Cost-effective alternative for DWG processsing and visualization

Technology is becoming increasingly essential, and every industry is adopting innovations to increase productivity and efficiency. The construction sector is one of those.

The construction industry has been relatively slow to embrace technology, but it has still paved the way for progress. New technology has become an integral part of reducing workplace injuries, improving productivity and pushing the sector toward the future.

One main issue in the construction business is the need to transform the architectural plan to the physical world, hence, to mark each and every element in the construction site. This process is cumbersome due to several reasons:

1. The average number of points to be marked per floor is about 5000.

2. The required maximal error for each point is 3mm, i.e., every marked point should be up to 3mm away from the actual true location.

3. This work is mostly done manually by a surveyor, which results in labor costs.

The product I’ve taken part in is a revolutionary laser projector that automatically marks large areas of the construction plan onto the surface, may it be a floor, a ceiling or a sidewall. Such a product requires a diverse team because it involves advanced optics, hardware design and software to wrap everything up for easy end-user access.

The standard in the construction industry that’s widely used by architects, home designers and construction managers is dwg format. It is the native format for several CAD packages including DraftSight, AutoCAD, BricsCAD, IntelliCAD (and its variants), Caddie and Open Design Alliance compliant applications.

Autodesk has been developing means to access, visualize and manipulate dwg files for the last two decades. However, to use its products, one must pay an annual subscription of 4000 USD per user. We were looking for a cost-effective and scalable alternative that provides the same functionality. We decided to fetch the contents of the files using a third-party library, Open Design Alliance. Then, load those contents as a geojson file to Google Maps, which would present them as a standard layer on top of its geospatial infrastructure. As a consumer of Google Maps, we gain all the native functionality and iOS/Android support for free.

In a competitive world, it’s important for companies to be able to embrace new technologies in an agile manner. As an entrepreneur, making flexible decisions without vendor-locking your tech stack will ensure your company will navigate better in the stormy sea of uncertainty. One clue for this change of mindset can be seen in the recent purchase of Figma by Adobe. In the networked world, more and more work is being done by geographically dispersed teams who have to collaborate online. And in that context, project management and the creation of workflows that are efficient, user-friendly and agile is moving center stage. As James Carville, Bill Clinton’s strategist, might have said: “It’s the workflow, stupid!”