Dive Brief:

• A report says a Google research team has been developing a cloud-based application intended to help architects and engineers in the design phase of construction.
• The application, known inside Google as Genie, would facilitate collaboration and would make the industry more efficient during design, construction and maintenance.
• The news report is based on what the website Globes says was a report from the development team top Google's co-founders.

Dive Insight:

The news report is brief, and there may be more to the Genie project than has come out so far, but the goal sounds very much like what the proselytizers of building information modeling (BIM) say is its whole value. BIM is about having everyone in the process input design and construction data and being able to look at buildings before work begins to spot conflicts and make more accurate materials estimates and orders. Google would hardly be the first in that market.