A Web-based approach for coordinating architectural drawings with other construction documents

In building construction project, the process of searching for information about specific building elements in the entire different documents is a lengthy time-consuming and annoying process. This is because there has been lack of effective integration and coordination in between building elements within construction documents. This research attempts to develop a web-based approach to address this documents coordination utilizing the cutting edge computer technology. The research takes consideration the following three factors as conditions for solving this problem: (1) Each member of the construction team may need different information about the same building component or element. (2) The drawings are the important key information source to start the process of searching for information about an element or a component within a building project. (3) The importance of integrating and coordinating the drawings with all other construction documents at the building components level.; The proposed coordination system addressed these conditions by linking building components on the drawings to their other related documents of a construction project set whether it is specifications, contracts, schedules, codes and standards, or any other related drawings and details. The primary concept of this web-based approach was achieved through converting traditional architectural CAD drawings into intelligent ones by attaching codes of relevant external documents (X-Doc) to each building components within the drawing of the final construction documents set. In that sense, these components become Active Building Components (ABCs) that can communicate to their relevant information. Such “intelligent” drawings are then used as the main gateway for accessing any component related documents and searching for information. The approach also considered project collaboration tools through Internet/Extranet for the management, organization, and coordination of different types of construction documents using the architectural drawings as the base platform for this coordination.; The methodology of research proceeds in three main phases: (1) Studying and selecting computer applications. (2) Developing the Coordinating System (CoSys) approach. (3) Case study for implementing the Coordinating System (CoSys).; This work is a step toward the coordination and integration of the entire construction process. Systematic coordination of construction documents was made possible using the proposed approach.