Why vectorise drawings and maps?

(By the way, I am no longer in this business and am not looking for vendors or customers, particularly tirekickers.)

Paper to CAD, 'dumb' image to 'smart' vector file, quantifiable, modifiable, conversion from paper map or drawing to vector CAD or shape file.

Main Site

Firestop Site

Code Evaluations AVAILABLE!

Glossary of Fire Protection Terms

3M Fire Barriers

Vectorising Drawings and Maps; Paper to CAD

Circuit Integrity Fireproofing

Bounding

Code Req's for Firestops

Essay on Performance Based Codes

Master Spec. Section 07840 Firestopping

Related Sections to 07840

Penetration Seal Drawings

Building Joint Drawings 1

Building Joint Drawings 2

Building Joint Drawings 3

History of Firestops in North America

Warnock Hersey Experience

Firestop Trade Jurisdiction

Achim Hering Bio

Man Made Mineral Fibres

Fire Protection Industry Links

Firestop Products and Equipment

Firestop Mortar

Firestop Silicone Foam

Intumescent Products

Endothermic Products

Insulation Products

Caulking & Paint Firestops

Firestop Pillows

Firestop Devices

Firestop Slide Show 1 of 10 Basics

Firestop Slide Show 2 of 10 Code

Firestop Slide Show 3 of 10 No Seal

Firestop Slide Show 4 of 10 Deemed-to-comply

Firestop Slide Show 5 of 10 Misinstalled

Firestop Slide Show 6 of 10 Re-entered

Firestop Slide Show 7 of 10 Faulty Spec.

Firestop Slide Show 8 of 10 Proper Firestops

Firestop Slide Show 9 of 10 Test

Firestop Slide Show 10 of 10 Smoke and Trays

Sample Firestop Listing

Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning; Boiling-Hot Pressure Washing

ULC           UL

T O S

(Theory of Survival)

DIBt

TU Braunschweig iBMB

CONTACT


Why convert 'dumb' images (scans/tifs/jpgs/bmp's or paper "flat files") into vector files or shape files?

This is not a short page. But if you want to know what it's about and you have the attention span, it's in your interest to read it all. Years of experience and problem prevention for free!

1 Save money! Raster images or paper drawings are very costly in the long run. That's why nobody designs by hand anymore. Modifications, file retention, file sharing, data extraction and quantification of items on the drawings or maps are all easier and more accurate in digital format. Paper (flat files) and scanned images are a thing of the past, never to return, like the slide rule or vinyl records. Their time is gone. We have evolved past 'dumb' images.

2 Save time! Are you good at your business? A vectorisation service must become great at vectorisation, polygoning and web-hosting. First one becomes good, then fast. This is what they do for a living. Consequently, conversion service consumers can save time as well as money compared to doing it themselves. In my experience, however, it is useful to avoid third world vendors or those who purport to sell for them elsewhere. Don't waste your time or money. Unless you vectorise for a living, you will not be as good or cost-effective at it as those who earn their living with it - preferably in a NATO country, where you can actually go and see the work being done - not a clearing house that resells work from the third world, regardless of how seductive the pricing may seem at first. Successful vectorisation services have developed their own specialised software that is updated and massaged on a regular basis. Some services, however, use off-the-shelf software. There are patents on some of them or aspects of these programs. Unless these routine software updates based on a constant conversion workflow are your business, you will most likely be less efficient at it than those who do this for a living. After the software conversion of the scanned image (tif, jpg, bmp etc.) comes a great deal of manual editing, which has to be fast and of high quality so that conversion service customers can focus on the creative work - and leave the 'grunt-work' of conversions to the conversion service. It follows, that such services also offer a drafting service to do updating (change orders) as well, since not all conversion service customers are proficient in ordinary CAD use, or have available resources to do this work. Outsourcing is generally more cost-effective and faster than doing it yourself. Mind you, not all conversion services are created equally. Some are better than others. Caveat emptor, just like with anything else you spend money on.

