Trimble announces new AI initiatives at record-breaking event

Rob Painter, Trimble CEO, at his keynote speech at Trimble Dimensions 2024

The announcements were made at the annual Trimble Dimensions event, which was attended by more than 7,000 people – the highest ever number for the event.

Aviad Almagor, vice president of technology and innovation at Trimble, said, “Our goal is to help customers do more with less, tackle key industry challenges and thrive in an increasingly complex industry.

“By incorporating AI into customer workflows, we’re enhancing decision-making and creativity, while also automating repetitive tasks to unlock new levels of efficiency.”

In a separate interview with Construction Briefing, which will be published in full at a later date, Almagor said that, in two years’ time, he expected that AI would be in almost every Trimble product.

The AI initiatives that Trimble showed included SketchUp Diffusion [Labs], a generative AI-powered tool available as part of the SketchUp Labs Program, allows architects and designers to create rendered images that inspire the creative process, communicate their vision and build alignment faster. Diffusion generates visualisations in seconds based on a natural language text prompt or a preset style to describe how the designer would like their 3D model and the surrounding environment rendered.

ProjectSight, Trimble’s project management software for construction contractors, offers a new AI-driven capability that brings automation to project management workflows. Trimble says that this frees up construction professionals to spend more time on critical tasks. The new drawing import feature in ProjectSight uses AI to read and extract critical drawing information for improved project visualization.

Another announcment was regarding Trimble LiveCount, which is now using new AI functionality to automatically detect and count thousands of symbols on construction drawings, saving contractors from hours of manual, repetitive and time-consuming tasks during takeoff.

The ability to automatically detect and count different types of receptacles and switches — the most common electrical items on blueprints — helps electrical contractors create estimates faster and more accurately.