Pinellas sheriff's Deputy Jim Bordner clocks a driver speeding over the Bayside Bridge from a helicopter and knows almost instantly that the car is going more than 100 mph.

The Rev. Robin G. Murray wants a Web site for his Spring Hill church, aware that a lot of other churches are online.

Technology took the workplace by storm in the 1980s, forcing workers and companies to learn how to do things in new ways. The '90s brought the Internet and another set of opportunities and challenges.

Somehow everyday work continued despite glitches, computer crashes and "time-saving" technologies that sometimes created more disruption than efficiency.

For all the grumbling and exasperation that came with change, many people now wonder how they did their jobs without the gadgets and technology they now take for granted.

"I'm like everyone else," said Deputy Bordner, who also uses a Palm organizer. "I like playing with toys. When you find something that helps you do your job, you appreciate it even more."

Today, we look at some of the big and small ways technology has affected the workplace. These are just a few examples. If you'd like to share the ways your work has changed, please send e-mail to techtimes@sptimes.com.

On the construction site

A stack of site plans sits on Barry Cercone's desk at Hardin Construction Co. in Tampa. It used to take as many as three days for Cercone to take the information from those documents and come up with an estimate for a project.

Now, Cercone, a senior estimator, can do it in about three hours. He takes a pen-like device connected to his computer and touches marked spots on the drawings. As he does so, the dots connect on the computer screen, re-creating the image from the paper plans on his desk.

Then "you let the computer do all the calculations," estimating how much concrete, fill dirt and other materials will be needed, fellow senior estimator Hank Foster said.

"It's still only as good as the information you put in," Foster said, but it's faster and more accurate than the old days of slide rules and calculators.

Hardin of Atlanta and other construction companies have put technology to work in almost every phase of a project, from the time a client walks in with the idea to the construction site. Among Hardin's better-known local projects are the Marriott Waterside Hotel in Tampa, the Brandon TownCenter mall and Centro Ybor.

Technology has helped cut the time needed to complete projects by as much as half, Hardin officials say, as well as reduced the number of people required to do the work.

Among the high-tech tools: laptops, handheld organizers, Internet access, digital cameras and laser devices for more precise site work. Hardin has taken the drawing tools available in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program to come up with renderings that look as good, if not better, than those produced by some specialized design programs.

"Some see 2-D (drawings) and don't understand," said Alan Brossoie, Hardin's manager of preconstruction services who figured out how to give the Excel drawings a 3-D look. "It helps people understand."

The renderings show how a project will look at various times during construction, rising from the site plan to the finished building. It can give rough estimates quickly on what a project might cost and how to adjust one to meet a budget.

Using computers, Brossoie says, allows work to be fast-tracked, such as letting site work begin while architects are finishing the designs.

At the construction sites, managers use Internet access for everything from staying in touch with the main office to checking weather radar to make sure rain won't interfere with a concrete pour.

Todd Fultz, a project manager, says e-mail has made it easier and faster to resolve problems. He offered the example of a client in Chicago, an architect in Alabama and a project in Florida. A digital camera comes in handy, Fultz says, to show exactly what's involved and to get a decision on how to proceed.

But it's his Palm handheld organizer that's "probably the most important thing I use day to day," Fultz said. It keeps his schedule, contact information and to-do list.

At a site in North Tampa where a new middle and high school complex is going up, site engineers Rick White and Jeff Scott keep their measuring chain rolled up these days.

They used to be limited to the 200 feet of metal to mark off a site, but now they work with a Nikon electronic surveyor to measure distances. Not only can they cover more ground, up to 2,000 feet, but it's more precise.

Even with tools such as the Global Positioning System and survey teams to do early site work, it's still the work on the ground that is crucial. "GPS gets you in the ball park; land surveyors get you inside the diamond," White said. "We have to put it right down on home plate."

Being off by as little as a quarter-inch can make a huge difference in a project if the mistake happens on each measurement, he said. The Nikon laser system narrows margins to thousandths of an inch.

"The more calculations you do by hand, the more chance you have for error," White said.

On patrol

Pinellas Sheriff Everett Rice remembers the days when law enforcement agencies kept records on 3-by-5 index cards. One of the cards would be filled out when someone was arrested, then filed away. If it needed to be checked, someone had to dig into the records.

That was then, the computer is now. The National Crime Information Center's computer network lets agencies check information in seconds or send alerts immediately instead of hammering out telexes.

"Direct access to information is the biggest change, by way of the computer in the car," Rice said. Deputies "have direct access to the NCIC computer. They have direct access to tag registration."

The NCIC computer is only one of the high-tech tools that help officers on the street. Deputy Jim Bordner, who works in the traffic enforcement unit, ticks off an array of gadgets that make his job easier and more efficient.

For example, the Automated Report Management System allows deputies to call in reports from the field from special phones located across the county. They give the information to specialists, who put all the information into a computer. "That took us from using half of our shift or more to handwrite reports out in triplicate," said Brodner, who has been with the department 14 years.

Radar has given way to more precise laser measurement systems to catch speeders, using a pinpoint beam that allows deputies to pick out cars even in moderate to heavy traffic. "If you can see a part of (the car), you can clock it," Bordner said. "If you have 10 coming at you, you can clock all 10 and be very accurate."

Accidents don't tie up traffic as long because deputies have a surveyor's mapping system that lets them do measurements with the road open. It eliminates using a tape to measure the scene and sketching it out by hand.

