Digital Plans; Are We There Yet?

PipeGuy

What do you all think about the following observations:

1. "E" plans are not yet used/available on a wide enough scale to make spending a lot of money on wide format printers/plotters a smart move for the small to medium size contractor.

2. Plans provided in the PDF format
do little or nothing towards streamlining the estimating process.

3. Taking a set of paper prints and converting them to an electronic format is a costly and time intensive process; wether you're only talking about generating a simple image or a complex data file.

Do you think traditional blueprints will go the way of the surveyors transit in the next 5 years? If so, do you think one electronic format or another will emerge as the industry standard?

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Fortunately I keep my feathers numbered for...for just such an emergency. -Foghorn Leghorn

dayexco

to show you what we have online to work with, i pulled up the measure/count toolbar down and measured that fire hydrant lead and saved it to my clipboard to post here. things you're counting, measuring, show up green. we find it very, very handy, and with a big screen like yours, would be super. i have zoomed this in quite a bit as you can see.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
someday, i'll be as patient as Nick.

denick

Pipe,

Will we have 42" monitors in the field as reference units for the e-prints? I really can't stand getting full size prints by email and having to scroll all over and back.

There are so many guy's who can't read a print in the business now. Will this help?

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Nick

"Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving" Albert Einstein

PipeGuy

Is the application you're using provided by the plan service you subscribe to? If so, does the application read a variety of e-formats?

__________________
Fortunately I keep my feathers numbered for...for just such an emergency. -Foghorn Leghorn

PipeGuy

That's a good question - I for one don't see having expensive monitors in the field.

Do you really see guys in the business who can't read prints?! If so, that's insane. I don't see how having the plans displayed by a computer will help someone much if they haven't the skills/knowledge to understand what they're looking at.

__________________
Fortunately I keep my feathers numbered for...for just such an emergency. -Foghorn Leghorn

denick

A 3D projector maybe?

How easy would that be if you could see a 3D model of what you are going to build right where you are going to build it.

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Nick

"Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving" Albert Einstein

PipeGuy

Holograms? Now there's a cool idea That might not be as futuristic as one might imagine.

__________________
Fortunately I keep my feathers numbered for...for just such an emergency. -Foghorn Leghorn

dayexco

yes, they provide you with fast bid viewer, and what formats it's good for, i haven't a clue

__________________
someday, i'll be as patient as Nick.