3 Don't lose information! Each generation of dumb imaging prior to a true vector file (dwg, dgn or a shape file/GIS-ready) suffers in quality. Aperture cards and microfiche, for example, are like a photograph. Granted, for between $0.31 through $2.00 you can have the card converted to a tif image. But, it is still a 'dumb' image ('dumb' because you cannot automatically quantify anything on it, attribute or make changes, as you would when we start out with a CAD file) that has to be re-drawn the instant that modifications become necessary to the facility because nobody draws by hand anymore. Multiple generations of dumb imaging are like this: first you draw the map or drawing. Then you copy it. Then you copy it again. Then you scan it. Then you print it. Then you photograph it and turn it into microfiche or some other analogue abomination. Then you scan that and put it into a pdf file. Each generation of 'dumb' imaging is worse than the one before, and that's without the damage you might do to it through coffee stains, creases, tearing, scotch-taping, natural ageing etc. This leads to the following inescapable economics:

3.1 Fictitious Example in US Dollars: D size building drawing: to manually re-draw: 12-15 man-hours. Say 14 hours x $50.00/hour = $700.00. Whether this is done by in-house staff or an outside consultant, it's still 4.7 TIMES AS EXPENSIVE as a conversion service charging, for example $150.00 (prices may vary from one service to another and also with the density of information on the sheet, clarity, etc. There are economies of scale as well. 500 drawings or maps are likely cheaper to have converted per sheet, than one single item, for which a specification must be absorbed etc. This also frees up your draftsperson to do other (more creative) work!

4 Avoid Deterioration (and the art of wide format scanning): First you have a paper or transparency drawing. That necessarily deteriorates over time. Remember that: Paper will eventually be illegible and unmanageable. You try to lift it and have a chunk of it in your hand. It will not last. Even lamination does not save flat files from deterioration through sunlight. No matter what you do, you will not save the flat file indefinitely. With some clients, drawings can also have a tendency to 'grow legs' or get damaged during renovations, fires etc. This means a loss of information. Re-drawing from scratch makes this really expensive then because now you get to measure in the field - at least measure what you can see. Add to that the various obsolete storage means: There are the aperture cards, raw scans (tifs), microfiche, etc. Then the 'dumb' image can be imported into pdf or some other format, again risking a further deterioration in quality in some cases. The quality of those 'dumb' images depends on the equipment and operator who takes the snapshot of the original drawing. Experience suggests that there is a gradient of quality. Just because you have the drawing on an aperture card or even a tif file, this most certainly does NOT mean that it's actually useful. Hopefully you've kept the paper original! A lot depends on the shape the original is in. But even with great scanning equipment, often more than one scan is required to actually produce an image that can be converted. Resolution and brightness can have a large effect. Scanning @ 400dpi or greater is strongly recommended. Default photocopying resolutions for drawings are usually set to 200dpi. That may be fine for making a plain copy for field instructions. But that may not be enough for vectorising. Thus some folks may think they have great scans, but how useful each one is, is a very individual thing. Not all scans are equal. Some people scan at 100 dpi or less and then bellyache about the results or the messenger, such as the vectoriser who says to do it again so that it's useful. That can also be a problem because someone may have dictated the low resolution for the scans in order to save money on computers. Scanning in a lot of drawings takes space on the computer after all. Those who did that, may be uncomfortable admitting this, especially if their computers are out of date and who would want to open that can of worms? We're only human. Also, not all wide format scanners are created equal! Even low-end small format scanners can reach colour resolutions of 1200dpi for little money. For reasons that totally escape me, wide format colour scanning makes for a very expensive box (piece of office imaging equipment). Usually people buy combinations, printer + scanner = copier. For $30,000.00 to $60,000.00 you can get into an entry level printer/scanner combination. But if you want high resolution scanning or colour scanning, you need more money. If you want both, like you need for colour maps, bring lots more money! Many of the boxes out there only go up to 400dpi and of course those whose limit that is will say that that is all that is required (which makes sense for plain photocopying @ 200dpi - usually a 400dpi scan can be great for vectorising too, but every now and then one encounters a nasty original that needs more...). Other scanners go up to 600 and very few go up to 1200 or even 2400dpi. And if you want colour with that, you better have a lot of money. Also, the software that lets the user run the scanner from the PC and also additional software for "cleaning up" scanned images, is a big factor. Unless you own that box and possibly make a living running it, you're at a disadvantage compared to the professional who does. If you think, just running the sheet though the machine is all it takes (and so it would seem when you see promotional material from the box vendors), you may be sorely mistaken in the case of poor originals in particular. And that is an understatement begging for anatomical expletives. If you vectorise for a living, own a decent and recent box and have a good handle on the software and how best to clean up images (getting rid of background junk and folding lines, coffee stains, bird droppings, etc., de-skewing photographs that were taken at an angle or de-skewing warped or twisted drawings - that's photogrammetry, its own art that good vectorisers are better off knowing - not all of them do, though most claim to), you have a distinct advantage that may become apparent in the work. Just like any computer work: "Garbage in -> Garbage out!" If you're an engineer or architect and you make your living designing or running facilities, or drawing new maps or a geologist or whatever, but your professional training and aims in life are not to specialise in the field of scanning in order to vectorise (not just scanning at some reproduction shop without concern for vectorisation at a later date), you would have a big learning curve (for which you are unlikely to have time, resources or interest). Also, a high speed wide format reproduction shop with decent equipment does not typically have any idea or interest in what it takes to scan for the purposes of vectorisation. Speed is what counts. This takes quite a bit of care and skill and art, especially with poor source documents. The worse the original, the more care it takes to turn this into a useful image. The better the scanned image, the better the vectorisation.

