The semester group VG6/7 visited a BIM road construction project at MTS-Maschinentechnik Schrode AG as part of the module "Selected Chapters of Geomatics - Digital Construction Site".
At the BIM seminar in Böblingen last March, it was already agreed that digitization is one of the major challenges that not only society, but also business, science and administration must face. Many things must become smarter and more intelligent. This starts with smartphones, smart watches, Smart City, Building SMART and Smart Farming and goes all the way to Forest 4.0.
In order to meet these challenges, the sub-module "Digital Construction Site" has been offered in the module "Selected Chapters of Geomatics" at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences since the winter semester 2015/2016 for the 6/7 semester group. This year again, there were many interested students who chose this elective module.
On the last day of the week we went to the Swabian Alb to visit the "MTS - Maschinentechnik Schrode AG" in Hayingen. During the welcome, owner and managing director Rainer Schrode briefly introduced his group of companies over coffee and pretzels. Again, parts of the lecture were taken up and discussed, such as "What is digitalization?" and "What is the benefit of BIM? In this context, Rainer Schrode, deliberately somewhat provocative, questioned, "everything only holy BIMbam or simsalaBIM?", is a "4.0" enough to solve all problems?
The highlight of the day was a visit to the model building site in Erbstetten, the first BIM civil engineering site in Germany. There, at four different stations, it was clearly explained how the successful processing of a civil engineering project is successfully managed, executed, controlled and invoiced with the help of 3D+ (solution approach for a digital construction site from MTS). The stations were divided into the data preparation of the as-built and planning data, the 3D excavator control and its sensors, the AS-Built control and stakeout with the in-house MTS GNSS rover system and the "digital" site office with the work of the digital foreman on the BIM development plan.
The students of the bachelor course Surveying and Geoinformatics at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences would like to thank the owner and managing director Rainer Schrode for the great organisation of the seminar, the site inspection and the good supply during the very interesting day in Hayingen. Mr. Schrode's words encouraged reflection on the development and the importance of geodesists during the surveys accompanying the construction, because according to his statements he does not see any geodesists here in the near future. It is therefore particularly exciting to see what the future holds for the students, especially with regard to developments in pre-construction surveying and data modelling.
Another big thank you goes to the lecturer Dr. Alexander Beetz, who used the week to teach us students everything important about the Digital Construction Site and in the meantime created great interest in this field of work. The degree at MTS was exciting, and in our opinion also necessary to illustrate the connection between theory and practice. This week and the excursion provided a deep insight into the digital construction site and the associated construction machine control, so it is desirable that this module will continue to be offered in order to provide this insight for the coming semesters.
Marius Beißwenger, Maurice Huber and Prof. Dr. Gerrit Austen
