FieldProfessional fieldDesigner sketch

CADalyst, April, 2004 by H. Edward Goldberg

fieldProfessional

fieldDesigner Sketch

FieldDesigner

www.fielddesigner.com

FieldDesigner produces software products for automated field measurement, surveying, and in-field coordinate placement that work in conjunction with AutoCAD and Architectural Desktop. The company demonstrated both fieldDesigner Sketch and fieldProfessional at the show. FieldDesigner Sketch uses a hand-held laser range finder such as the Leica Disto (www.leica.com) to store site information that you later download to a computer to automatically create as-built 2D floor plans. FieldProfessional locates 3D objects from Architectural Desktop and ArchiCAD in the field. For example, the system can automatically locate and indicate the locations in the field where sprinkler heads should be by referencing a 3D CAD model on a tablet PC and using a laser beam emitted from a tripod. This bidirectional software (and hardware) helps surveyors automatically place, in real-time and on-site, any entity (building coordinates) directly from the CAD data.

H. Edward Goldberg, AIA, is a practicing licensed architect, industrial designer, and AEC industry analyst. Ed's new, full-length book, Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2004: A Comprehensive Tutorial (Prentice Hall, 2003), is available now (www.prenhall.com). Reach Ed at ed.gold berg@cadalyst.com. Or visit his Web site, www.hegra.org. Watch for his new AEC Web portal online in late spring 2004.