5 Accuracy! Paper to CAD conversion or vectorisation services live by the accuracy of their work. It enables some to offer a warranty related to the accuracy. One and two year warranties are not entirely uncommon. Conversion service clients need to communicate clearly how they like their drawings or maps done, so that conversion personnel (not the sales rep., but the person doing the work) have crystal-clear WRITTEN directions on how to do the job. This needs to be done in writing and is clearly and obviously the responsibility of the party paying for the service. This takes solid communication. You're not buying an off-the-shelf item. You're buying a custom service and both parties have to get to know one another. Early on in the process, there are likely to be a few hick-ups. That's normal. Drafting is an art. Getting to know one another in that realm is almost an exercise in intimacy, at least early on, until a routine has been established. Each client is different. Each conversion service is different.

6 Find the right information! Analogue (paper based) filing systems can vary in efficiency but will never match searching and finding by mouse-click. Think about the distances that contractors, your own staff and consultants have to walk to get to a flat (paper) file. Once they find it, pull it out, tear it and scotch-tape it, well, you get the idea. With web-hosting or an efficient document management system, you simply point and click, once it's vectorised. Vector files win the speed contest every time.

7 Avoid Duplication! Picture an older facility, which has undergone a variety of modifications. How do you make sure you're always using the latest information? You could be duplicating the wrong instructions for the right contractor. If everyone works from the same vector file, you're definitely ahead of the game. Mistakes in construction and facility operations are costly. Vector files, kept up-to-date and a superior preventive method. This is where merging of drawings or layering for different date lines, all of which are options with decent vectorisation services, become attractive.

8 Standardise! If you drew an ashtray, and your uncle Gus drew that same ashtray, the drawings would look different. Likely you will prefer your drawing. Drafting is an individual art. Particularly for existing facilities with a history of modifications, it can save you a lot of time and aggravation, to use a conversion service and ask that service to stick to one standard way of doing things. Better conversion services specialise in bringing uniformity to your drawings, the way you prefer, using your preferred layering, line weights, attributes, etc. Often this communicative process creates standards for each client. Some conversion service clients already have standards on how to draw their drawings or maps and they actually stick to them. Others deviate from them somewhat and some deviate lots. Some folks have standards that they purposely ignore altogether. Better conversion services keep records of client preferences to maintain consistency. That way, finding what you want is quick and fast and looking at the vector file does not hurt your eyes.

