OPTIC — multimedia product information for the construction industry
| Date | 01 February 1994 |
| Pages | 119-125 |
| Published date | 01 February 1994 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045281 |
| Author | Ruth O'Leary,Marshall Crawford |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Article
OPTIC — multimedia
product information for the
construction industry
Ruth
O'Leary
Information
Specialist,
NBS
Services,
Mansion House
Chambers,
The
Close,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
NE1
3RE,
UK.
Marshall Crawford
Information Services
Director,
NBS
Services,
Mansion
House
Chambers,
The
Close,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
NE1
3RE,
UK.
Abstract: The OPTIC (Optical Product and Technical
Information for
Construction)
multimedia system
is
being
developed
as
an aid
to
specifiers in the construction
industry. It is based on
the
European EPIC (European
Product Information Cooperation) project to develop a new
classification scheme for the building products used in
construction and civil
engineering,
and which also has
relevance to the building product modelling projects
currently underway. This classification scheme is used as a
basis for
the
system, which displays textual and graphical
information on construction products.
Two
sorts of image
are shown for each product — a picture of the product in
use and a CAD
image.
Information on the manufacturers
producing this project
is
also given; hyperlinks connect the
system.
Although still at
the
development
stage,
OPTIC will
eventually be published on
CDROM.
1.
Introduction
The construction industry is one which affects all of us in our
home or work environments, no matter
in
what field we work.
We all like to know that the buildings that surround us in our
daily lives are well built, safe and efficient. The onus for en-
suring that this is the case rests with the architects, surveyors,
civil engineers and builders who design and build them, and
the product manufacturers who make the components used.
All of these people need accurate and up-to-date information
to be able to specify their requirements, and they need to be
able to communicate with each other effectively. These needs
have led to several initiatives within the international con-
struction industry to improve the information supply.
2.
The construction industry in Europe
2.
1. Technology
There have been considerable changes in working practices
over the past few years due
to the
impact of
technology.
Recent
technological progress
has
mainly been
in the areas
of building
techniques, the use of building materials, the organisation of
construction sites, and the use of personal computers and
workstations. Computers have revolutionised design depart-
ments and
architects'
practices in
terms
of computations, com-
puter aided design (CAD), automatic design and computer
aided manufacture (CAM) with numerically or even expert
system controlled
machines.
The
increasing sophistication and
ease of use of these systems are causing them
to
be adopted at
an ever-increasing rate, and there is a willingness to use new
technology such as CDROM for the storage and retrieval of
information. It is becoming clear that technology is the major
factor which will determine leadership in the world construc-
tion markets over the next 20 years (Ioannou
&
Liu 1993).
2.
2. Products
It has been estimated that there are around 25 000 products
currently used in the construction industry, such as bricks,
asphalt roofing or insulation. With the advent of European
free trade at the end of
1992
it has become increasingly neces-
sary to be able to transfer accurate information on these prod-
ucts throughout the EC and the rest of Europe to facilitate the
buying and selling of
the
products
themselves.
The EPIC pro-
ject was started to make this possible.
3.
EPIC
Most countries in Europe have an information provider that
supplies information on construction products through the
publication of
a
directory; a few also supply the information
in electronic form. However, there
is
currently
no
single
Euro-
pean source for this information and it
is
difficult
to
find infor-
mation on products in other countries because no system of
exchange has been established. EPIC (European Product In-
formation Cooperation) was formed in 1990 by the major
product information providers from 10 European countries
The Electronic Library, Vol. 12, No. 2, April 1994 119
To continue reading
Request your trial