With regard to inspection and limited dimension drawings, rest assured I feel your pain. I do not support limited dimensioning any more then I support limited 2D tolerance analysis. Please re-read the third to last paragraph. Please not there and on my process map, that there are products for the inspection process that take adavantage of the 3D annotation. The UG-AIMS product is very exciting.
As for anyone can pull a fully detailed drawing anytime and read it, well the flaw has always been that a fully detailed drawing is normally not detailed correctly, its cluttered and hard to read by someone versed in GD&T and detail views and all that much less for someone who isn't.
I know my block example only has a few holes, but if you had a chance to look at how "model views" manage the annotation on a complex part, I think you would be pleasantly suprised. Plus, with a 3D part/assy, it is much easier to "see" the design and "manage" it. For example, drawings pulled from a drawer are often out of date. Ever experience that issue? Or, the drawing is up to date but the CAD model isn't. And is much of the manufacturing process driven by the CAD model?
Trust me. We are in agreement. Detailing of features needs to be complete. Please do not misunderstand the efficiency of leaving off BASIC dimensions and multiple copies of datum symbols as a support for limited part/product definition.
However, I do support title block tolerancing for robust designs that do not require excessive detailed and unique GD&T on every feature. To bring my point home, on my "simple" block, a linear overall width dimension is not necessary with a simple profile of surface control. In fact, a "feature of size" linear dimension intended to control the width of the "simple" block would in fact be incorrect and an extremely poor transfer of functional design intent.
Finally, I am a huge advocate for CMM and especially non-contact lazer point cloud inspection tools and process to further take advantage of the not so new relm of 3D annotation and "smart modeling".
I am only to glad to help. My contact information is at the bottom of the article.