Are GPS construction methods being used ?

[Richard Chamberlain]

I watch with interest a new course being built in outer Melbourne at the moment with the new GPS technology incorporated onto the earthmoving equipment.

From my understanding Trimble (famous for surveying and GPS equipment) have a product called SiteVision that sends a 3D model from the designers computer into a computer inside the cab of the equipment.
The golf course is built without set out pegs, as the equipment knows exactly where it is in relation to the design model. It is told at any point how much cut or fill is required.

A test course was constructed in New Zealand using this method and the one in melbourne is the first in Australia, with possibly more to commence soon.

Has this technology been used much elsewhere ?

Is it a good or bad innovation ?

[Jeff_Brauer]

From episode 9 of my series last year on Cybergolf.com, chronicling the building of the Quarry at Giants Ridge:

My owner's representative has given me lots of latitude, but a couple of frowns crossed his face with the idea of a blind shot.   I think his words were: "A golf ball to the forehead is no kind of souvenir to take home from their day at Giant's Ridge. I'd rather they buy a shirt."  
 
So, we decided to make a narrow gash through the ridge to provide vision to the fairway from the tee. This both mirrors the narrow entry to the green and retains the look and feel of the seacoast dunes. The first cuts were made the day I was leaving from a construction meeting. I couldn't wait to get back to see the initial results.  
 
As it turned out, I didn't have to, thanks to modern technology. When I opened my e-mail at the office the next day, there were some pictures from Al Olsen, Park Construction's superintendent. He was asking some questions, including how I liked the results. From the photos, however, I could tell that the shaping was much too soft to replicate the rugged spoil piles that I wanted to impersonate dunes. We sketched out some steeper dunes on the photo, scanned it, and e-mailed it back. A few days later, another picture came back closely resembling our sketch, and we were thrilled. It was exactly the result we were looking for. More than that, we saved the contractor time, which probably saves him and the owner money. This is a good thing!  
 
Another technological improvement Park Construction has implemented is staking using Global Positioning Software (GPS). They have invested considerable funds in a GPS system that takes our computer drawings and puts them on a hand-held screen. Formerly, setting out line and grade stakes meant setting up a survey instrument and elevation rod, doing numerous mathematical calculations, and using a two-man crew to set out stakes, which usually took a good day to do a hole. With GPS, one man can set grade stakes on a hole in about an hour. Again, a great time-saver for the contractor, but great for design, too!

They set out several holes in advance of my site visit. We can walk them together and quickly spot necessary adjustments for rock, trees, vision, or just because something seems overdone. My general trend has been to reduce earthmoving to keep the site in its current state.

This may be the greatest advance in golf construction since the advent of the bulldozer or irrigation systems. It's certainly the biggest thing to really speed up the construction process while getting better results. Most of the other changes in my career have been more incremental – like replacing heavy, difficult-to-install concrete drainage pipe with lighter, stronger plastic pipe.

Of course, it has its down side. Moving faster has historically reduced some of the finer nuances of older design/construction. And, as Al Olsen pointed out, perhaps not all architects like the idea of their plans being staked out accurately: It may reveal they are flawed! In the past, architect types could always claim the contractor wasn't "interpreting the plans correctly"!

We are moving full steam ahead. We are even stepping up our own 3D efforts to make doubly sure that our plans are correct before they go out. Of course, all architects will fiddle with the design on the ground.  

[Bye]

We're currently using GPS to layout construction features. Actually, the best application I've found replaces our crudest techniques - tree clearing. It used to be a horrible job, we'd station centerlines and then measure, pace and tape the clearing limits. Now all we do is give a sketch to the GPS operator and an hour or two later we have an exact clearing line.

[RJ_Daley]

Jeff or Bye, obviously this saves labor time += money, correct?  Who saves the money?  Does the contruction contractor charge less?  Are the Architect fees reduced?  Does any of the savings show up in the overall developer's costs?  Does it finally factor into a reduced green fee?  Or, is this construction technology factor something that is unquantifiable at the consumer level?

[Jeff_Brauer]

RJ,

I remember this line of questioning from someone last time we discussed this.  Of course, the contractor saves (after paying off the $100 k cost of technology in this system) but hopefully, in competitive bid situations, passes some of this to the Owner in the form of a lower bid.

It would really be a case by case basis as to whether the lower bid resulted in lower cost, or whether the Owner and Architect, faced with a little extra money, would find somewhere to spend it to improve the course otherwise.

Since I've been in this business, it seems like the real labor savers - like plastic pipe - usually offset other rising costs or allow us to put in more idrainage.  In the sense we used GPS, to review and usually reduce cuts and fills, the contractor would save the money, but of course, not all areas where we used it resulted in less cut and fill.  Some required more, and there was a trade out - thus, proably no net savings to anyone, but simply a better golf course.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Dear Dr.

