Is there a blueprint for DMS in its current layout or perhaps some sort of layout in a modeling or other design program?
I think @knotbob has been updating a DXF layout of the place for electrical purposes. I think it was originally started by Chuck Graf, but not positive.
I have a crude sketchup model of the space. I donāt remember if I gave it actual room dimensions or not. Thereās also an svg on the wiki
I have a sort of rough idea for something that might be pretty cool . . . I have recently used prezi, which is a flash presentation product that allows practically unlimited zoom in and out capability for documentation or presentation of something. I was going to draw up a rough map of DMS on prezi and zoom into a couple of areas as a demo. It would give the potential to do a search for or visually zoom into a resource or individual piece of equipment anywhere in the space and view its attributes. This is sort of a hack into a different use but it might work.
Example - DMS.woodshop.router.instructions or accessories, links, youtubes, photos, maintenance, user log and comments, upcoming DMS instructable lecture.
An analogy would be to zoom into a tree in your yard from world view on google maps but you can add more trees, search for it, and enter and search its attributes and log information on it.
Might even turn out to be a dynamic thing to document ongoing projects (like a pile of stuff - when was it last worked on, what is it, donāt throw out) for the benefit of the user and others. Or maybe if an important piece of equipment is moved, then it could be tracked and searched for. It could be nice to have some documentation of equipment use if only to ascertain its usefulness. For ex, I used the wood shop recently and briefly used the band saw, chop saw, table and jig saw and belt and drum sander - what an amazing place.
I think it might be something to make the space more attractive to prospective members and those that have no idea what goes on in a particular area.
Well, just a thought. There is probably better software for this. Please build on this idea. It could also help us all take more responsibility for our areas and the use of other areas.
Cheers . . .
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The latest drawing I have been working from can be found at \Files\committees\workshop\Drawings\FloorPlan11.dwg on the Space fileserver. It is a DWG drawing and we were using DraftSight. The dimensional accuracy is questionable because the distances, I think, were taken from the real estate sell sheet which were gross estimations at best. The most noticeable errors can be found in the area around the big room. This would include the two conference rooms and the restroom island. I have been slowly developing a more accurate drawing as I create layouts for new equipment such as the CNC router.
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That is the drawing that I did from scratch, to show the scope of the electrical work. It was laid out before we moved in and is based on the Leasing Plan, with some adjustments to accommodate the ceiling plan. Not very accurate, but it served its purpose.
PSā¦I am Chuck Graf.
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@rice81 that sounds great - Prezi is pretty powerful.
PhotoSynth might be another way to go, or to use for visualization hyperlinks within a Prezi.
https://photosynth.net/
You can download the free PhotoSynth app (at least for iOS) to capture and automatically stitch together multiple images. Or I believe there are other similar tools that can do similar things from generic images e.g. from DSLR cameras - which could give much better resolutionā¦
Some samples -
Electronics lab at the Milwaukee Makerspace
https://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=ab1fbe18-9412-45e8-9474-be404d159473
walking around a Google Street view car
https://photosynth.net/preview/view/5dba4d88-46a4-4228-81bb-c39d2e8b440d
PhotoSynth - thatās pretty cool.
Now if you could hyperlink within the image or maybe navigate by clicking they way that Google streetview does . . .
While we are talking about hierarchical charts or image, take a look at
Itās simple, but really quick and easy to learn and use and you can use place hyperlinks at the nodes to link to web pages or other ācogglesā. Coggle is great for doing a quick creation of a āmemory mapā or idea for something or an organization. Sort of like Prezi without graphics and without a programmable sequence for presentation. You can manually pan and zoom around for a presentation, however, if you like.
Coggle - nice! Looks like a good one to keep in mind - and well integrated with Google servicesā¦
This thread reminds me - a little augmented reality could really help in spots.
Suppose you could be on the shop floor and just point your phone camera at some part of a tool, and have links or hints for that area or knob be superimposed on the image on your phones display (ie through the eye of the phone)ā¦ One tap and you could pull down a how-to, or even add a wiki-style āhow-to updateā for sharingā¦
Although I havenāt seen a platform yet which offers that for physical objects, (business idea anybody - whoās in with me ? 
I have seen a platform that could do some of that with print media. We could place images of key areas of key tools right on or by the tool, and then use https://www.layar.com/ (which already exists today to provide always up to date infoā¦
Suppose you could be on the shop floor and just point your phone camera at some part of a tool, and have links or hints for that area or knob be superimposed on the image on your phones display (ie through the eye of the phone)ā¦ One tap and you could pull down a how-to, or even add a wiki-style āhow-to updateā for sharingā¦<
Yes, thatās the idea, except I want to do it with an interactive online graphical map of some sort that could be accessed online. Sort of like . . . take that 3D photosynth image, add google maps navigation (click to zoom and pan). Perhaps have areas that are somehow highlighted or bracketed to designate further zoom or hyperlink to check on the status of the machine, its operation, it use log, etc. You could do it with manual flash programming but would take forever for an entire building. Prezi almost does this for you but itās made to develop a presentation, not to navigate for information.
In development mode, prezi allows you to pan and zoom and explore with almost infinite zoom levels, however, this is not a practical way to deploy it as you continually get into edit modes and accidentally move items around, etc and would have to grant edit privileges to everyone. In presentation mode, the design is for distribution and canāt be edited but the navigation path is fixed as one does with a presentation . . . no good for randomly exploring an entire makerspace, for example.
Perhaps someone will recognize a product that will do this.
Meanwhile, that layar program is interesting. From my brief viewing of the introduction to it, it appears to be something that allows you to hyperlink from an image, which sounds like QR codes to me without the QR code. And this, BTW, would be a great way to offer info on equipment. Use QR codes (use something like Google QR, which allows you to edit and redirect what the QR code does) on the equipment, etc.
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