I thought I knew the answer to this question already, but after a little more browsing on the Autodesk Web site, I’m not sure. I already know which civil engineering package from Autodesk is the one best suited towards the type of planning I want to do. I know I need 3D visualization features, terrain modeling, coordinate conversion, and raster support, but which one? It is possible that Raster Design may add enough functionality if I use GlobalMapper for the 3D format conversion, but if not, then do I select Civil 3D, Civil Design, Land Desktop, Map 3D, Envision, or perhaps even CAiCE Visual Construction?
There is no one matrix on the site that gives a potential purchaser a good idea of how these products are related to each other or work together. Clicking on “Solutions” on the home page, then “Civil Engineering & Construction”, then “Planning” and “Start Now”—a farily obvious choice—leads me to a contact form that will surely result in a bunch of product literature showing up in my mailbox, rather than a decent feature matrix or product information.
The obvious candidates for software that should be up to the job are AutoCAD 2005 and Bentley Microstation V8.
However, I already know that AutoCAD’s inability to insert geo-referenced images will necessitate the addition of Autodesk Raster Design or a switch to Autodesk Map 3D for even my most basic 2D mapping needs. And I also know that I’ll be unable to create a 3D surface from the 2D contours I have, so I’ll also be using Global Mapper for data conversion, along with GeoTIFF Examiner Pro.
Bentley’s marketing brochure for Microstation V8 indicates that it natively supports GeoTIFF, but it is also possible I’ll need to explore the MicroStation Civil Extension and MicroStation GeoGraphics extensions—or one of Bentley’s more specific civil packages—to add the capabilities I’ll want further into the project.
As a footnote, I was troubled by the configuration of Bentley’s Web server: typing “bentley.com” (all that should be necessary) didn’t work in either IE or Mozilla; I instead had to type “www.bentley.com” into both browsers in order to reach the site. It’s indeed a small nit, but forcing me to type these needless four extra characters doesn’t exactly give me a warm fuzzy feeling.
Now that I’ve got ahold of the primary data I need—the AutoCAD drawing with 2-foot contours—I can now start on the creation of maps in earnest.
The goals at this stage are basic:
- Combine the contour data and aerial photographs to create a 3D map of the park, to aid the club in determining the best location for our setup, given the terrain’s impact on RF propagation and on public access.
- Combine the contour data and aerial photographs to create a 2D map of Bayfront Park, to aid us in presenting our preferred location to the park rangers and others that have the ultimate say on what area we can use, and for publishing in 2D media.
It should be possible to position models of the equipment and vehicles easily in both the 2D and 3D models, and all of the data formats we use should use the Lat/Lon coordinate system with the WGS 84 datum, to ensure interoperability—especially with GPS equipment.
