SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS

The engineers are using a software package developed at Virginia Polytechnic Institute that gives them detailed 3-D views of the rock exposed in the excavation.

Called the "geotechnical Visualization Tool", or gVT, the technology converts imagery of millions of rock-surface points collected by a laser scanner into an easily manipulated permanent digital record.

The scan data, at a resolution of 5 millimeters, provides information the software program packages into enormous visualizations incorporating up to nearly 32 feet of excavated tunnel, officials said. Engineers then use gVT to spot potential hazards to both the tunnel and the construction crews before weaknesses in the rock trigger a collapse.

The information is so detailed it allows researchers to observe separating rock layers and the orientation of fractures. Engineers can even recreate sections of rock after they have fallen, allowing them to determine where and how to safely drill.

Jeramy Decker, a co-developer of gVT with Joseph Dove, presented the new technique last week in San Francisco during the 42nd U.S.-Canada Rock Mechanics Symposium.

 BREAKING STORIES

MPAA suing over RealDVD software

Calif. official calls for voting reforms

Age estimation software is created

Motorola sues four former employees

Google and T-Mobile set to challenge Apple

Report: Man sold fake documents on Web

Gates, wife, father receive doctorates

New Microsoft ads target diversity

Poll: Cloud computing offers convenience

TSX closes up on BlackBerry-Microsoft deal

Muslim group decries computer game

Microsoft will keep Zune in production

Home warning system for cardiac patients

Seinfeld ads only part of Microsoft push

FDA OKs Medtronic defibrillator upgrade

Microsoft readies new Internet Explorer

Software aims to help wi-fi security

More reported data breaches this year

Asthma monitoring on the Web being created

New X-ray analysis spots early cavities