15 years ago I worked for a timber company. They used lasers to measure the boards as they were cut.

>It's changing around us.
>Have you spent any time in the tool dept of Home Depot lately?
>I did and came away dazzled. Almost everything there, except a sledgehammer, is "smart."
>
>I spent some time talking with a bulldozer operator today.
>A 30 year vet of the building trades union.
>He told me the dozer he uses now has built in GPS and has digital controls.
>The digital site plan is loaded into an onboard computer which guides him thru the grading. The computers reading the GPS data tell him when the grade is at the proper pitch, at the right height, etc,
>He can get precision within one centimeter in any direction.