9 Why convert instead of re-draw? Conversions are ~1/5 the cost + you get a warranty with conversions. At times scanner operators wind up having to scan an image up to 6 times. A little lighter, a little darker, etc. Combine the resulting images and wind up with something that can be converted. Each generation of 'dumb imaging' (like from flat file to aperture card to tif to pdf) makes the final product more difficult. First you take a picture. Then you scan that. Then you print that. It's like using an old analogue photocopier and making a copy of a copy of a copy. The best bet is to get as good a scan as possible from the original drawing and then to convert it, so that it is in fact useful. Well equipped conversion services have high end scanners up to 1200 dpi and are experts at photogrammetry as well as clean-up of scanned images beyond the software confines that come with the original box. So if you can't clean a really tricky image and neither can any reproduction service in your area, a decent vectoriser can get more out of it than you can. You don't pay unless you're entirely happy with the work - but please, let's have clarity on your specifications first (line weights, layering preferences and other wishes). Convertors need to know the ground rules and then stick to them. In the process of determining your specifications and your exceptions to those, both buyer and vendor tend to learn and sometimes resolve certain grey areas that may have existed before. That's normal. In the end, an accurate standard for your specific requirements results. Here's an ounce of prevention for you: Customers often discover that they aren't entirely sure about their spec's. Some change the requirements as they go along, possibly resolving internal grey areas or inconsistencies from generations past, causing more costs for the vectoriser, who is expected to just put up with it. Everyone has to make a living. Don't change the rules of the game and expect to maintain the same costs! Some folks even submit simple drawings, get a quote and then submit much busier drawings for production. How gauche?

10 Do all drawings have to be converted? Up to you, isn't it? Short term savings make longterm gains? Can you afford to discard information? If you're going to demolish a building of no historic consequence, you may not be in any particular need to have any imaging, vector or otherwise. As for me, I find it totally counter-culture to discard information you paid to get in the first place. But if you can't afford to safeguard your information, your hands may be tied. If you're keeping the building (or whatever), and you have contractors in there to make modifications or repairs now and then (as all buildings do) then you will have a conversion done at some point. If you simply give the 'dumb' image' to a consultant (architect or engineer), then nine times out of ten, you'll be paying the $700.00 per sheet, at least, but it will be buried as part of a construction contract. He's not likely to break out the cost to you. Buried or not, you're losing $550.00 per sheet, for no gain whatsoever.

11 What about your own drafting staff? Conversion services do not exist to displace your employees. If you have people on staff exclusively to trace lines and convert from raster to vector, out-sourcing can allow you to make reductions in over-head because those people would still not be as cost-efficient as the professionals in the field. However, this is rarely the case. I haven't seen it yet. If you'd like your staff to be more efficient because they're doing more creative work instead of boring and time-consuming line tracing, a qualified conversion service can help. Even if you're using entry level personnel or students, young relatives, a qualified conversion service we will save you time and money and give you all the advantages described herein. The notion: "Oh, we'll just hire students..", is bunk. Proven nonsense. It will cost you more time and money than you think. Would you get a really cheap triple by-pass operation in a third world country? No? Why not? Would you just take all your old maps and drawings out camping, make a fire in the woods and use that old paper for kindling? No? You still want the information, in accurate form? Then don't mess around with kids or entry-level personnel. If your own kids make errors, as longstanding experience suggests will occur, who will be responsible? Who will even check for and find the errors? Who provides a warranty or the resources to fix the problems?

