Software Updates

Embeded Google Earth in Web Pages

Google has just released an API, or application programmer’s interface for Google Earth that allows website developers to embed a google earth application in any website. Users will have to have Google Earth installed on their systems and they will need a plugin which aside from a browser restart, installs rather painlessly. So now instead of seeing a Google map embedded on a web page, you will start seeing an instance of Google Earth so you can pan around in 3D. Pretty Cool. Check out an example and some video from Google after the break.

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Software Updates

ADAMA Software Updates – MSEW and ReSSA

ADAMA Software has released several updates to their popular MSE Wall design software and Reinforced Soil Slope software packages. Update 9 to MSEW 3.0 was posted on April 25. The changes include several updates related to the AASHTO 2007 code, and the option to use either the Simplified Method (AASHTO) or the Coherent Gravity Method (CGM). And there is now an option for considering live load (LL) in calculating Tmax for strength and connection but ignoring it for pullout.

Update 2.2 to ReSSA 3.0 was posted yesterday, May 5 after several itterations of the update were posted during the month of April.  The update includes a fix for handling geometries where multiple points have the same X-coordinate but different Y-coordinates. It also allows for the specification of a vertical seismic coefficient as well as a horizontal one. And the latest updates allow the inclusion of the safety map in the printout, include modified calculations of reinforcement quantities, and allow user-selected colors for reinforcement layers that now shows up in the printout too. Click through for the download link.

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Software Updates

RockWorks 14 Software Released

It’s been a busy month for geo-software. RockWare has announced Version 14 of its popular RockWorks software package, a subsurface data visualization software tool that can handle maps, cross-sections, logs, fence diagrams, 3-D stratigraphic models and volumetrics. A new single-user license is $2,499 and the upgrade price for a single-user license from RockWorks 2006 is $399 (US$). Highlights of a few new features, more images and links after the break. (Images from RockWare – rockware.com)

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Software Updates

Geo-Studio 2007 Version 7.1 Released

On April 10, GeoStudio 2007 version 7.1 was released, a significant service pack update. There are numerous bug fixes and some major improvements. Geo-Slope claims that the overall speed of the product is faster when switching between analyses and views, a welcome change. There are some nice changes to the way Sketch Text is handled, which makes it easier to handle annotation of multiple analyses. And something interesting that’s new in SLOPE/W that allows you to specify a “Spatial Mohr-Coulomb” model which allows unit weight, cohesion and friction angle to vary across the geometry as a function of x and y. I can’t think of a case where I would have used such a model, but it is very intriguing. More features listed after the break along with links.

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Software Updates

ReSSA Major Update and MSEW Update

The downloads page at ADAMA Engineering lists an update (Number 1) for ReSSA 3.0. I have not even heard anything about the release of version 3.0, and even other pages on their website only mention ReSSA 2.0 as the latest version. As soon as I hear anything about the new version and its additional features, I’ll be sure to post the info here. ReSSA is software for the design of reinforced soil slopes or RSS.

An update for the MSE wall design software MSEW was also released recently. This update is number 8.1 and primarily updates the way reinforcement database files are referenced, allowing the location of the database file currently in use to be stored in the project file. After recently completing a major MSE wall review using MSEW, all I can say is halleluia! I had to manually locate the database file for every single one of my old runs. This should be a nice fix.

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Software Updates

Rockscience Releases Settle3D Software

Rockscience, Inc. of Toronto CA is perhaps best known (as their name implies) for their software related to rock slopes and tunneling, such as Dips, Slide, Swedge, Examine3D and others. However their latest software product, Settle3D is for settlement analysis in soils. Read on for some features and screen shots. 

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