"We didn't expect to see the first drawing until more than a month after the entire project was delivered! Not only did they effectively coordinate a tough job - but by using leading-edge technologies and building survey experts from GiveMePower, they saved the US Navy and US taxpayers a lot of time and money." - Michael Willette, Project Manager, GIS Division, Navy Public Works Center, Norfolk, VA

"GiveMePower helped us create highly-detailed and amazingly-precise floor plans on site, in real-time and in AutoCAD-ready format 2-3 times faster than we could have using traditional methods. Frankly, it's hard to imagine doing building surveys any other way." - Macklin Smith, AIA, Project Manager, Clark Nexsen Architecture and Engineering

The Project: Assess and Create Up-To-Date Floor Plans For 2.1 Million Square Feet of Building Space for the US Navy

International architecture and engineering firm, Clark Nexsen, was awarded the US Navy contract to verify existing floor plans and collect new data for 2.1 million square feet at Dam Neck Annex in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Dam Neck is part of Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana, one of the largest and most advanced air stations in the world, comprising 6,820 acres (including Dam Neck Annex). NAS Oceana's primary mission is to train and deploy the Navy's fighter/attack squadron - the F-14 Tomcats and the F/A-18 Hornets.

With compressed timelines and a long history of using the latest technology to improve customer service, Clark Nexsen took an innovative approach to streamlining the data collection and as-built floor plan creation process by harnessing leading-edge technology and building survey experts from GiveMePower Corporation.

The Technology: Replace Traditional Measuring Tapes and Paper with Bluetooth-Enabled Building Data Capturing Technology, Windows® XP Tablet PCs and Leica DISTO™ Wireless Lasers

Armed with Bluetooth®-equipped Acer and Fujitsu Windows XP tablet PCs, building survey crews from Clark Nexsen and GiveMePower loaded up existing plans for the base, converted to DWF® digital file format to protect the integrity of the original drawings and to eliminate the need to carry paper drawings into the field.

Over the next 2 weeks, crews gained access to almost 2 million square feet of building space on the Dam Neck site, using their tablet PCs to redline and markup the digital reference plans with any deviations between existing plans and the current 'as-built' condition of the buildings. The Navy then reviewed the files electronically and determined that just under 400,000 sq. ft. of new floor plans were needed.

At Work: With "Point-Shoot-Done" Simplicity and Speed, Detailed AutoCAD®-Compatible Floor Plans Were Created In Real-Time Using Handheld Lasers
Using Bluetooth® wireless technology and Leica DISTO™ Plus portable lasers to take precise measurements within a tolerance of +/-0.1 inch over 650 feet, four two-man crews went back to the buildings to recreate the needed as-built floor plans. Using plastic targets for aiming, crews quickly recorded perimeter measurements to provide the outer wall "footprint" for subsequent addition of interior plan details.

By simply pointing the laser, measurements transferred instantly to create architecturally-rich floor plans, complete with "intelligent" walls, windows, doors, openings, areas, symbols and extended inspection details such as digital photos were added to the drawings in real-time on the tablet PCs.

Details included not only simple dimensions but also produced accurate representations of angled, curved and tapered walls in the Chapel.
Commenting on the results, Willette notes, "There is not one square angle in the entire building."

The Result: Increased Accuracy and Boosts Productivity By 250%

Before using leading-edge as-built technologies, twice as many people would have had to manually log all measurements using tape measures to produce hand-drawn sketches. Back at the office, multiple teams of AutoCAD drafting technicians would then have had to time-consumingly interpret the data to create digital floor plans.

Now, Clark Nexsen and GiveMePower crews automatically created full-blown as-built AutoCAD drawings on the fly, with laser-generated data completely eliminating transposition errors by providing instant verification of results. All re-measurements were identified and completed on-site even before leaving the building.

"We were able to see a 2-3 fold increase in producing finished drawings with a fraction of the labor traditionally needed," asserts Smith. "We also saw an increase in accuracy that you simply don't get from a tape measure and a decrease in time needed for re-measuring. Tape measures now seem archaic."
Mobilizing crews in hours, as-built floor plans were being completed daily for final review and touch-up by a single AutoCAD technician back at the office.

The Future: New Building Surveying Standards

"We are absolutely satisfied with the technology and the amount of quality work delivered in such a short time," says Willette.
Smith concludes, "It makes everyone's life so much easier, the building data integrates with our existing software systems and the training and support offered by GiveMePower was excellent."

Summary: GiveMePower Delivers Measurable Results

• 2-3 fold increase in productivity.
  
• More than 50% reduction in labor costs.
  
• Reduced original project timeline by more than 30 days.
  
• Increased accuracy of results to 100%.
  
• Deployed in hours.
  
• Fully compatible digital floor plan files with existing (AutoCAD) software.