A challenge to having the equipment know where to cut and fill would be getting a very accurate model of the existing topo to start with.  How do you create that?  Centimeter GPS?  Takes a long, long time and doesn't work so well under cover (most of the GPS applications used for as-builts, and for clearing, are the sub-meter systems - easy to use).  How about Lidar - Last I checked, it came with a hefty, hefty price tag.
So lets say you forked it over.
Next challenge.  Have the architect convert his thoughts to ones and zeros.  Getting an architect to purchase and use something like 3d-max (what they use to partially create video games) - good luck.  The generic software is too clumsy for the Treehouses favorite architects to get any kind of subtle features.
Total investment - $50,000 lidar mapping
Great Software & Hardware $30,000
Learning curve - we'll if it took someone 10 years to learn some of there abilities in the field..... (actually computer time)
Don't get me wrong I'd love to use it, but it won't work when creating a bunker or green.  I heard it works for tee surfaces.

When I worked for Lockheed Martin I would design a part or assembly completely within modeling software.  Down to the .001 of an inch.  Analyze it's strength, weight, thermal properties and vibrational mode properties.  Then have it manufactured using my same model precisely to that very same .001 of an inch.  The manufacturer was very, very talented.  The entry prices are very, very high.  And the existing material properties and dimensions were an exact quantity and expertly set up.

Cad and GPS are much better suited for design and not manufacture (for now).

Now if you had a huge sterolithography machine that could use dirt as it's material.....

[RJ_Daley]

Apparently as Jeff states, we had this line of questioning already.  Somehow, I just don't remember it focusing on cost savings or value passed on to the golf consumer.

Mike's information about LIDAR and 3-d applications in GCA to address subtlty in contouring and shaping brings about the obvious questions.  I really hope that Doak also jumps into this.  I can't help but wonder if the sites DR Kildare is speaking about in OZ and NZ aren't comparable to Kidnappers and Barnbougle.  And if so, what would Doak say to use of the high tech equipment to help construct the courses, and what methods he used for shooting grades, doing cut and fill math balancing, etc.  

As I hinted in my post above, I wonder where the advantage in terms of consumer cost value is in contrasting the high tech approach to the light touch, minimalist, and traditional craftmanship working methods of skilled and experiences shapers.  As Jeff mentions, if there is advantage and cost savings in one area, it may be simply rearranged in the cost structure to add to other areas like more drainage, etc.  But, Doak must have a good contrast in his two projects from the relatively big earthworks at Texas Tech to the light touch at Pac Dunes, or his Oz-NZ efforts.  

Bottom line, are we getting a better designed product with the high tech at an affordable advantage to the consumer, or not?

[Bye]

My uses right now are pretty low tech and used only 2D, although currently I do have a contractor purchasing some dozer mounted equipment.

As far as costs are concerned, the developer is paying for the flagging. And one way or another, the developer always pays! Just using it for flagging is a great help. Weve used it for centerlines, clearing, wetlands, roads, utilities.....

Once you've used it, you'll never go back to the old methods!

[Mike Vegis @ Kiawah]

This is opposed to the Pete Dye method of getting on a bulldozer and moving dirt until it looks and feels right...

[Forrest Richardson]

GPS construction methods are here to stay. The most common use currently is tee leveling. GPS and elevational data is supplied to tractor blades and exact elevations — level even! — can be expertly created with little question and great ease.

Geometry — i.e., "horizontal layout" — is a mainstay in nearly every project being constructed.

More complex data — slopes and shaping — will come along. However, it is impractical to design every square foot of a golf course. Some architects aren't good at creating plans. These architects rely primarily on field work. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. My guess is that clients will demand more and more projects be detailed in design as this will enable permitting, environmental entitlements, etc.

Also, in remodeling, exact data and drawings will eliminate much of the discussion we live through on this site. Why? As courses today are built they will be modeled in digital dats and viola! — a record of what was built is not arguable any longer.

[Richard Chamberlain]

Although its early days, I understand the construction company using the full GPS system will quote much cheaper than the traditional pegging method, purely from a time saving point of view. Whether this is passed on down the line, resulting in cheaper green fees, I doubt it.

For a golf course where most of the site requires earthworks it's a massive assistance, but on a Barnbougle or minimal earthworks job..no way.

At this stage the main focus is on the bulk earthworks process. There will always be on site adjustments and the personal touch of designers and shapers.

As far as a better product at the end of the line...No, just faster. Another advantage is that as the dozers shape the site, the as-built survey is done as they progress.

I believe its here to stay though.