Adobe Acrobat and PDF for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction »

Tom Carson is a Professional Engineer Registered in several US states. He has a MS in Civil/Environmental Engineering from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with an emphasis on Solid and Hazardous Waste. His 20+ year career specialized in the management of Hazardous Materials and Waste. He was co-editor of the Handbook on Hazardous Materials Management and was instrumental in the early development of the Certified Hazardous Materials Management Certification. Mr. Carson is also a consultant to the US Army and Airforce giving advice on the use of Acrobat in project management, training and engineering management and to various hospitals and industries on facility and records management with Acrobat.

Tom Carson is very happy to do web presentations to academics, trainers and anyone else in support of the marketing of this book.

Donna L. Baker is an author, graphic designer, and instructor. She has been a writer and contributing editor for an online magazine since 1998, writing 10-11 graphics articles per year. She is the author of several books, including a number of Acrobat titles. She facilitates courses through Education to Go, including both their Adobe Premiere and Adobe Acrobat courses. Donna lectures, and conducts workshops on Acrobat. A number of tutorials in her areas of interest are available on her website at http://donnabaker.ca/.

Carson and Baker are the co-authors of: Baker and Carson, Adobe Acrobat 6: The Professional User's Guide (A-Press, 1-59059-232-8, 2004, 510 pp, SC). Donna Baker has written several books of a similar nature about Acrobat and other software.

Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) is a $3.4 trillion industry in which documentation is the basis for the delivery of products and services. Such documentation is the currency of AEC projects and can be a complex mixture of drawings and specifications. Sharing and archiving documents requires a safe, small and smart format, a role for which Adobe’s portable document format (PDF) is ideally suited. PDF has become the de facto standard for submission and distribution of these documents in government and regulatory agencies, world-wide.

Adobe^® Acrobat^® and PDF for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction is designed to appeal to the engineering mind. The book is a practical guide focusing on the applications of PDF in the solution of "engineering" problems which may arise in a number of disciplines from architecture to construction. Using real-world examples, the authors follow a project from design through build and long-term maintenance. As the sample project evolves, suitable Acrobat^® tools and techniques are identified and brought into play at each stage, showing readers how to personalize the context and processes to meet their own project development and management needs.

Adobe^® Acrobat^® and PDF for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction is aimed at a professional and senior student audience with levels of expertise in a variety of AEC sectors ranging from the intermediate to advanced. It will be of direct importance to anyone using ISO and IEEE standards such as the developing PDF/E (engineering) and PDF/A (Archival).

Features of the book allowing the reader to take full advantage of the power of PDF in an engineering environment include:

• review tracking;


• geo-referenced drawings;


• common format CAD and configuration management;


• reduced review and approval time with better document control;


• ease of collaboration with clients and permitting agencies through common, completely searchable, document format;


• project management advice.

Additional features designed to facilitate self-teaching are:

• chapter summaries;


• an example project used throughout the book to demonstrate the use of the various PDF capabilities introduced with files which can be downloaded from the authors’ website at www.donnabaker.ca/Acrobat_for_AEC.html to keep track of the changes chapter by chapter;


• other sample projects for readers to work with, offered by industry leaders in several specialty areas;


• end-of-chapter exercises guiding the application of the knowledge gained in each chapter.

For professionals of all shades from electrical, civil and mechanical engineers to architects and construction managers.