now!