Sizing things up? Take a Photo, It’s Easier

One of the most boring and most time consuming task of any construction job is measuring dimensions. Now, there’s a unique new measuring tool that that literally makes the job a snap.

iPhotoMEASURE is a software program that you link with your digital camera to measure anything you can stuff in photograph. The process is surprisingly simple. First, you place a 7.5-inch square “DigiTarget” in the center of the surface that's being photographed to give you a point of reference to gauge the room's dimensions. You then take a picture of the area, room or object and upload the digital photographs into iPhotoMEASURE software. The software then calculates the measurements.

Just how accurate are measurements taken from a photograph? The company says most measurements are 99.5% accurate. We weren’t as lucky. From 40 feet away, we found the program was about 92% accurate. From 30 feet, that increases to 97%, and got better the closer we got to the target.

The software is especially useful for taking multiple measurements of a project or when you physically can’t take measurements because conditions or locations are difficult or unsafe to do so. Another consideration is that you don’t have to be present to take measurements. You can have someone else take the photo and email it to you. Plus the photos provide a permanent record for review, future measurements and comparisons after the work is done.

We did find the software a little cumbersome to use but it might have been our lack of experience. The software was not totally accurate with a wide angle lens. Measurements seemed to be most accurate with a regular 50 mm lens. We also noticed you have to stand directly in front of the target to get the best readings. Even so, we give the software a high rating. It may be because we take a lot of photographs, but we found the iPhotoMEASURE actually fun to use. We can truthfully say it measured up to our expectations.

For more information, log on to www.iPhotoMEASURE.com.