By Randall S. Newton
Editor-in-Chief
A small CAD developer mostly known for contract work for other CAD vendors has announced plans for an Ajax-based CAD application “that lets anyone zoom, pan, change layers and markup a CAD document with nothing more than a web browser.”
The vendor, AfterCAD of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, says it will ship AfterCAD InSite later this month. InSite will be a server-based application for Windows or Linux, allowing the server to send CAD drawings to a standard web browser. In its announcement, AfterCAD says the product uses Ajax programming methods “to achieve the elusive 100% CAD Web user experience without the need for anything at the client end but a browser.” AfterCAD has set the list price for both versions at US$1995.
AfterCAD says InSite will serve up 2D and 3D CAD data “in the same way that Google Maps data is served to users: without the need for clumsy or buggy ActiveX and Java applications.”
"Ajax" stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. It is a Web development technique for creating interactive Web applications. The intent is to make Web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server, so that the entire Web page does not have to reload each time the user makes a change. The user's browser CAD experience comes with JavaScript tools for navigation that include zooming, panning, layer control and markup.
“Google Maps revolutionized the usage of GIS data by creating the first truly reliable GIS-to-consumer delivery model,” says Chris Boothroyd, AfterCAD CEO. “InSite leverages the same philosophy. Now you’ll be able to serve CAD data to anyone, for work orders, maintenance reports, home floor plans or any consumer targeted CAD planning tool. The user will be able to see it, use it, mark it up and send it back.”
If Ajax techniques work as well for CAD as they have for maps, InSite could add a new angle to the ongoing competition for CAD publishing dominance. Right now the dominant paradigm is desktop-to-desktop, as users exchange native CAD files or published versions (as PDF, DWF, or some other format) from the creator’s CAD program to the receiver’s viewing program. InSite offers to replace the special viewer with the viewer’s existing Web browser. The trade off is the extra expense of adding a server-based application on the creator’s end.
Ajax as a programming technique is a subset of the “Web 2.0” concept, which seeks to make the Web more suitable for day-to-day use as an alternative to desktop applications. CAD vendors consider themselves generally outside the bounds of Web 2.0, given the taxing demands CAD applications make on computer hardware. Perhaps an outsider with a passion can find a way to push CAD onto the Web. AfterCAD InSite bears watching.
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