Subscriber Discussion

IPVM Calculator Tool - Requests

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Jason Neubauer
Feb 26, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Gents,

I know you are working hard on ideas and revisions of the Calculator. I was hoping that the reporting side could get some touch ups.

  • When using our own floor plan image can we turn off the sat/map background so that it doesn't show up in a report.
  • Would it be possible to get a just full size image of the camera layout as a PDF?
  • Could the camera reflect the decrease in PPF over distance with color gradations?
  • Can you have a sticky note in discussions that lets everyone know what is being worked on for the next update?

Does IPVM need to raise the subscription fee a little bit to help facilitate improvements on a faster basis? I would be on-board with paying a little more and thanks for the great tool.

(4)
JH
John Honovich
Feb 26, 2016
IPVM

Jason,

Thanks!

(1) Yes, switch to 'canvas' mode to turn off the map background. We added that last month: New Blank Canvas Camera Calculator Released

(2) "get a just full size image of the camera layout" I would recommend using export / snapshot to do that. That way you can get an image of exactly what area you want.

(3) "decrease in PPF over distance with color gradations?" We have had a number of requests. It's being considered but not right away. See below.

(4) "what is being worked on for the next update?" The next big thing is the mobile app.

"Does IPVM need to raise the subscription fee a little bit to help facilitate improvements on a faster basis?" While I greatly appreciate the thought :), we are not planning to raise any rates as it would be disruptive.

In terms of what we are working on right now, the last 2 months have mostly been in redesigning the entire website. We've ripped most everything apart and that's made it hard to do much of anything else. When it's done in ~10 days, (1) the site will work nicely on mobile (today it sucks), (2) be significantly faster and (3) easier for us to maintain / extend the codebase.

Once we get past that, we can focus more on adding features to the site and the calculator.

I do want to emphasize the calculator is our top development priority as it has already been a great success and a money maker for us. People sign up just the calculator all the time, so we are quite motivated to make it as good as possible.

Finally, we will look to dedicate a post just on calculator development. For right now, others can jump in with ideas here. Thanks for the great feedback!

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Brian Rhodes
Feb 26, 2016
IPVMU Certified

In classes, the request to add a dimension tool was asked.

This would be similar to our line feature, but would be a line with added arrowheads on each end, like these:

There was also the request to toggle decimal foot measurement (ie: 50.5 ft) into foot-inch notation (ie: 50 ft - 6 in) for this tool.

JH
John Honovich
Feb 26, 2016
IPVM

"to toggle decimal foot measurement (ie: 50.5 ft) into foot-inch notation (ie: 50 ft - 6 in) for this tool."

We could just simply switch. The latter might simply be better?

We'll consider / see about different arrowheads.

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Brian Rhodes
Feb 26, 2016
IPVMU Certified

I vote for the switch. Using decimal foot is not typical of (US) construction trades in general, but foot-inch is.

(1)
JH
John Honovich
Feb 26, 2016
IPVM

Does that mean we change the inputs? i.e.

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Jason Neubauer
Feb 26, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Thanks John.

If i use canvas and do a snapshot export it removes my floor plan. Is that the intended function?

The intent of my request was to actually remove the scene, PPF, Day, Night, and Camera Info. More of a nice, clean overview that i can put into a proposal or for client reviews.

I have tried to do a screen shot and also the Windows snipping tool and i can never get all of the floor plan big enough to be seen.

Am i making sense?

JH
John Honovich
Feb 26, 2016
IPVM

"If i use canvas and do a snapshot export it removes my floor plan. Is that the intended function?"

I can't reproduce that. Each time, I've added a floorplan and cameras, then do a snapshot export, it shows the floorplan in the export.

e.g.

I believe you, we just need to find what edge case or condition is causing this. Can you try saving / closing / re-opening and exporting again? I am curious if you hit it again.

"I have tried to do a screen shot and also the Windows snipping tool and i can never get all of the floor plan big enough to be seen."

How about try using control F which will let you go full screen?

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John Scanlan
Feb 26, 2016
IPVM • IPVMU Certified

The Install checklist:
Video Surveillance Commissioning / Install Checklist
Can this be turned into an online form for harvesting information rather
than a checklist? Then we can use the information gathered in conjunction with the Camera Calculator.

Members can currently add cameras, can we provide the ability to add
switches, DVRs, NVRs, VMSs, viewing workstations, and lines denoting cable
run pathway locations?

If we can add additional equipment and cable pathways, can we then use the
current measuring ability of the camera calculator to calculate the distance
of each LAN drop and total that number (Cable Calculator). We might need to pull ceiling heights (and other information) from the Checklist so we can account for vertical drop lengths.

Could we also enable right click, select "Existing LAN Drop", which would
insert a solid line representing a LAN drop for that device & right click,
select "New LAN Drop" which would use a dotted lined to represent the cable
pathway.

Based on the Camera Calculator having 3000+ cameras to choose from and that
all of their specs are already cataloged can we use this information to
shrink of list of PoE switches (to be created) that would be suitable for their project
based on the camera selections they make, amount of LAN drops, distances,
etc? (Switch finder/calculator).

(1)
U
Undisclosed #1
Feb 27, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Version#, changelog.

JH
John Honovich
Feb 27, 2016
IPVM

"Version#, changelog."

Yes, and a user's manual.

Btw, a while back I worked on this but have not kept it current: IPVM Site Improvements Directory.

As the Calculator has gotten bigger, we need to get real documentation. Also, related, we have a training class this Wednesday on the calculator: Camera Calculator Live Class Next Wednesday March 2nd

(1)
JH
John Honovich
Feb 28, 2016
IPVM

Ok, I've updated our Improvements Directory / Release Note to now, including all notable calculation enhancements:

IPVM New Features and Improvements Directory. Going forward, I will aim to keep it current.

RV
Rafeek VP
Apr 13, 2016

I am a big fan of the IPVM tool as it helping me a lot in my Security System Design works.

The tool is excellent, but it will be the perfect one if we could add one more feature as below:

The tool doesn't considering the camera installation height. What I noticed is that the installation height of the camera is an important factor in deciding the camera coverage.

We had some issues in some projects where we considered the camera coverage based on this calculator and at site, there was some issues as some part of the areas where not covered due to the installation height.

This issue can be easily avoided if the calculator has an option to find out the 'dead zone' for each camera and one of the factor should be the camera installation height.

Is there any plan to include the 'dead zone' calculation in the tool?

Regards,

Rafeek

JH
John Honovich
Apr 13, 2016
IPVM

Rafeek, yes, we do plan to add height, though, it will not be likely until the end of 2016, as we are still working on the mobile app and some other fundamental features in queue.

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Kurt Denninghoff
Jan 20, 2017

Yeah I agree! I can't seem to upload a floor plan that I designed as a PDF and upload it and have it work out correctly.  Any help would be appreciated! 

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