Autodesk Seek

[#1]

I have been working with the Seek from inside of Revit and generally I am impressed with the interface, speed i-drop. I am concerned about the actual content that has been turning up in the search results.

For instance, I just downloaded a door and the graphics were really poor, the door was missing lots of standard data like Rough Opening rating and materials. (All materials were by category and had no ability to adjust from inside the project.

I also downloaded what was listed as an .rfa for wall wainscot. What I got was an rvt with a floor. The material was on the floor, but then another step was required to move the material to a wall sweep. Seems like a wall sweep would be the correct posting.

Also why no USG content in the search? They have done a great job with their website and the content would be great to access from this tool. I am just wondering who is looking at the content before allowing it to be included in the search. Or is this a Google crawler thing that will return any cached results and we need to filter? Any ability to rate the downloads coming etc.

Overall great effort, I like the software, just need better content

[#2]

Hello~

Thanks for using Seek and special thanks for the compliments!!

We are trying hard to proliferate Seek with comprehensive and quality content for our users, but it continues to be the most challenging task for us. As we do not create the design files ourselves (in fact, we rely on the manufacturers and the service providers to do that), we are trying our best to get the manufacturers excited about Seek and influence them to provide high quality content. Trust me - they are excited about Seek and see the benefit of providing accurate and high quality content. This is great news for us and for the Seek users, but I think it'll take "some time" for us to get there. We're doing our best to expedite this process, so cheer us on and enjoy the progress (hopefully!) of Autodesk Seek! You read our mind - content rating is on our radar and we're trying to come up with the most effective way to do that.

Do you know which particular wall wainscot product you were referring to?

I think our biz dev guys are working on getting the USG content, but thanks for the tip, I will follow up to make sure that we do.

Please keep the compliments and more importantly the constructive criticisms coming!!

Thanks!
Jun

Jun Shim
Product Manager
Autodesk Seek

[#3]

I downloaded the marmoleum_wainscot_panels_-whispering_blue_53856_10111. It listed an rfa, dwg, skp, and pdf as possible downloads. I choose the rfa and use i-drop to try and insert it. I got an entriely new file with a floor.

The problem I see is that unless there is some control it will turn into RevitCity and many BIM managers currently block that site because of lack of quality control.

Autodesk needs to understand that when we download a BIM model we inherate all of the bad data there. That data can find its way into specs and estimates as well as details. Users will be hesitant to all this use unless there is some wy to assure quality. We are better off right now making our own content because the QC factor is take into consideration. This is currently a big issue with insurance companies and us architects are hearing from them on the issue. We may have to carry rider insurance policies against bad content information. The result will be to circle the wagons and not trust any outside content.

For Seek or any other content utility to be successful it must not suffer the same fate as Wikipedia which is now totally discredited. You say you are relying on the Manufacturers, but most of you content is coming from BIMWorld, not the manufacturers so you are relying on them. You need to make sure that someone is looking at their QC and make sure people understand Seek is getting results from non-Autodesk sources.

[#4]

Hi again~

We'll address the issue with marmoleum_wainscot_panels_-whispering_blue_53856_10111.rfa, thanks for the information.

Quality control of Seek content is our biggest struggle (and you're right, they come from both manufacturers and content aggregators) and we need a lot of help and guidance from our users so that we can get there as soon as we can.

BIM model's impact on specs, estimates and details is a sure one and we absolutely need that impact to be trusted and positive one in order for us - Autodesk Seek, Seek users and manufacturers - to be successful at what we do!

On this topic, I'd like to pick your brain with a couple of questions, would you have half an hour to spare next week? At your convenience, I'd like us to chat a bit more...? Please let me know.

Yikes, I am sorry you have to consider carrying a rider insurance...!

Jun
jun.shim at autodesk dot com

[#5]

Jun,

I have some time next Wed any time or early am on Thursday. send me an e-mail when you would like to talk.

chris.h at quarry-group dot com

We are not carrying riders yet, but that us the saber rattling going on.

[#6]

Looking forward to talking with you on Wed.!

Jun