Going "Paperless"

[Anonymous]

OK. So, what's the news on Electronic Plan Submittal, EPS?

Is it time to design an EPS package, or system of preparation of building "plans" in a format that Building Officials can read on their own monitors in their own work stations, thus eliminating paper, and the delivery of paper plans?

It occurs to me that many aspects of building plan review do not need to be displayed at a large scale, thus a normal computer monitor could function well for plan review. For example the path of travel for building egress could easily be shown diagrammatically.

Links to structural connections, and to special room dimensions could be shown on a "key plan" format for display which would fill the monitor screen, but needn't be a conventional plan with notes and dimensions. Notes would be hyper-linked to other screen views.

Building Departments could have plans printed "on demand" by outside vendors, as needed, rather than submitting multi-page sets of plans in multiple sets, as we do now, saving multiple trips to multiple Departments, ...and time.

A cursory search shows nothing on this important topic. I sense I've missed earlier posts on this topic, but if not, ...what cities and companies are leading the charge to the inevitable Electronic review and approval of building "plans" and who is doing the work? And what have we missed so far?

Is this a thread in ArchiCAD-Talk that I've missed?

[Anonymous]

Aussie wrote:

I saw it often, that until the guy swinging the hammer on the job site has an electronic reader, I don't see paperless construction anytime soon.

Lets be real here. When was the last time you saw a guy swinging a hammer looking at a piece of paper

Well "wielding a nail-gun" is more likely nowadays. I have worked with plenty of tradesmen who look at drawings and even carry them around when necessary (as well as having been one myself). Do you think a Sony eBook is going to be easier than stuffing a copy of a fax into the tool belt?

[Anonymous]

Dwight wrote:
...then they nailed it to the wall with a single 4" spike through the middle.
I was flattered, because, once it is hung on a wall, anything is art.

Try that with a laptop.

[TomWaltz]

Matthew wrote:
Well "wielding a nail-gun" is more likely nowadays.

If they were like some CAD users, they'd be using that nail gun's back end as a hammer instead of turning it on.

[Dwight]

I'm sure that Macintosh will come up with it.

They'll put it right between the volume and the NUMLOK.

They'll call it the "Apple Hole"

Once the two remaining PC manufacturers see it, (after those devatating cool guy versus nerd guy ads - who would buy a PC?) they'll steal it, naming it the "Gates Gap."

[TomWaltz]

Matthew wrote:

Dwight wrote:
...then they nailed it to the wall with a single 4" spike through the middle.

Try that with a laptop.

I'm sure you could do that with a laptop quite nicely.... it was quite tempting with the last Dell I owned.

[Dwight]

If soldiers can use laptops in the field, so will the building trades, but in a form suitable to their physical challenges.

It will probably get built into a toolkit with an integral printer. If you've seen the new Bosch power box, you can see where this is going. I see: Power Ghetto BlasterBox, Cell phone station with full time internet connection for surfing during coffee break, live interactive building model display, and site latte maker, with mood work lighting.

[Anonymous]

Going digital means software manufacturers must give patent implied warranties, they must be liable. At the moment we are using software at our own risk. In an electronic witual world this will have to change,

[Dwight]

Why would that be?

[TomWaltz]

Dwight wrote:
Why would that be?

I think at the very least, they would have to be liable for the integrity of the data. What if 5 years from now your contract is saved as a PDF and PDFReader R15 decides to mangle it?

[Dwight]

Well, what if?

And, from time-to-time software companies cease to be so "Warranty? What warranty?
So, not only does Digital equal a potential fake, but a temporary one at that.

In the next fifteen years:

1: reliable storage media
2: Universal non-obsolete filing/recording system.

Else?