Technology in Architectural Practice

This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Committee of Corporate Architects and Facility Management and Technology in Architectural Practice .
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Has anyone come across apps for the Android or iPad that work well for collecting building assessment information?  Ideally the information would be tagged to floor plans and have the ability to include reference photos.

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Bart Trudeau AIA
President
TRUDEAUarchitects PLLC
Latham NY
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Bart:

I'm not sure how detailed you get with your assessments. We go pretty deep. We put out an RFP for a mobile facility assessment tool that incorporated some form of reporting and data integration. We picked up ePlanAssess and, while not pefect for us out of the box, they seem to have a pretty good system for the money. They customized the software for us at a very reasonable price. We can attach photos and reference floor plans in ePlanAssess reports.

http://www.eplansoft.com/products/e-planassessment/

How is the assessment data going to be used, and how sophisticated is the user? ePlan reports will export to Excel, but require heavy modification before commencing with data integration. The modifications required are not for the inexperienced.

If you are seeking a more robust solution for a client with a massive portfolio, then you will want to consult with them on the data integration process into their CAFM or CMMS system. You may want to consider Maximo if your wallet is heavier than say, a sack of concrete, or if your wallet is heavier than an armored truck, Tririga. Both solutions from IBM have mobile technology plug-ins.

There are a couple other apps that are ALMOST there, but their developers do not have the appetite to tackle the asset management marketplace. One such app is Prolog by Meridian. They have an excellent iPad interface and handle plans and photos great.

Hope this helps.

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Gordon Rogers AIA
EAS Department Executive
Kitchell CEM, Inc.
Sacramento CA
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PlanGrid is an excellent app. Can access it on the web as well. I think you get 50 pages with a free account. It's mainly intended for contractors for punch lists but it has worked great for us for existing building assessments. Can enter in notes and tag them on pdf's of plans and then tag photos you take right from the app and it keeps everything tagged to the location you touched. It's pretty sweet.

Note that linking into someone else's project, it counts against your available pages. So if their project has 20 sheets, your available count goes down by 20. When you unlink, you get them back. So if you only have 50 free, use them wisely. The paid accounts are fairly costly.

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Pamela Leonard AIA
Architect
Canizaro Cawthon Davis
Jackson MS
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-28-2014 17:29
From: Bart Trudeau
Subject: Apps for Building Assessment

This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Committee of Corporate Architects and Facility Management and Technology in Architectural Practice .
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Has anyone come across apps for the Android or iPad that work well for collecting building assessment information?  Ideally the information would be tagged to floor plans and have the ability to include reference photos.

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Bart Trudeau AIA
President
TRUDEAUarchitects PLLC
Latham NY
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Mr. Trudeau, Are you familiar with Bluebeam Revu 12 [www.bluebeam.com]? In my opinion, it is the best and most powerful PDF software for the AEC industry, and I could see it being adapted well for building assessment. I have used it previously for punchlists and document reviews. The camera tool in its iPad app gives you the ability to take pictures and tag them to each room, in addition as you complete your walkthroughs. Photos are markups that can be exported into Excel, PDF, and other file formats. This link to a whitepaper about Bluebeam [http://goo.gl/qE1E0q] provides insight for how it could be adapted to your needs, and it includes a good example of the reports that can be exported. Another powerful feature is Bluebeam Studio which provides a real time collaboration capability for team members reviewing drawings, punchlists, etc. If you have investigated various web-based project information management (PIM) programs, Newforma Project Center and Project Cloud [www.newforma.com] has a collection of iPad apps that could be used for what you need. The drawback is that you need to have active projects using those programs to use the apps. One last app to consider might be Plangrid. [www.plangrid.com]. It's development has ballooned since I first looked at it years ago, but it is another cloud based collaboration app that can keep every project team member on the page and has integral photo and markup capabilities that can be tagged to rooms/ares in plans. I hope this information is helpful for you. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen Van Hoose AIA, CSI, CCS, NCARB Architect | Project Manager | Construction Administrator East Schodack NY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Message: Sent: 05-28-2014 17:29 From: Bart Trudeau Subject: Apps for Building Assessment This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Committee of Corporate Architects and Facility Management and Technology in Architectural Practice . ------------------------------------------- Has anyone come across apps for the Android or iPad that work well for collecting building assessment information? Ideally the information would be tagged to floor plans and have the ability to include reference photos. ------------------------------------------- Bart Trudeau AIA President TRUDEAUarchitects PLLC Latham NY -------------------------------------------

Mr. Trudeau, This link [http://goo.gl/fs6TgC] includes a short video showing how the Capture feature in Bluebeam Revu 12, mentioned in my last post, would be used to document existing conditions. Also, it shows the existing conditions reports that can be created. ------------------------------------------- Stephen Van Hoose AIA, CSI, CCS, NCARB Architect | Project Manager | Construction Administrator East Schodack NY -------------------------------------------
Original Message: Sent: 05-30-2014 09:20 From: Stephen Van Hoose Subject: Apps for Building Assessment Mr. Trudeau, Are you familiar with Bluebeam Revu 12 [www.bluebeam.com]? In my opinion, it is the best and most powerful PDF software for the AEC industry, and I could see it being adapted well for building assessment. I have used it previously for punchlists and document reviews. The camera tool in its iPad app gives you the ability to take pictures and tag them to each room, in addition as you complete your walkthroughs. Photos are markups that can be exported into Excel, PDF, and other file formats. This link to a whitepaper about Bluebeam [http://goo.gl/qE1E0q] provides insight for how it could be adapted to your needs, and it includes a good example of the reports that can be exported. Another powerful feature is Bluebeam Studio which provides a real time collaboration capability for team members reviewing drawings, punchlists, etc. If you have investigated various web-based project information management (PIM) programs, Newforma Project Center and Project Cloud [www.newforma.com] has a collection of iPad apps that could be used for what you need. The drawback is that you need to have active projects using those programs to use the apps. One last app to consider might be Plangrid. [www.plangrid.com]. It's development has ballooned since I first looked at it years ago, but it is another cloud based collaboration app that can keep every project team member on the page and has integral photo and markup capabilities that can be tagged to rooms/ares in plans. I hope this information is helpful for you. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen Van Hoose AIA, CSI, CCS, NCARB Architect | Project Manager | Construction Administrator East Schodack NY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

As one of the other respondents named, Newforma as a project management software tool has a host of apps for the iPad that integrate back into the office project databases.  Also as he said, probably cost prohibitive if you are looking for a one-time solution.

However, if you are interested in a long-term, project management software system that can support all of the documents and tasks architects are challenged with creating and managing, Newforma has worked well for us and the apps for the iPad continue to improve.  It's very helpful and time-saving to take a photo at the job site, drop it to a current drawing, type some associated field notes, and find it all on the system (and in the appropriate project files) when you get back and sit down at your desk.

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Mark Diekmann AIA
Project Architect
Hasenstab Architects, Inc.
Akron OH
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