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Property data capture company Planitar, which sells iGuide, a digital twin and dynamic digital floor plan production software, has worked its way deeper into the architectural mainstream with its latest software release.
IGuide now enables users to output its floor plans in DWG format, the most common file type throughout the professional space planning and architecture verticals, the company said in a May 10 announcement sent to Inman. While merely a technical value-add for many, there is great potential in opening up iGuide’s dynamic, data-driven capabilities to a wider audience.
The update will grant new efficiencies to current users and pull in new customers seeking a top-to-bottom interior capture solution, Jarrad Morden, chief operating officer of Planitar Inc., said in the announcement.
“By leveraging an industry-standard DWG file format, we give our partners a head start in creating their architectural and construction floor plans, and as-built and design drawings,” Morden said. “We aim to empower our customers with the tools they need to excel in their business.”
The file type, DWG, short for “drawing” has persisted for decades as the standard directive for publishing and sharing large, project-critical files ranging from single-room renovations to multi-story commercial buildings. They’re also time-consuming and resource intensive to create using specific software types. However, iGuide’s Planix LIDAR-powered camera can greatly collapse the process of producing them.
LIDAR stands for “light detection and ranging,” and it’s used across a multitude of industries, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for mapping the ocean floor. Apple installed Lidar on the iPhone 12, and it’s also a central component of driverless automobiles and delivery robots. The system uses lasers to target objects, measuring the time it takes for the reflected light to return to its projector.
Its benefits to iGuide users are many, including improved room-dimension accuracy, scanning times reduced to minutes from hours, rapid turnaround of completed files, and as a result, a much lower file-production cost.
The iGuide DWG floor plan is finalized with AIA (American Institute of Architects) layers, comprehensive annotations and the ability to toggle into an iGuide 3D tour of the project.
Floor plans have become more valuable to listing agents as marketing tools as well as to appraisers and the general underwriting process, as more information is always better. They also offer aspiring homeshoppers using search portals the ability to better envision potential purchases.
IGuide’s tour technology was an early creator of the simultaneous floor plan view, allowing a person to know exactly where in a property they stood while viewing a 3D walk-through, enhancing perspective and bettering the “immersive” impact.
Zillow has ramped up its use of floor plans in property marketing and a host of competitors in the space exist, including CubiCasa, MagicPlan and Ricoh Tours. Dotty AR, an augmented reality data company, is also entering the real estate space with a Lidar-scanning mobile app.
Planitar was founded in 2013 in Ontario, Canada.
