Last May, Construction Junkie wrote about the impending release of Microsoft’s holographic headset, coined the HoloLens. Their partnership with Trimble, a construction technology manufacturer, made the technology of more specific interest to the construction industry.
Due to the lack of technology in centuries past, the construction industry has been trying to force three-dimensional building structures into a drawing on a flat piece of paper. This not only made it difficult to detect clashes of building systems, it made it even harder for clients to imagine what their end product would look like. The latter, as we all know, leads to many costly changes to projects, as the building starts to develop.
The Microsoft HoloLens is looking to make a splash in many different industries, but are clearly making a strong push in construction. Their partnership with Trimble will allow them to incorporate Trimble’s cloud platform, the very popular Sketchup, and the V10 Imaging Rover for 360 degree pictures for measurements and visual documentation. More info regarding HoloLens’ impact on the construction industry can be found on our previous post by clicking here.
Starting now, pre-orders for the HoloLens’ Development edition can be submitted by going to www.hololens.com/developmentedition. The units will ship to the US and Canada on March 30th. By releasing the Development edition, Microsoft is hoping to inspire software developers to create compatible versions of existing software or new software that will bring excitement to the device before full release. It will be interesting to see which construction software developers can figure out how to make their applications work. My immediate hope would be for the major players in project management and construction document markup software take the technology seriously.
What do you think? Is there a place for the HoloLens in your construction office or job site? Tell us in the comment section below!
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