Surveying Buildings Like It's 1782

These days we use lasers, computers and software to survey buildings. Although the tools may have changed, the basic principles have remained the same for thousands of years. Surveying, no matter the tools, is all based on the geometry that we learn in grade five.

I found this illustration from 1782 of a 'Plain Table' as well as some figures showing its use. I don't have the text description, but here is how I interpret the method:

Points A and B are inaccessible points - the picture shows them on the other side of a body of water. They need to be located on a map relative to two accessible points C and D. Here's how you use the plain table to plot the locations.

First, place the table at location C. Using the ruler sights, draw lines in the directions of A, B, and D. Their point of intersection at c represents your current location at C.

Next, move the table to location D. Position the table so that the line c-d points at C. Use a scale to position the point d on this line.

Now use the ruler sights to plot lines from the point d in the directions of A and B.

Voila! You now have a scaled drawing of the relative locations of A,B,C, and D. You can use any of these points as a reference for locating more points and continuing the survey.

Today, a surveyor could use a laser and measure the distance to A and B from C across the river, and then measure the distance from D to C, A and B. But measuring angles or distance are both part of the same fifth grade technology - which has been around since ancient Egypt.

We have different equipment now, but the basic science is the same. Read how Building Measurement is done today.

Space Database Fact Sheets

We've created a set of Fact Sheets that cover the professional services and the web-based software solutions that we offer at Space Database. They're available at our website - here's a brief summary of what's available:

• Corporate Overview Space Database has offered timely and trusted building measurement and online marketing services for commercial, office and industrial real estate clients since 1993. We help our customers save time and increase revenues.
  
• Building Measurement Building Measurement remains one of our core services. Rely on accurate, up-to-date BOMA areas, CAD drawings and graphic files for your leasing and tenant improvement work.
   
• Tru-Measure Hosting Service Leasing and Property Managers can make faster, better-informed decisions when all floor plans and other building information is accessible online. The Tru-Measure hosting service keeps your data password-protected and instantly available anywhere you have access to the Internet. Data can be updated by and shared with multiple users. Our ISO:9001 certified methodology includes an online work-order system that lets you track the progress and history of any changes across your portfolio.
  
•  Tru-Measure Marketing By hosting your drawing and area information with Space Database, not only will your staff have access to all the information that you decide that they need, but you will also be able to make your marketing information available to a wide audience through a variety of means.
  
• INDEXIO^TM Document Retrieval Consolidate your digital and paper documents and drawings in one secure but highly accessible location. Using our proprietary indexing system, users can quickly pull up files based on their search criteria without having to sort through hundreds of file names or paper records. INDEXIO shortens the lead-time for document requests and eliminates drawing re-performance - helping customers save time and money. By outsourcing the data storage and indexing to Space Database our clients get secure access to their data from any internet connection - especially valuable in case of emergency such as fire, flood or flu pandemic.
  
• Space DashboardTrack key dates, lease information and asset performance with Space Dashboard. Simplify the management of complex leases and stay on top of options and encumbrances with visual stacking plans and quick access to offers, leases and lease abstracts. Summary graphs and reports provide quick access to vital statistics at the building, regional or portfolio level - saving countless hours of research and reducing the likelihood of expensive and embarrassing mistakes.
  

Two New Books

Two new books came out today that I am excited about:

Malcolm Gladwell's What the Dog Saw is a collection of his best essays in the New Yorker since 1996. Gladwell is best known for his books The Tipping Point and Blink. You should know that these articles are available online through Malcolm's website for free at http://www.gladwell.com. You can look through the original articles before you decided to buy the book. Here are a couple of reviews:

• The Guardian


• New York Times

SuperFreakonomics is co-authored by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. It is a follow-up book to their 2005 book Freakonomics in which they applied economic theory to non-traditional subject matter. Based on the reviews this new installment promises to be good:

• Financial Times


• Time Magazine

Both of these books focus on human behaviour and decision making. The topics are applicable to marketing and management but should also be of interest to anyone who is curious about the odd things that people do now and then. The writers are great story tellers which made their past work so engaging to read. I can't wait to get started!

Google Street View in Toronto

Street View just launched in Toronto. This has been available for a while in U.S. cities and now we have it here too.

This is a great feature for real estate. You can get to street-view through Google Maps. But you can also embed specific views into any web page. Here's the front of our office:

View Larger Map

Take a walk around our neighbourhood!

Movies in PDF

We've been looking for ways to make our little video files more easily accessible. Short videos, either filmed footage or rendered from software, are great for clarifying what a space is or will be like. It's the next best thing to being there. But are people going to download big media files? Are they going to follow links to YouTube or other special sites?

We've found a way to embed small short movies right inside PDF marketing drawings. The drawings that we publish through availability lists and stacking plans; the drawings that get emailed to brokers and prospects - they can now contain video of the space as well.

N.B. You will need the latest version of the Acrobat reader. You can get it at http://get.adobe.com/reader/

Here's an example. Using our office we've created a typical marketing drawing and added two pictures and a short movie:

Here's another example. In this case we've combined three panning shots into one movie. Clicking on the red text in the drawings will cause the movie to jump to the corresponding section in the movie:

Most tenants only look for space every several years. They are not experts at reading plans so pictures, 3D views and video are very useful in helping people understand what the space is going to be like.