I said years ago that the dimension tools provided for ArchiCAD were incomplete, that one of the things needed was a tool that allowed totalled running dimensions for the calculation of fire certificate travel distances, (no fire certificate = no start on site) the March 2005 Tech Tip is the most irritating thing I have seen recently, not because Marc pointed it out, well done Marc, but because Graphisoft, even in writing up the tip, appear to have completely failed to recognise the importance of it as a tool.
Travel distances have to be shown on drawings, all it needs to be fully functional, and save an amount of time adding up individual distances, is a circle or dot at the start end of the polyline, an arrow at the exit end and the ability to plonk the dimension down adjacent to the arrow, and of course the ability to move the dimension so that all the dimensions ending at the same door don’t end up on top of each other.
The other dimension tool that’s missing (available in ArchiRuler by the way) is differing horizontal and vertical scales, another wonderful complication added by the planners who require mandatory sewer sections, why I don’t know, because all they seem to do with them is file them. It would be nice to be able to this in ArchiCAD instead of having to revert to AutoCAD where you can do it faster and without too much bother.