Replace project browser with intelligent chatbot

[Anonymous]

I got this idea when reading the comments on Tabbed project browser idea. @lionel.kai advised me to create a new Idea and hence this post.

Considering where the chatbot technology is headed, does it make sense to replace the project browser with a chatbot? You type what you are looking for in plain English, chatbot looks at your current project and provides a list of relevant matches. For e.g. you could type Level 1 floor plan and it will return you a link. When you click on that link, it will open the level 1 floor plan. This is just a very simple example, but your query that you type in plain English can be more complicated. For e.g. in future, you could type "section views that has a ceiling" and it will search through all the sections views that show a ceiling and return a list. Then you can click on any one of the sections.

@lionel.kai suggested that this could also be augmented with voice search. The browser should also be continuously learning so that if you call a certain view something, even if it's not in the title, you can still go to it.

[Anonymous]

Errrr... no, thanks. For so many reasons, not in the least because that technology relies on NLP (natural language parsing) which is a looooong way away from delivering perfect results. My personal tolerance for AI/Bot/Assistant is very low. It either works 100% of the time or it's not worth using at all. Also, I do not want to talk to my computer.

The quickest way right now, and probably for the foreseeable future, to control any software is through a comprehensive keyboard shortcut system, which Revit already has. The Factory just needs to add more functionality to control the browser with the keyboard. I have noted elsewhere on this forum the need for a "search-anything-go-to-anywhere" interface. This sort of UX has been in use by many code development tools for years now and is unsurpassed in my opinion for speed and convenience.

-t

[lionel.kai]

@Anonymous I wouldn't advocate it as a full REPLACEMENT for the Project Browser, but I think it would be interesting to see as an augmentation - like you said, a "search anywhere".

[Anonymous]

@lionel.kai I guess it's my natural distrust of robots or something. Funny, when I was a kid I could not get enough of robots. I even ended up studying computer science. Now that I'm older and wiser, and so much more humbler obviously, all I seem to be interested in is woodwork.

But seriously, I agree with you that Autodesk ought to be braver and more adventurous and bring back something like Project Vasari to investigate new ways of interacting with a BIM system. I would love to see something like that, especially if the well tested parts of the project could be integrated into the main product line. It would give us a way to see and steer the future of our daily bread-and-butter tool set.

[YarUnderoaker]

I think this is possible even now - just need to develop add-in by third-party company as alternative to project browser.

In other side it's looks strange when engineer spend all days to talking with robots 🙂

[ipselute]

I would very much like a command bar like the one in Autocad, so i don't have to "chase" command buttons all around the menus. Keyboard shortcuts works fine, but there are many shortcuts and sometimes i forget the ones i need most. A chatbot/command line for command names suggestions would be awesome.

I advocate against the total elimination of the Project Browser: how could i control a project if i don't have en entire "map" of it?

[YarUnderoaker]

ipselute you must image a project map inside head just like engineers in old times 🙂

[ipselute]

@YarUnderoakerSure thing 🙂 I would like to see you mapping the entire Burj Khalifa tower inside your head 🙂

[pieter4]

I'd rather see this idea implemented to be honest: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/project-browser-search/idi-p/6322699

Never been too happy with chatbox even for simple things like customer support etc, so have a hard time to believe that something as complicated as a big revit project could be efficiently understood by a chatbot.

[ipselute]

I want a chatbot only if it is as smart as Sophia AI. Otherwise it is useless. 🙂

[TimGrissom]

I could see this working similarly to the Windows start button.  You still have a list of everything to click on and you have the ability to just start typing and it will search the project for anything that matches.

List of everything to click on.Start typing to get targeted results.

[dgorsman]

Am I the only one getting images of Microsoft's "Clippy" assistant here? 

The problem with any kind of intelligent searching is that it requires the dataset to be properly tagged, and the user must know *exactly* what they are after in the specific context of those tags.  If something being searched for is not tagged as expected (which may not be incorrect, just different that what the user expects) then it won't be found.  On the other hand if the user has sufficient knowledge to type in what they are looking for there should be no need for searching - they already have enough information to navigate.

[Anonymous]

@dgorsman Lord no! Death before clippy.

But seriously, what you've touched on is the search vs browse nature of complex  user interactions. Searching is great when you know what you're looking for but there is just too much to sift through to find it quickly. You don't have to have information tagged in special way for it to be useful in searches. For example, names of views, families, sheets, etc, already make perfectly good candidates for searching.

Browsing, on the other hand, is great when you don't know what's there and you want to look through the available info to become familiar with it. Both modes are important and something as complex as Revit should offer both modes. For really experienced users, in any complex application, having a keyboard based interface usually translates to a much faster and convenient working experience.

Finally, I would like to encourage anyone who is interested to watch this short video about one of my favorite features in Sublime Editor: go to anything. The video shows you how both browsing and searching are complementary, and in particular, how more advanced modes of searching can make one's work much easier.

[josephraza11]

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