12 What about off-the-shelf conversion software? There is a variety of such software available. You can buy it on-line or by mail-order. The sales pitch sounds terrific. Here is how it works: You run your scanned image through the software. The computer finds a line of pixels. It assigns x and y co-ordinates and makes a vector line, tracing over top. Then the line intersects with another line. That's where your labour kicks in. Let's say you're following a pipe. It intersects with a wall. With automatic software, the computer decides whether to turn left, right or straight. Does it now go off the pipe and make two rooms out of one? In the end, you wind up doing a lot of editing. That's when faces get long. Particularly if the sales pitch of the software emphasises that there is virtually no editing work involved (complete nonsense - or at the very least routinely understated and Utopian), disappointments result. By the time you use the program CD as a beverage coaster, somebody then has to answer for the license expenditure. The computer also has no idea about your preferences for line weights, layering etc. The other type of program is semi-automatic. You follow a line, get to an intersection and the program then cues you for a decision, for each line intersection. Maps are the most labour-intensive. You need closed polygons, not dangling lines and spaghetti (like a closed line around a forest or a property so it can be attributed, filled with a certain colour, etc.). While there are some who have the time and money to do all this editing work, a lot of folks wind up discarding the software in utter frustration and returning to manual tracing or re-drawing from scratch. Apart from that, you will not beat the labour rates of  a good conversion service. Money talks. This fragmented little market has become so competitive, despite the small size of the market when looking not at the total potential number of drawings, but those hard-to-find-few folks who are prepared to spend money on conversions, that a lot of the actual 'grunt-work', meaning your first stage of editing after the raw computer conversion, is done in third world countries. Shocked? It's market demand for ultra-low pricing that drove this. The next stage is the final edit, after the file comes back from Kerplakistanville. This is preferably done by domestic operators who preferably speak the language of the drawing and who understand what the drawing is about. But being that most of the work was done cheaply, and the final edit is out of your hands when you're outsourcing, you cannot typically touch the price/performance ratio of qualified outsourcing. This is exactly where the men are separated from the boys, when it comes to vectorisation services. A superior vectorisation service has its own software. They will all say that they do but it's not always so. Also, if they do not employ any real professional engineers, architects etc. (it is common for folks to boast that they do employ professionals - in which case you might want to threaten to drop in for a visit) then you're running a greater risk for misinterpretations of the originals and a lower likelihood of getting it fixed. However, a better vectorisation service has written enough macros to speed up the work enough to be able to pay non-third-world personnel a decent wage to do the toil and still be competitive. This is very rare and highly desirable, particularly if security is an issue. Third-world countries are breeding grounds for hostile intelligence services. Expecting sub-contractors say in India or China to tow the line is a judgment call for all concerned. Outsourcing to people who use third world services, for complex drawings may then involve three parties who work on the subject files: third world vectorisers, western people to fix the third-world mistakes and an additional engineering or architectural firm or cartographer to make sure it's not full of errors that non-professionals might make. It's easy enough to find this out by dropping in and asking for the people's credentials. If you hear a lot of vagueness or references to security, compartmentalisation for security reasons or other blather that they have different offices all over the place (no vectoriser is big enough to have facilities all over the place other than totally independent reproduction houses they use for scanning and sales reps working out of their homes or dealers etc.), you then must know the score: you're being sold a bill of goods here. With the right vectorisers, it should be a matter of 'case-closed', once the conversion work is done. Not hours of editing afterwards (after the initial phase and regular production has begun where each side knows what to expect from the other). You should also be able to drop in to the vectorisation service and see the professional engineers who complete the final edit for yourself. If they turn you away, you're outsourcing to countries proliferated by hostile entities and desperate economics who then have your drawings. Imagine having your drawings for sale in a foreign country.

13 Operating a facility in a CAD or GIS environment requires the prior conversion of the drawing or map. Again, the conversion cost may be buried in a larger contract, but you're still paying too much for it, particularly if a consultant does this without making use of a cost-effective conversion service. In our experience, they convert it themselves = $550.00/sheet of your money wasted.

13.1 Operating a facility with 'dumb' images' is more costly and time consuming than doing the same thing with smart vector or GIS data. Here's an example: A qualified conversion service can attribute your drawings. Move your mouse over, say a sprinkler pump. Your mouse arrow turns into a hand. You click on it and get some choices of where to go: the manufacturer's website, the product literature, the contractor's website, the service record or someplace else in a databank. That's a smart, cost-effective way to run a place. Your diesel generator is broken, you click on it and call for a service technician who goes in with armed reconnaissance, or you go exactly where you need, to order a new one or send a note off to a purchasing agent or contract specialist who can call for tenders. Your buyer gets a copy of the dwg or dgn file in question and the contractors bidding the work have exact, current information

13.2 File Size (got infinite room on your computer?): Raster image file size is determined by the scanning resolution. If you scan @ 600x600dpi, then per in², you have 360,000 dots. That's a lot of information to keep or to send on-line. With a vector file, you have true lines, going from one co-ordinate to another. All the space around those true vectors is not occupied by dots. Raster images therefore command a lot more real estate on your hard drive and cause delays in file sharing, downloading, etc. A vector file only takes up a small fraction of this space.

