Textura, a Deerfield, Ill. manufacturer of construction collaboration software tools, has acquired Submittal Exchange, a provider of Integrated Project Collaboration (IPC) Software for exchanging, reviewing and archiving construction submittals, RFIs and other construction communications. Submittal Exchange's online system and advanced communication tools will extend Textura's existing product suite further upstream, offering new capabilities to a broader range of construction project owners, architects and designers, as well as new services to general contractors and subcontractors.  

The City of Cincinnati has joined Seattle-based  FlowWorks and is moving its environmental monitoring data onto the FlowWorks web platform where it will be securely stored, edited, analyzed and turned into actionable information.

BuildingIQ, an energy management software company, recently announced the availability of ManagerIQ, the latest addition to its growing suite of SaaS Predictive Energy Optimization applications. ManagerIQ enables the remote configuration, monitoring, and management of the BuildingIQ suite of energy applications for facilities, campus, and real estate portfolio owners, as well as BuildingIQ’s partners who implement and service the BuildingIQ product suite for multiple customers and multiple sites.

EC Software manufacturer Bentley Systems announced last week that it has completed its acquisitions of Pointools, Ltd., a Greater London-based manufacturer of point cloud technology, and FormSys, a Perth, Australia-based developer of 3D structural, offshore and maritime engineering software. Both announcements were made at Bentley’s Be Inspired Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Bentley also made several partnership announcements with collaboration and PDF software manufacturers Adobe Systems and Bluebeam Software and a cloud partnership with Microsoft.

The federal government and its geospatial partners today unveiled www.geoplatform.gov, a prototype Geospatial Platform website providing an initial view of the future of user-friendly, integrated, federal data collections on common geographic maps.

 MANCHESTER, N.H. — Newforma, a project information management (PIM) software company connecting worldwide architecture, engineering, and construction firms and the owners they serve, announced the commercial release of Newforma Punch List, a tablet app that improves the punch list process. The extension of the Newforma PIM solution to include field automation simplifies coordination, reduces risk and enhances connectivity among extended project teams. 

  FULLERTON, CALIF. — The design/build team of McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., and TAYLOR, are working with St. Joseph Health System to build a new patient tower, parking structure and central utility plant at the St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif. Located on the northern side of the existing medical campus at Bastanchury Road and Harbor Boulevard, site preparation has been underway since December 2010, and the new tower officially broke ground during a private ceremony on Sept. 25, 2011.

  REDLANDS, CALIF. — Esri CityEngine 2011, the latest version of Esri's software for creating high-quality 3D content, is now available. New key features of CityEngine 2011 include support for georeferenced data and an improved user interface.

 KENNESAW, GA. — Tekla announced a new version of Tekla BIMsight that it said offers improved collaboration tools for construction projects. As before, the BIM tool is available to download and share over the Internet for free.

 REDLANDS, CALIF. — Google Android users can now access data and mapping capabilities on their smartphones with the ArcGIS for Android application. ArcGIS for Android lets users find and share maps as well as deploy GIS data and functionality on Android devices. The free app is now available and can be downloaded directly from the Android Market.