Clarifying the Confusing Terminology of Drawingless Initiatives

In this industry, terminology is a bear. There are special acronyms and terms with subtle differences that can actually have big implications. And unfortun...

update Updated: November 1, 2025

In this industry, terminology is a bear. There are special acronyms and terms with subtle differences that can actually have big implications. And unfortunately, there isn’t a good place to get definitions for them all.

A few weeks ago, I launched survey that looks at design data interoperability, model-based enterprise initiatives and the use of 3D outside engineering. Statistics and findings from that survey will be used to publish The State of 3D Collaboration and Interoperability Market Report in May. You can take the survey here to get a complimentary copy of the report. But the exercise of carefully developing the survey made me tease apart the definitions of various terms related to drawingless efforts.

Given that, I thought it’d be valuable to put them here. So here they are.

You can find the full post on ENGINEERING.com.

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