36 lines
1.3 KiB
Markdown
36 lines
1.3 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
id: 2026-03-13T09:47:42-0400
|
|
title: 2026-03-13 09:47:42
|
|
tags:
|
|
- status/draft
|
|
- topic/estimating
|
|
daily: "[[2026-03-13]]"
|
|
date-created: 2026-03-13T09:47:42-04:00
|
|
---
|
|
# 2026-03-13 09:47:42
|
|
|
|
I frequently have ideas of automation for [[construction-estimating]],
|
|
but I am often discouraged to the point of abandoning them
|
|
when considering the possibility that their use may not be permitted
|
|
because they can not be implemented with existing processes and tools.
|
|
|
|
For example, measuring unit subfeeds manually in LiveCount
|
|
is a monotonous and labor intensive activity
|
|
that could, as a single task, be automated very simply
|
|
with a search algorithm like [A*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A*_search_algorithm).
|
|
Such a program could also calculate voltage drop.
|
|
|
|
I think, though, I may have been unfair to my employers (current and previous).
|
|
Innovative methods will always be bottlenecked by [[accubid|Accubid]]'s strict input pattern,
|
|
but there are still opportunities for improvement
|
|
that can comply with existing expectations of evidence.
|
|
|
|
For the unit subfeeds example,
|
|
a program could be made to draw the paths
|
|
with colors by cable type
|
|
and a legend with counts and total lengths,
|
|
writing the markup to PDF or TIFF
|
|
which could be uploaded to Trimble Connect
|
|
and used as the `Drawing`
|
|
for takeoffs with lot **Length** and **Count**.
|