!Restored: International or US version?

[archislave]

I am wondering what is the difference between the International and US version of Archicad?
Thanks!

[Karl Ottenstein]

The library and the default startup files (e.g., imperial vs metric, default attributes, etc.) AFAIK.

Karl

[Anonymous]

...and the 0 story. It would be nice if this were a file level preference for firms that do work in both the US and elsewhere.

[Ignacio Azpiazu]

Matthew wrote:
...and the 0 story. It would be nice if this were a file level preference for firms that do work in both the US and elsewhere.

As you pointed out some time ago, in the US version the Element Information window gives the story information as International (elements in Story 2 will be shown in the palette as belonging to Story 1, etc.). Oh this is so ugly and confusing and bad.

[Djordje]

Matthew wrote:
...and the 0 story. It would be nice if this were a file level preference for firms that do work in both the US and elsewhere.

Quite so ...

There must be a historical reason, but why is the ground floor in the US called first floor?

ArchiCAD wise, it does not really matter as long as you know that the problem could happen.

[Anonymous]

Djordje wrote:
There must be a historical reason, but why is the ground floor in the US called first floor?

Though I don't know the real history, I would guess that it comes from zero = none and identifying a building's main floor as nothing seems a bit odd. There is also consistency with one story buildings, room numbering conventions, etc.

The 0 story convention seems more consistently rational, but it lacks some of the naturalness of the first floor one enters being called the 1st floor. It seems similar to the metric/imperial difference.

[Thomas Holm]

Djordje is right. The historical reason is that here in Europe, since the stone age, we didn't use floors on the ground. We used the ground itself, raw stamped earth. (German: Erdgeschoss) Then, when we wanted higher buildings, we had to start by building stairs. This is especially obvious here in Sweden, where what in the US is called Second Floor is named One Stair (literally translated). Since that was the first built floor of the building, it later got that name, and the lower one became Ground Floor.

But in the US, where people from the beginning wanted higher standard, they decided to use floors on the ground too. Thus, they put the First Floor on the ground. This habit was later imported to Europe, when people got a little more rich, but the name Ground floor was retained as not to confuse those who didn't understand Swedish.

Nowadays, when the US invention of elevators has gotten more common over here, we've run into problems with the stair-counting. Elevator-counting isn't as practical, I think.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Thomas. That makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Matthew, in US elevators the ground floor is marked as 1? not 0? or G.F?
I mean the button you press to go to the groundfloor , what does it write?

[Anonymous]

oreopoulos wrote:
Matthew, in US elevators the ground floor is marked as 1? not 0? or G.F?
I mean the button you press to go to the groundfloor , what does it write?

Yes the button is often marked "1". Though it may also be "L" for lobby, "G" for ground, and so on. It can get confusing in buildings on sloping sites, or where the main floor is not the ground floor, or in buildings with mezzanines, and when multiple parking levels are involved. Of course there is also no 13th floor.