A member suggested today:
"incorporate or integrate access control elements into the drawings produced by the design tools. We often show these to the end user and would like to be able to use EAC elements on the screen as well."
What do you think?
And if you think it would be valuable to you, what would you want to have included? Markers / icons for access control components? Listings of common manufacturers / models? Let us know.
I think it definitely is worth doing, especially from a sales proposal point of view.
Being able to show camera coverage for access controlled openings, for example. Or even video intercom placement/ FoV. That's pretty unique in the industry, I think.
In terms of detail, just a few basic symbols and maybe callout boxes or 'schedules' showing how doors are built-out would be great.
Any agreement/disagreement/thoughts?
So do we enable / include links between cameras and readers or?
What symbols do we need?
What benefit is listing models of readers or controllers to be selected? Do we create a door icon that then is associated with readers, REXs, lock types, etc.?
If you are going to add access control you might as well add alarm points too.
I voted yes, but I am not comfortable telling you folks what to do with your product.
Would the presentation help as a selling tool? Yes.
I would include links to cameras and I agree with Michael, you might as well add alarm points and be done with it.
Sounds like an awful lot of work though. Someone is going to be very busy.
I would like to see some icons for access control, REX devices, door contacts, control panels, card readers, keypads, electronic door strike/maglock, motorized door..., etc.
As always, I am willing to pay for these feature enhancements. Right now I am using two different tools, one for access/intrusion and one for video. If I could easily do both in one tool I would pay.
Please include access control icons along with camera icons. Please have wire distance calc. (in other words some way to get wire distances) with an up and down add on to the point to point measurement. By that I mean some way to express an up the wall or down the wall addition to wire lengths. Maybe just a way to add x percent to the total wire of one gauge or another.
Well most of my installs want to integrate the cameras and access control
For now a simple CR with a box around it would be a good start on the symbols to denote a door getting access
While we're all adding goodies, here's one that I wouldn't expect is on the short-term to-do list, but might be pretty impressive if it's technically feasible:
Allow IP addresses to be added to the plan and a small preview window so that one could do on-site commissioning, matched against plan.
Besides the streaming, or even without it, it could let you config cameras right from the tool thru a embedded frame.
Might even be helpful for remote access (assuming the necessary safeguards are taken), for instance a new tech could come up to speed quickly by browsing the location and its views and config, all from one place.
Just an far-out though, as I realize there are several hurdles to overcome...
"Allow IP addresses to be added to the plan"
We can certainly do this.
small preview window so that one could do on-site commissioning, matched against plan.
Can you elaborate on that? What are we matching? The IPVM Camera Calculation vs the VMS screen?
could let you config cameras right from the tool thru a embedded frame.
We could embed a web browser, calling up the provided IP address. I am not sure if it would be used.
The calculator has grown out of sales / pre-sales objectives. It might work or help some for post-sales but I have never given much thought to that.
Not sure if there is a way to do this but some form of manipulable drawing for door hardware; something that shows all of the door components going on that door. One of the big struggles in value proposition is the difference in the door hardware, sometimes people miss it when its just in text form that one company is only providing an electric strike and a reader, when the other is providing door contacts, resistor packs, PIR exit sensors, etc.
something that shows all of the door components going on that door.
Matthew,
Thanks, that sounds interesting to me. I could see how that could help visualize differences, though I have not done enough access control to know how useful it would be.
@Rhodes, others, what do you think?
To me, any type of detailed plan like this needs to come from an elevation view:
Using a 2D floorplan for this is going to be confusing to draw and even more confusing to use.
Agreed. Floors and doors come at things from different angles, though both are "right" of course.
A big functional issue is that even at high zoom levels, the size of the component symbols at a typical door may be too tiny/ crowd each other out/ the underlying floorplan resolution may be too poor.
For example:
Are the symbols at the 3-0' X 8-0' classroom door useful?
Compared to camera FoV that may cover hundreds of sq. ft., a single leaf door may cover only 3-4 sq. ft. Fitting 5-8 different symbols in such a tiny area so they can be meaningfully used is an issue.
For this reason, I think the schedule callout idea is more useful. For example:
Keep in mind, the schedule itself can grow quite large depending on the level of detail it includes.
Most formal door schedules include things like door type, door dimensions, component input voltage, which controller components connect to, and maybe elevation views of the specific door.
Being able to print out a schedule relating to a door number is more useful to me that crowded tiny symbols.
We also deal with the issue of multi-floor layouts at the same time.
Does that help/make sense? Agree/Disagree?
Ask questions and get answers to your physical security questions from IPVM team members and fellow subscribers.
