Mathew Bittleston, S.E. - Information & Links

Useful Structural Information & Links

Government and Code

Federal Emergency Management Agency: FEMA: Earthquake Safety at Home; FEMA: What to do before an earthquake
US Geological Survey: Recent Earthquakes; US Seismic Design Maps seismicmaps.org; US Seismic Design Maps (web application). Most useful for design right now is the seismic maps tool by SEAOC/OSHPD listed above.; Site class map for soil types in San Francisco Bay Area. An out of date road map is superimposed on the map, but no street names are given, so it's a bit of a detective game to figure out locations; but it's a good first pass.
Association of Bay Area Governments: Earthquake & Hazards Program; Liquefaction Maps & Information
State of California: Safety Assessment Program Resources; California Building Codes; California Building Code 2010; California Building Code 2016; California Building Code 2019; DSA IR Manual; OSHPD Preapproval of Anchorage (OPA); OSHPD CANs and PINs; California Emergency Management Agency; Department of Consumer Affairs License Lookup
City of San Francisco: San Francisco Building Code 2010; San Francisco Building Code 2016

Associations

Structural Engineers Association of Northern California: What is a Structural Engineer?; How to Fix My Home
ASCE: Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE

Useful Links

Software: USGS Ground Motion Parameter Calculator; Alex Tomanovich writes some great Excel sheets. I use his ASCE 7 Wind calculation spreadsheet.
International Code Council: Evaluation Reports
“Wet” Signatures on Drawings: Many people are still asking for “wet” signed drawings when submitting them to an approval agency. The Board for Professional Engineers has allowed the signature to be applied either by hand or electronically (section 411 (e) of the Board Rules).
Latitude and Longitude from Google Maps: The ground motion maps from USGS require coordinates for the building, which can be obtained from google maps. Go to the sprocket in the top right corner and select “Maps Labs”. Enable “LatLng Marker”. You can now right click anywhere on a map and select “Drop LatLng Marker”.
Wind Speed maps: The wind speed maps in ASCE 07 are practically illegible, they are so small, and they've included no city/freeway/etc information on them. ATC have put together a nice web-based tool that uses latitude and longitude: Windspeed by Location.
Engineering Degree Guidance: A web site providing brief information about many different branches of engineering -- it even has information about structural engineers (the lesser-talked about cousin of Civil engineering): https://engineeringdegreeguides.org/.
Kid's Guide to Engineering: A short article on engineering, aimed at children: https://www.mapcon.com/us-en/kids-guide-to-engineering.
Celebrating Women in Engineering: A list of 25 Innovative Female Engineers throughout history. I've had the privelige to be mentored by some incredible female engineers (among them Helena Kozler - one of the first women licensed structural engineers in California, and Tonya Kollmeyer): https://engineeringmanagement.org/women-in-engineering/.