13.3 Operating with "half-dumb" (hybrid) images: A tif (scanned) image, where you go in, use an eraser tool and then stick a few CAD vectors inside of a tif. There are some tricks to making those vectors "stick" inside the raster image, so they don't shift. Qualified conversion services can typically do that, by the way. But let's say you know how to do that too and you're totally comfortable that everyone in your employ will always do so accurately, which is a gamble in itself that you must live with. You still can only quantify information exclusively on the vector portion of that file. Most document management systems choke on hybrid files because they're neither one thing nor another. They are a band-aid and a half-measure with only partial functionality, borne of false economies typically. You can't attribute items on the drawing and you're still using very large file sizes because of all the "dots" that make up the raster image image below. It's like showing up on a first date with mismatched shoes or an offensive tattoo on your forehead.

13.4 Also, when you run a facility, you usually have qualified personnel, who wind up recording additional data, which is crucial for running certain equipment. They write down critical service temperatures and other things they need. Put that information onto the dwg or dgn file and you won't lose it, as you might if the only place to write that information on is a deteriorating paper copy on site, that might get lost. Even lamination does not totally prevent reduction in image clarity. Need the info in more than one place: You'll run copies. Copies of copies of deteriorating paper. Nix Cultura. Why would you do that to yourself?

14 With smart vector and shape files, you can confidently quantify critical information. Square footage areas for buildings and grounds are an example. Some folks have paid for lawn-mowing and snow removal for years, by the square foot. The rate per square foot was competitive but the square footage was wrong, higher of course. Occupancy issues and even eligibility for grants or maximum building use are all tied to having accurate data. False economies here lead to large added costs.

15 With smart vector files you can also work more safely, especially with the electrical system. Circuits can be verified and recorded. Control in general, is best achieved with a facility run in a vector environment.

16 If law enforcement operations become necessary, ready access to vector files enable SWAT to wargame operations right away. Generally, security and protection issues are more easily addressed with vector files. This means that you may very well save lives by having smart, digital data. Seconds count in the event of emergencies. If a felon is holed up in your place, SWAT can get him out faster and with fewer casualties if you do your homework and become all digital. Several governmental agencies maintain extensive 3D digital records of facilities and grounds that are likely to become targets of their enemies simply to save time for the good guys when they must come in and save the day. It is the ounce of prevention, that is so often prevented from being used by short-term economics.

17 Fire prevention officers can quickly assess code compliance using vector files. An efficient fire hazard analysis requires accurate vector drawings. In the event of a fire, you will want to file a claim for damages with your insurer. If your facility has undergone a lot of modifications or additions, each of which had to comply with the codes in place at the time you filed for a building permit, then what sort of code does the whole thing together comply with, and how do you know that? What in fact is your defence-in-depth against fire? Exactly what barriers are rated for how long and in what way? Where are fire walls versus occupancy separations or ordinary fire separations? Codes change. Without accurate vector drawings of the whole place, your insurer and possibly even the investigating authority will seek to hold you responsible for negligence. Your exclusive defence in court is due diligence. Due diligence starts with an accurate, vector-based assessment of what you have where, how long it's rated for and what shape it's in and who is maintaining what and in accordance with which standards. Municipal authorities in NAFTA tend to share a certain frustration level when it comes to their ability to enforce codes, which is why convictions in this realm tend to be coveted, particularly in the event of casualties. Equally, insurance adjusters are evaluated on the basis of their ability to deflect claims by any possible means. In the event of a fire and a claim, the worst thing to have to do is to spend a lot of time going through analogue flat files to build your case - especially if they've gone up in flames or washed away with sprinklers in the event that caused the claim to happen in the first place. If you get digital (vector files of all your building drawings, including contractor as-builts) early on, and get your AHJ (authority having jurisdiction) onboard with your defence-in-depth against fire, you will have made friends you may really need in the event of a claim. At least you'll have a fighting chance.

