The Hindu Business Line : `Designed' to follow

Mobile technology now provides people working away from the design board, such as architects and repair technicians, on-the-go access to digital drawings and maps.

Paul Kuah

THE California-based Autodesk, which is in the design software and digital content space, has moved with the times by bringing design from the drafting table to the desktop in the 80s, to the Internet in the 90s and most recently to the mobile work environment of today. The company began to consider the impact of mobile computing on the design process when mobile and wireless technologies were first introduced, says Paul Kuah, Marketing Manager (Infrastructure Solutions Division), Autodesk (South Asia Pacific).

Excerpts from an interview to eWorld:

Who do you think will benefit from mobile access to design and mapping data?

Anyone who references digital design or mapping data away from the office could benefit from on-the-go access to digital drawings and maps. For instance, an architect who confers with construction administrators at job sites, a repair technician who fixes multimillion-dollar industrial machines on the shop floor, a utility company field worker who repairs downed lines, a facilities manager who tracks the assets of a building complex or a telecommunications field crew that need to ensure correct line connections - each one of them can benefit from this on-the go access.

All these professionals take large paper drawings to the field. No doubt, the drawings are familiar and there is nothing to turn on or boot up. Conversely, the prints are costly, cumbersome to carry and often slightly out-of-date. Quite regularly, these professionals get to the job site and then realise that they do not have all the required drawings. They are forced to drive back to office or work on-site without all the information on hand.

When working on paper drawings or maps, corrections are traditionally made by hand directly on the paper. These notes not only mess up the drawing but also make it difficult to read. Back at office, the revisions will have to be interpreted manually, side-by-side with the digital drawings. The process is time-consuming.

How will the mobile access improve the current work processes?

Ideally, mobile access to design data would free architects, engineers, surveyors and field workers from carrying bulky design drawings, help them review and mark-up at the point of work using hand-held computers and exchange information between hand-held devices and personal computers or corporate servers.

Incorporation of mobile technology into our design software solutions sets has helped our customers withstand the rigours of a jobsite environment.

The Autodesk OnSite solution allows data downloads on a mobile workshop, on a PDA (personal digital assistant) with onsite view.

What could be the likely return on investment (ROI)?

The impact of mobile computing on the design process is positive. Our customers say that the Autodesk OnSite solution has helped in increasing the project efficiency levels by at least 25 to 40 per cent.

The pen-based Autodesk OnSite interface is easy to learn and use because it mimics the traditional pen-and-paper mode of working.

Can you cite an instance where it has helped maximise efficiency?

I would like to cite the recently completed street furnishing and amenity study performed by the city of Vancouver. The goal of the study was to capture information on the entire city's street furnishings - such as benches, newspaper boxes, litter containers, drinking fountains, phone booths and bus shelters - and use that data to populate the city's GIS database.

Using Autodesk OnSite enterprise, over 5500 objects were captured by two users in a period of two months. The project probably would have been too complicated to achieve through traditional means, though not impossible. The mobile computing system captured pictures of the objects.

The Solid Waste department used the data and performed an analysis of all types of litter containers by viewing the digital photography. Using this type of information, the department can make decisions regarding maintenance; explore revenue-generating opportunities etc.

To what extent has this technology penetrated in the Indian sub-continent?

Though the application is easy to use, a majority of the workforce is not that tech-savvy. But market expansion is definitely on the cards, not only in India, but also in the Asia-Pacific region. There is enormous potential in the civil and land management side. It is a virgin territory in so far as the infrastructure is concerned. The limiting factor could be the cost.

But then, the rapid strides made in various fields, be it in expansion of the telecommunication network or in infrastructure development such as laying of roads, the conditions make it special to warrant the use of the OnSite solution.

How secure is the solution?

While the solution allows these professionals to make amendments on the data using the PDA or hand-held device, the access is limited to a select few, because the data is synchronised and the information uploaded on the server almost immediately. The customers, therefore, authorise employees above a certain level/rank to access the data.

lnr@thehindu.co.in

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