Architects, engineers, contractors, and owners now have the digital productivity and accuracy tool that brings greater levels of efficiency to each stage of the project and building life cycle. The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), a national association dedicated to improving the communication of construction information, today unveils CROSSWALK.
CROSSWALK augments the design and construction process by enabling construction technology platforms to connect through an Application Programming Interface (API). This API connects to and curates versions of CSI’s MasterFormat, Uniformat, and OmniClass construction information classifications and standards that span decades. Designed to be used by software providers, government agencies, information providers, academic institutions, BIM object developers, and research organizations, CROSSWALK is the digital classification engine for the architecture, engineering, construction, and owner (AECO) community.
“CSI has always been at the forefront of organizing construction information. The launch of CROSSWALK is a giant leap forward in improving industry productivity,” said CSI CEO, Mark Dorsey, FASAE, CAE. “The construction industry has made strides moving from paper documents to digital workflows, however project workflow is often fractured by tools which are incompatible and inefficient, requiring multiple entries of information, file transfers, and improvised solutions that create error, inefficiency and expense. CROSSWALK addresses these challenges,” Dorsey added.
“As a Smart Cities real estate developer, we have had a need for data to be delivered by our consultants in a taxonomy that the industry would understand. Since moving to a digital business using online project management tools and BIM, we have struggled to get any standard formats regarding data from our consultant architects, engineers and contractors,” said Paul Doherty, President and CEO, TDG - the digit group, inc. “With CROSSWALK, we now have capability to have our consultants deliver the data we need to create our digital assets to manage our Smart Cities around the world.”
“From the way we work to the way we live, the world is evolving quickly,” said Dorsey. “Looking down the road, we envision CROSSWALK moving beyond ‘classifications as a service.’ The potential for CROSSWALK is substantial. For example, CROSSWALK can support Augmented Design through Artificial Intelligence (AI) to deploy machine learning techniques and anonymized data flowing through the API in order to create software wizards, crowdsourcing, and reference data. Blockchain-enabled trust and transparency is another opportunity, as we look to develop CROSSWALK to use a distributed, immutable blockchain-based ledger for the provision of identity, confidentiality, version control, chain-of-custody, and payment services. These innovations can benefit the entire industry,” added Dorsey.