Deputies "plug the data into computers and it draws a rough diagram for us," Bordner said. "It's a tremendous time saver for us on major crashes."

When he's on air patrol, Bordner uses a digital stopwatch to time cars and automatically calculate their speeds. Previously, he had to clock the cars, then refer to a conversion chart for the speed before radioing patrol cars on the road to pull over the speeder.

As much as things have changed, more tech is on the horizon. Motorola chose the Pinellas Sheriff's Office to test what it calls the Greenhouse Project (www.motorola.com/greenhouse). Using broadcast bandwidth now reserved for TV stations, the system provides high-speed connections between patrol cars and headquarters.

It will make possible two-way transmissions of voice, data, photos and video, and provide Internet and office intranet access in the field. "Anything that can be done on your desktop can happen in your car," said Dave Byrum, a communications engineer with the sheriff's office.

Pinellas County was chosen, Byrum says, because it had the TV spectrum available for the signals and a large base of mobile data users. Motorola provided the equipment; the sheriff's office gave time and expertise, but paid no money. The test, now winding down in Pinellas, put the devices in a handful of cars, an EMS truck and a Largo Fire Department rescue truck.

"We learned from them what the future might look like, and they were going to learn from us what our needs and expectations were," Byrum said.

The system allows videoconferences from car to car, car to office or with experts in remote locations. Deputies can be shown training videos, consult with supervisors who can see what a crime scene looks like or look up department policies and regulations.

Byrum, who is on a national committee setting standards for the system, says Motorola is still in the research phase and doesn't expect a system to be on the market for a year or more. Because it is just a test, it has not yet been used in an emergency situation.

And for those thinking they can monitor such a system as they do a police radar, Byrum says the system is secure and agencies can encrypt the transmissions.

"It's a little overwhelming at first," Byrum said of the futuristic system. "There's a learning curve. Officers have been using old technology for so long this is a drastic step up."

In the pulpit

The Rev. Robin G. Murray laughs a bit about his devotion to technology.

"My wife says I'm gadget crazy," said Murray, 66, the rector at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Spring Hill. As for his wife, "She doesn't even know how to turn (the computer) on and off."

Murray counts a cell phone, Palm handheld and a laptop computer among his personal tech collection, and he just couldn't get along without his high-speed cable Internet access. "I don't know what I did before I had a computer," he said.

He uses all of it to help him plan and direct a church with more than 1,000 parishioners. Murray says it's a lot easier for him to type sermons on a computer than a typewriter, where changes meant crumpling paper and starting over.

"It's taken us out of the dark ages as far as communications," Murray said. "And as far as our ability to track information, it's taken it out of the pad and pencil kind of stuff."

The office computers are networked, helping the church with accounting, tracking parishioners and contributions and making it easier to prepare and send reports to the diocese online and by e-mail.

Now the church wants to create an e-group for electronic messages. It also is getting ready to go online with a Web page, which it will use as an electronic bulletin board. Murray also is considering putting a church directory online, with access available only to members.

But even Murray has limits. He won't use PowerPoint presentations during services, and he refuses to install a voice mail system for the church phones.

"A service industry needs a real live voice if it's working hours," Murray said. "After hours, we have a machine with numbers to call. If someone's in a crisis, they don't want to push 9 or 2. They don't want to hear "your call is important to me.' "

He carries a cell phone so he can be reached when needed, but only the church secretary and a few others have the number. "Otherwise, I'd be deluged," he said.

No parishioner has used e-mail to ask Murray for advice or counseling, and Murray isn't sure he would do that electronically. He is concerned not only about security and privacy issues, but also whether it would be as effective as a face-to-face discussion.

"E-mail is very impersonal," said Murray, whose messages from parishioners consists mainly of invitations and comments on sermons or news events.

No gadgetry can replace the personal touch a church provides, Murray said, recalling a service the day after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"We had people coming out of the woodwork we had never seen or (who) just came out for Christmas or Easter," he said. "The Internet can't do that. It can't do the soul touching that a service can do."

At the doctor's office

Dr. Ira Mandel sends e-mail to his patients. It's not just a friendly hello, but part of a service Mandel thinks more doctors must learn to offer.

"The fear that physicians have is that it will open up the floodgates, that patients will use it inappropriately and send all kinds of requests that shouldn't be sent by e-mail," Mandel said.

Mandel doesn't send sensitive personal information via e-mail or use it for emergencies. But he calls it a good choice for checking test results, prescription refills and followup questions to a visit.

Mandel says tech essentials for a doctor include electronic records, a handheld device for writing prescriptions, Web sites for information, e-mail with patients and a computer for scheduling.

Mandel says many doctors avoid technology that could improve their practices. "They're going kicking and screaming" into technology, Mandel said. "It's astonishing how other sectors of the economy have embraced technology. In medicine, the potential is tremendous and it can do so much for them. But they're so resistant."

Only 23 percent of doctors use e-mail to communicate with patients, according to a national survey released last month by Deloitte Research and Fulcrum Analytics. Of those who don't, 79 percent say they prefer face-to-face meetings.

Part of the problem, Mandel says, is that doctors are concerned about privacy issues, as well as whether the technology actually will save them time. But their attitude frustrates Mandel, who just resumed his family practice in Tampa after three years as a full-time consultant running the Tampa Bay Alliance (www.tball.org).

The group's mission is "teaching physicians innovative approaches to patient care." It has a seminar scheduled for May, so doctors can see and hear how tech can help.

-- Dave Gussow can be reached at gussow@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4228.

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