Construction Sector
Intro
For Grelot, a company that combines craftsmanship and the latest technologies within the construction and events market, we made an IoT implementation around a time-lapse service. We connected a cloud application with cameras on construction sites to collect photos throughout the construction period. Based on this set of photographs, we were able to create a time-lapse of the entire project at the end of the construction period.
Challenge
The challenge was to create time-lapse videos of yards intended for marketing purposes. Considering that this mostly involves a small (extra) service in a larger project, it is essential that the operational costs remain minimal in order to be profitable.
Solution
Previously, there was not more than a local setup that partly took care of this functionality. Our AWS cloud-based solution has made it possible for us to almost fully automate the process. Thanks to AWS Serverless technology, the solution is very scalable with minimal operational tasks. This service does not involve server management, container, high availability or scalability management.
Results
By optimally using the AWS Serverless pricing model, the solution even becomes profitable for a small number of customers. This allowed the company to further expand its customer base in a cost-efficient way. The MVP is currently serving various construction projects. In the second phase, the service is evolving in a fully self-service model towards Grelot’s customers.
Tools & Technologies
We mainly used serverless, cloud-native services within the AWS (Amazon Web Services) cloud such as Amazon API Gateway, Amazon Cognito, Lambda, S3 and DynamoDB. We worked with an Angular single page app distributed via Amazon CloudFront which connects to the camera management service. The notifications and Dropbox integration enabled the distribution to slack, mail or Dropbox itself.
