That single decision is what separates a review desk from a document annotator. A revision
cloud carries who raised it, against which revision of which sheet, in which discipline, what
it measures, who owns it and when it is due. The shape on screen is one projection of that
record; CSV, XFDF, BCF and a flattened PDF are others.
The redline vocabulary
Clouds with real scalloped arcs, callouts, stamps, symbols, issue pins — and highlight
and strikeout that select actual glyphs, so a selection across three lines draws three
bands rather than one block over the margins.
Takeoff you can defend
Every quantity keeps the raw page magnitude it came from, so re-calibrating a page
re-derives every measurement on it. An uncalibrated measurement reads as underived, not
as zero.
A running total, not a report
The takeoff sits beside the drawing and moves as you measure, totalled by cost code
and unit — so a length and an area never add up into one plausible, wrong
number. What is not counted is said in words underneath rather than dropped.
Compare quantities, not just pixels
What moved between two drawings, by how much and in which direction, as a CSV for the
bill of quantities. The lines that did not move are in it too: otherwise a line that
held and a line nobody compared look exactly alike.
Scale per page, never per document
A plan sheet and the enlarged detail beside it are different scales. A document-wide
factor produces confidently wrong numbers on half the set.
Slip-sheets that do not lie
Two issues are aligned before they are compared, because plot origins drift. Each markup
gets a verdict — unchanged, relocated, or needs a human — instead of being silently
reapplied over content that has since changed.
Specifications as links
A CSI spec book parses into addressable sections and clauses, so 07 84 00
§1.2.A is something you can click rather than a string somebody typed.
A trail that resists editing
Every act is a hash-chained audit entry. Altering one breaks every digest after it, and
verification names the first failure. Tamper-evident — and honest about not being
tamper-proof.
