Pages

Brief Career Bio

My photo
Civil Engineer with a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering (Transportation). I also hold a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering and Geomatics. I am licensed as a Professional Engineer in both Canada and the United States.

Blogger Contact

Feedback kindly welcome. Email me!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Sharing Civil 3D knowledge

Greetings! I have never dabbled in the blogging world before, but the more I work with Autodesk's Civil 3D (2011) the more I find myself coming up empty, looking for resolution of Civil 3D issues over the internet.  While there are a few sites created out there at the moment that are very helpful, I truly believe the more the merrier.  Under tight time constraints, nothing is more satisfying than running a Google search and getting directed right to what you're looking for.  "Saved!" Like it or not, Civil 3D will soon be a pandemic design tool in the Civil Engineering industry.  The greatest shame of the software's invasion is lack of user knowledge and the how to best deal with quirks of the software. Management's and clients' expectations of what the software is capable of is lofty, and for the most part with reason.  They have seen it's 'dyamic' capabilities that allow for designers to be more efficient and accurate.  The problem lies with where they saw this dynamic capability.  It's always nice to run through a-perfect-world-tutorial, but problems (and some of them potentially catastrophic with deadline considerations) arise in the real world.  The projects we work on don't always run as smooth as a tutorial/presentation. All that being said, I hope to kick off a blog spot, for people who are enduring the rapid technology change, where we can bounce ideas and solutions off each other.  Also, going so far as maybe making postings of what not to do and why. Furthermore, as a former instructor in a Civil Technology program, I hope this site may be able to complement for those out there learning the engineering fundamentals.  Most institutions don't teach enough of the practical skill-sets that can help future gradutates land a job.  For them, the students in a tough economy, this will be the best skill set that will get them employed and utilized immediately.  (I can say that we are looking for skilled Civil 3D Designers with little luck). Look for further posts of current and past projects where I've used the software with success and failure.  And please, if you have anything to share, please do so!  Let's get a nice open forum of thoughts flowing. Talk to you soon! George