Automated review of uploaded architectural drawings to extract measurements and compare them against zoning requirements.
Automated review of uploaded architectural drawings (PDF or DXF format) to extract dimensions, setbacks, heights, and other metrics, then compare them against zoning requirements.
Process:
1. PARSE THE UPLOADED FILE
PDF: Use OCR + layout analysis to extract:
- Title block information (project name, address, scale, date)
- Dimension annotations
- Area calculations
- Room labels and uses
- North arrow and scale
DXF: Parse layers and entities:
- Extract polylines for building footprint
- Extract dimension entities
- Extract text annotations
- Identify layers (walls, setbacks, lot lines, etc.)
2. EXTRACT KEY METRICS
From site plan drawings:
- Lot dimensions (from lot line entities)
- Building footprint (from building outline entities)
- Setbacks (from dimension annotations between
building and lot lines)
- Driveway width and location
- Parking space count and dimensions
From floor plan drawings:
- GFA per floor
- Room sizes
- Unit count and sizes
From elevation drawings:
- Building height to highest point
- Storey heights
- Grade relationship
3. COMPARE TO ZONING
Feed extracted metrics into the Compliance Matrix generator
(Section 2 above)
4. GENERATE REPORT
- List of extracted metrics with confidence scores
- Comparison to zoning standards
- Flagged discrepancies between drawings
(e.g., site plan shows 1.5m side setback,
but floor plan shows 1.2m)
- Recommendation for corrections
Technical implementation:
- PDF parsing: pdf.js, pdfplumber, or Tabula
- DXF parsing: ezdxf (Python) or dxf-parser (JS)
- OCR: Tesseract or cloud OCR service
- Dimension extraction: regex patterns for
common dimension formats (e.g., "7500" = 7.5m)
- Scale detection: look for scale bar or title block scale