We tend to devote a lot of time and attention to the design and documentation process which is as it should be. The management of the process after construction starts, however, gets less attention. I believe hand held devices, tablets and the applications that are available for them are going to offer construction professionals a number of opportunities to save time and money beyond just making calls.
It is now possible to carry around a set of drawings on a hand held device or a tablet. Any device that can display a photo can display a drawing if that drawing image is in the same format as the photo, usually JPG. Drawings in a PDF file format can also be viewed on many devices. Image file sizes need to reasonable, of course, but in a JPG format they can be managed along side photos of job conditions and screen captures of documents that you bring to the screen of your device. If we start thinking of drawings as pictures then all of the image management, sharing and editing tools that are available on these devices suddenly become available to manage, share and edit drawing images.
The convenience and mobility of hand held devices is clear - even Underwriter's Labs now has an iPhone application. If we start to use these devices to make our drawings, sketches and noted photographs more readily available to more construction team members, on the job, in a meeting or in the showroom, I believe that in the end, it will help us produce a better quality product.
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Gordon B Arnold AIA
Irving TX
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