18 Firestopping (mechanical and electrical through-penetrations and joints in fire-resistance rated wall and floor assemblies) is best recorded on your drawings, otherwise you have no way of complying with fire safety regulations whatsoever See http://www.oocities.org/astximw. Older buildings often have no firestops. That means you have no operable fire barriers at all. You can have a great 3 hour rated concrete wall, but if it has one cable penetration inside of it that is unsealed or incorrectly firestopped, the 3 hours go down to 0 minutes. This increases liability substantially. If you do have firestops, and your building undergoes modifications, your old seals are re-entered. If you have no idea what the original firestop was, then how is anyone supposed to know how to repair that seal and comply with the original UL listing, without which your entire fire barrier is inoperable? Smart vector files provide the necessary roadmap to achieve compliance and more importantly, the ability to prove your case. Generally, compliance with building regulations and standards is most easily determined with vector files.

19 If you SELL a facility, not having vector data on it can really lower the price. When you have a change of ownership, the local fire department instantly sees its chance to enforce the local code. This necessitates more consulting work, which takes time and money, for a fire hazard analysis etc. Everything on this web page (http://www.oocities.org/ghering2000/why_vectorise.html) is also quite potentially apparent to new buyers. Short term economics in this area can be viewed as indicative of an entire culture of short-cuts and neglect.

20 What if your original drawings are inaccurate or incomplete? You're not alone! Let's say you have no "as-builts" or for whatever reason, your originals are only 80% correct. With a conversion, at least you have a starting point. If you have to move a line or add a room or a piece of equipment, this is accomplished much faster and for less cost than if you re-draw everything. Not doing anything at all is clearly a case of false economies. Even if you measure and re-draw on the basis of new measurements, you will still need to convert and merge the mechanical and electrical drawings because you cannot measure what you cannot see, such as electrical conduit running inside of walls etc. Measuring companies are not in short supply. Good vectorisers collaborate with them to merge results so that the end-user only deals with one company.

21 What if you don't have any staff who can draw in CAD? Change requests are no problem for qualified conversion services. Qualified conversion services can alter a drawing as you need it, similar to a drafting service. However you must comply with local regulations in terms of facility modifications that are substantial enough to require a building permit, which necessitates a review by a local professional. And frankly, if you own property, you would be well advised to go to your local community college, take the required CAD courses and buy the right software so that you can use this venue to help run and manage your affairs. In this day and age it does not make sense to run on analogue information. Yes, it will cost you at first, but it will cost you more to be unprepared when things go wrong. Murphy's Law applies to construction - remember.

22 If you elect to have your drawings web-hosted, there are untold advantages that save time and money. Multiple users can see the same drawing at once and do not require a software license to view, print or redline edit. You can also track who has seen what and when.


All these little problems cost money to fix in the end. They're inevitable for all facilities except those which are scheduled for demolition. Quality vectorisations soften the blow considerably.

Main Site

Firestop Site

Code Evaluations AVAILABLE!

Glossary of Fire Protection Terms

3M Fire Barriers

Vectorising Drawings and Maps; Paper to CAD

Circuit Integrity Fireproofing

Bounding

Code Req's for Firestops

Essay on Performance Based Codes

Master Spec. Section 07840 Firestopping

Related Sections to 07840

Penetration Seal Drawings

Building Joint Drawings 1

Building Joint Drawings 2

Building Joint Drawings 3

History of Firestops in North America

Warnock Hersey Experience

Firestop Trade Jurisdiction

Achim Hering Bio

Man Made Mineral Fibres

Fire Protection Industry Links

Firestop Products and Equipment

Firestop Mortar

Firestop Silicone Foam

Intumescent Products

Endothermic Products

Insulation Products

Caulking & Paint Firestops

Firestop Pillows

Firestop Devices

Firestop Slide Show 1 of 10 Basics

Firestop Slide Show 2 of 10 Code

Firestop Slide Show 3 of 10 No Seal

Firestop Slide Show 4 of 10 Deemed-to-comply

Firestop Slide Show 5 of 10 Misinstalled

Firestop Slide Show 6 of 10 Re-entered

Firestop Slide Show 7 of 10 Faulty Spec.

