Well Duh moments

[lava]

my question is which is funnier, decimal inches or decimal feet?

Decimal feet is standard in civil engineering. Don’t tell me you’ve never seen a surveyors tape with tenths of a foot marks.

[Derek]

Decimal feet is standard in civil engineering. Don’t tell me you’ve never seen a surveyors tape with tenths of a foot marks.

Never have. (oh, sorry Greg, you asked me not to tell you that) We got rid of those around the same time that we moved on from the Slide Rule.

[Eric Pousse]

For people who have never used foot and inch measurements, it seems totally incomprehensible, illogical, unreadable but very exotic.
For me as a CAD program developer, it is hell to manage these units...
Why do some people still use these units?

[Matt_A]

As a general rule, for some reason it seems people draw using the measurement system that was used to manufacture the components being depicted.

We all agree that some manufacturers use sensible units, others use an arbitrary and irrational system.

[lava]

What cracks me up is when I receive a floor plan for a brand new building and the overall dimensions are to some small fraction like 64’-0 3/64”, like that’s going to happen.

When I got my first laser distance measurer I was miffed because it gave me measurements in 1/32s. At first I spent a lot of time rounding numbers to 1/8ths in my head, but then I just gave up - I was wasting time and distracting myself from the task. So now I just write down the 32nds, and I just enter them into PowerCadd now too, because my dimension lines will just do the rounding for me - no extra time or thinking required.

And CM? Just enter the number with cm and PowerCadd will convert it - no need to type in a conversion factor.

Same with survey notations. For the angle just type in the initial of the first compass direction, degrees, minutes, and seconds with a space between the numbers, no units marker needed, and the closing compass initial - and PowerCadd will put the line at the proper angle, page top North. Example n 30 24 12 w.

It’s a beautiful thing.

[Matt_A]

Counterpoint:

Doing as-built surveys for building construction, it's my practice to disregard any dimensional information smaller than one full inch.

I do enjoy the input luxuries that PowerCADD affords us, just as you do, Greg, it is a tremendous tool.

When I got my first laser distance measurer I was miffed because it gave me measurements in 1/32s. At first I spent a lot of time rounding numbers to 1/8ths in my head, but then I just gave up - I was wasting time and distracting myself from the task. So now I just write down the 32nds, and I just enter them into PowerCadd now too, because my dimension lines will just do the rounding for me - no extra time or thinking required.

And CM? Just enter the number with cm and PowerCadd will convert it - no need to type in a conversion factor.

Same with survey notations. For the angle just type in the initial of the first compass direction, degrees, minutes, and seconds with a space between the numbers, no units marker needed, and the closing compass initial - and PowerCadd will put the line at the proper angle, page top North. Example n 30 24 12 w.

It’s a beautiful thing.

[PeterKona]

I actually use decimal inches when doing remodel plans, since I don't do metric except for counter tops....

I set my range finder to decimal inches.
Since house plans from field measurements are only going to be so accurate due to finishes and squaring up an existing non-square house, I only interpolate to the nearest 1/4" usually. This allows me to use a short hand 123.0, 123.2, 123,5 etc. for whole, quarter and half inch increments. So the drawing measurements are short, clear, and always in the same format.

This is also the fastest way to enter the dimensions into PowerCADD 123, 123.25, 123.5 etc. later in dimensions I, use feet and inches.

[PeterKona]

For people who have never used foot and inch measurements, it seems totally incomprehensible, illogical, unreadable but very exotic.
For me as a CAD program developer, it is hell to manage these units...
Why do some people still use these units?

Because this is what the trades use and what they are best at understanding, and expect to see. But with CADD we can work in any unit and show dimension in any other unit, or tolerance we want.

Clearly metric make sense but it is also hard for people who have used feet and inches all their lives to conceptualize what 500mm really means. Feet also allow a short hand breaking up longer dimensions into more relevant chunks.

All our surveyors and civil engineers use decimal feet on site plans and grades, and so do I.