Voice to Text for Civil Engineers
Your job is designing infrastructure that lasts decades, not wrestling with keyboards. Technical reports, project specifications, site visit documentation, permit applications — the paperwork never ends. Blurt lets you dictate at the speed of thought. Hold a button, describe your observations or specifications like you would to a colleague, release. Your words appear wherever your cursor is — in AutoCAD notes, Word documents, email, anywhere. Stop typing what you could say in seconds.
The Typing Problem
Writing site visit reports after a long day in the field
You just spent eight hours walking a construction site in the heat. You documented drainage issues, checked rebar placement, and noted three deviations from the approved plans. Your notes are scribbled on paper and photos are on your phone. Now you need to type a formal site visit report before those details fade. Your hands are tired, your brain is full of observations, and the keyboard feels like punishment. You could dictate everything in fifteen minutes, but typing will take an hour.
Technical specifications that require precision and patience
The concrete mix design specification needs exact language. Compressive strength requirements, slump tolerances, curing procedures, testing protocols. You know every detail from memory — you've written similar specs dozens of times. But typing each parameter, each tolerance, each acceptance criterion character by character turns a mental fifteen-minute task into an hour of keyboard work. Your expertise is in the engineering, not the typing.
Design calculations narrative that accompanies structural analysis
The calculations are done. The software output is clean. But the narrative explanation — why you chose these load combinations, how you justified the assumptions, what engineering judgment went into the design — that part requires prose. Reviewers need to understand your thinking. Typing out the logic behind each decision takes longer than running the analysis itself.
Permit documentation that requires careful technical justification
The permit reviewer wants a detailed response explaining how your stormwater design meets the new regulations. You need to walk through the hydrological calculations, explain the retention pond sizing, justify the outlet structure design. This requires clear technical writing that connects engineering analysis to regulatory requirements. You could explain it perfectly in a phone call, but typing the response takes half a day.
Project correspondence that demands technical accuracy and professionalism
The contractor is asking about a field condition that differs from the drawings. You need to issue a formal response: describe the as-built condition, explain the engineering implications, provide a solution that maintains structural integrity while accommodating the change. Every word matters for liability. You know exactly what to say, but crafting it in writing takes three times longer than saying it.
How It Works
Blurt works in every tool civil engineers use — AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Word, Excel, Bluebeam, email. Anywhere you can put a cursor.
Hold your hotkey
Press your chosen shortcut. A small indicator shows Blurt is listening.
Talk naturally
Describe the site conditions, dictate the specification, explain the design decision. Blurt handles punctuation.
Release and done
Text appears at your cursor. No copying, no pasting, no extra steps.
Real Scenarios
Dictating site observation reports from the truck
You just finished walking the bridge abutment excavation. The soil conditions differ from the geotechnical report — you observed silty clay where the boring logs showed sand. Before starting the drive back, hold your hotkey and capture the observation: 'Site visit observation, March 15th. Excavation at north abutment revealed approximately four feet of silty clay with high plasticity, extending from elevation 342 to elevation 338. This differs from boring B-3 which indicated sand at this depth. Recommend additional soil testing before proceeding with foundation work. Photographs 47 through 53 document the exposed material.' Report drafted in 45 seconds while the observation is fresh.
Writing concrete specifications with precise tolerances
The structural drawings are done; now the spec section needs updating. Hold your hotkey and dictate: 'Section 03 30 00, Cast-in-Place Concrete. Concrete mix shall achieve minimum 28-day compressive strength of 4,000 psi. Slump shall be 4 inches plus or minus 1 inch at point of placement. Water-cement ratio shall not exceed 0.45. Air entrainment shall be 5 percent plus or minus 1.5 percent for all exterior exposed concrete.' Three paragraphs of specifications in under two minutes.
Adding design narrative to calculation packages
Your structural analysis is complete, but the calculation package needs the narrative that explains your engineering judgment. Hold and dictate: 'The beam was designed for a uniformly distributed dead load of 150 pounds per linear foot plus 100 pounds per linear foot live load. A 1.2 dead plus 1.6 live load combination governed the design. The beam was sized to limit deflection to L over 360 for total load, in accordance with project requirements for floor flatness.' Design logic captured without breaking your analytical flow.
Responding to permit review comments
The county reviewer flagged your stormwater calculations. Hold your hotkey and dictate the response: 'Response to Comment 7: The detention basin was sized using the Modified Rational Method per County Design Manual Section 4.3.2. The 100-year storm event produces a peak inflow of 45 cubic feet per second. With the proposed outlet structure consisting of a 24-inch culvert with inlet control, the maximum water surface elevation is 412.3 feet, which is 1.7 feet below the emergency spillway crest.' Technical justification written in 30 seconds.
Documenting field decisions for the project record
The contractor just called about exposed utilities that conflict with the proposed storm sewer alignment. You made a field decision to shift the pipe five feet south. Before you forget the details, hold your hotkey: 'Field decision memorandum, October 8th. Authorized five-foot southward shift of storm sewer between structures S-4 and S-5 to avoid conflict with existing 8-inch gas main. New alignment maintains minimum 18-inch vertical separation and does not affect downstream grades. Contractor to provide revised shop drawings for review.' Decision documented, liability protected.
Writing RFI responses with technical precision
The contractor submitted an RFI asking about the reinforcement at a complicated beam-column joint. Hold and dictate: 'RFI Response 47: At the intersection of Grid B and Grid 3, the column vertical reinforcement shall be continuous through the joint. Beam top reinforcement shall be hooked 90 degrees down into the column core with a minimum development length of 24 bar diameters. Bottom beam reinforcement terminates 3 inches from the far face of the column with standard hooks. See attached sketch for clarification.' Clear response in under a minute.
Adding notes to CAD drawings
Your Civil 3D drawing needs general notes. Instead of typing each note in the cramped text editor, hold your hotkey: 'Note 4: Contractor shall verify all existing utility locations prior to excavation. Minimum 48-hour notice required for utility locates. Any conflicts between proposed improvements and existing utilities shall be reported to the Engineer immediately.' Notes added without switching mental contexts between design and documentation.
Preparing meeting minutes during project coordination calls
You're on a coordination call with the owner, contractor, and utility companies. A critical decision just happened. Hold your button and quietly dictate: 'Owner confirmed that water main relocation will be completed by May 15th. This allows grading contractor to begin work in the northeast quadrant on May 20th as scheduled. Action item: utility company to provide written confirmation of completion date by Friday.' Decision captured without missing the next agenda item.
Why civil engineers choose Blurt over built-in dictation
| Blurt | macOS Dictation | |
|---|---|---|
| Activation | Single hotkey, instant start | Click microphone icon or double-tap control |
| Speed | Text appears in under 500ms | 2-3 second delay before transcription |
| Technical vocabulary | Handles engineering terms accurately | Struggles with rebar, PSI, geotechnical |
| Reliability | Consistent accuracy across long dictations | Often fails silently on longer passages |
| Workflow integration | Works identically in every app | Inconsistent behavior across applications |
Frequently Asked Questions
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