Firestop Slide Show 8 of 10 Proper Firestops

Firestop Slide Show 9 of 10 Test

Firestop Slide Show 10 of 10 Smoke and Trays

Sample Firestop Listing

Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning; Boiling-Hot Pressure Washing

ULC           UL

T O S

(Theory of Survival)

DIBt

TU Braunschweig iBMB

CONTACT

vectorising, paper to cad, r2v, raster to vector, vectorizing, vectorization, drawing conversion, map conversion, aperture cards, microfiche, microfilm, microstation autocad, microstation, nemetschek allplan, zeichnungen, vektorisierung, landkarten ectorizing drawings vectorizing maps CAD files shape files GIS geographical information systems outsourcing CAD drawings change orders price/performance ratio vectorization vectorizing vectorising raster to vector r2v r2v r2v r2v scanning scanning wide format large format großformat zeichnungen landkarten vektorisieren zeichnungen landkarten zeichnungen landkarten raster zu vektor raster zu vektor zeichnungen jds jds jds zeichnungen sommer sommer german engineering german engineering outsourcing outsourcing scanning scannen scannen großformat großformat ocr ocr datenbanken internet kataloge vectorize vectorization vectorizing drawings vectorizing maps CAD files shape files GIS geographical information systems outsourcing CAD drawings change orders price/performance ratio vectorization vectorizing vectorising raster to vector r2v r2v r2v r2v scanning scanning wide format large format großformat zeichnungen landkarten vektorisieren zeichnungen landkarten zeichnungen landkarten raster zu vektor raster zu vektor zeichnungen jds jds jds zeichnungen sommer sommer german engineering german engineering outsourcing outsourcing scanning scannen scannen großformat großformat ocr ocr datenbanken internet kataloge vectorize vectorization vectorizing drawings vectorizing maps CAD files shape files GIS geographical information systems outsourcing CAD drawings change orders price/performance ratio vectorization vectorizing vectorising raster to vector r2v r2v r2v r2v scanning scanning wide format large format großformat zeichnungen landkarten vektorisieren zeichnungen landkarten zeichnungen landkarten raster zu vektor raster zu vektor zeichnungen jds jds jds zeichnungen sommer sommer german engineering german engineering outsourcing outsourcing scanning scannen scannen großformat großformat ocr ocr datenbanken internet kataloge vectorizing drawings vectorizing maps CAD files shape files GIS geographical information systems outsourcing CAD drawings change orders price/performance ratio vectorization vectorizing vectorising raster to vector r2v r2v r2v r2v scanning scanning wide format large format großformat zeichnungen landkarten vektorisieren zeichnungen landkarten zeichnungen landkarten raster zu vektor raster zu vektor zeichnungen jds jds jds zeichnungen sommer sommer german engineering german engineering outsourcing outsourcing scanning scannen scannen großformat großformat ocr ocr datenbanken internet kataloge vectorize vectorization vectorizing drawings vectorizing maps CAD files shape files GIS geographical information systems outsourcing CAD drawings change orders price/performance ratio vectorization vectorizing vectorising raster to vector r2v r2v r2v r2v scanning scanning wide format large format großformat zeichnungen landkarten vektorisieren zeichnungen landkarten zeichnungen landkarten raster zu vektor raster zu vektor zeichnungen jds jds jds zeichnungen sommer sommer german engineering german engineering outsourcing outsourcing scanning scannen scannen großformat großformat ocr ocr datenbanken internet kataloge vectorize vectorization vectorizing drawings vectorizing maps CAD files shape files GIS geographical information systems outsourcing CAD drawings change orders price/performance ratio vectorization vectorizing vectorising raster to vector r2v r2v r2v r2v scanning scanning wide format large format großformat zeichnungen landkarten vektorisieren zeichnungen landkarten zeichnungen landkarten raster zu vektor raster zu vektor zeichnungen jds jds jds zeichnungen sommer sommer german engineering german engineering outsourcing outsourcing scanning scannen scannen großformat großformat ocr ocr datenbanken internet kataloge

 

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