The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), a national association dedicated to improving the communication of construction information, has unveiled Crosswalk, a tool that it says will permit greater levels of efficiency to each stage of the project and building life cycle.
“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. “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.”
Crosswalk enables construction technology platforms to connect through an application programming interface (API) that 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 will be the digital classification engine for the architecture, engineering, construction and owner (AECO) community, the institute said.
Potential uses for the tool can include supporting 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, Dorsey said.
“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,” he added. “These innovations can benefit the entire industry.”
