FAQ

FAQ: What are the improvements to Carlson over previous versions? (a running thread)

Features and Benefits of GeoTech 2017

“GeoTech will model all core samples and produce a detailed, easy-to-read report for drill logs, cross sections, and plan view,” says Dave Carlson, V.P. of Development for Carlson Software.

In addition, this information is fully integrated with Carlson Civil, for determining site stability and suitability, and also Carlson Construction, for accurate strata takeoff estimation.

Menus in GeoTech 2017

Menu Bar in GeoTech 2017

The menus below are available in Carlson GeoTech 2017

The menus below are in all non-OEM programs of Carlson 2017 desktop software

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Features and Benefits of Civil 2017

• Utilize the very best Carlson software support tools for all your design build, site design & site grading, subdivision design & subdivision grading and road design & road grading needs,
• Perform tasks associated with civil BIM (Building Information Modeling),
• Use the Lot Network feature to create a dynamic subdivision design that takes into account road centerline and right of way, building setbacks, wetland or poor soils areas and inserts one or more building footprints onto each lot,
• Use vehicle path tracking to ensure adequate roadway clearance,
• Create, define, edit and draw centerline alignments using a variety of methods including best fit,
• Easily elevate 2d, zero-elevation polylines from points, text or text with a leader for detailed site grading,
• Label elevation, slope and other properties of polylines,
• Design a centerline and profile along a surface that maintains a maximum slope,
• Import surfaces from Civil 3d and Google Earth®,
• Create surface model files for existing and proposed conditions,
• Design and balance cut and fill for one or more building pads at a time,
• Edit the contours generated from a surface model and automatically update the underlying TIN file,
• Calculate earthwork volumes between two surfaces including building pads, stockpiles and borrow pits,
• Report storage volumes for bench and valley ponds that can be designed using various design criteria such as adding multiple interior benches and automatically removing the berm in cut conditions,
• Use the layer-based SiteNet commands to calculate and report volumes and/or quantities:
  • Of an entire site or within a perimeter Polyline,
  • Of cut & fill dirt; of topsoil removal & replacement; of materials such as asphalt, stone, concrete and curb; and of pipe and structure depth,
  • That can be exported directly to Microsoft Excel®,
• Create cut & fill color maps or a grid of cut and fill labels,
• Create, define, edit and draw profiles using a variety of methods including best fit,
• Create, define, edit and draw cross sections using a variety of methods,
• Define, edit and draw typical cross sections to create a library of roadway templates that meet detailed design standards,
• Use the Road Network feature to dynamically design a network of highways or roads that automatically tie intersections together, allow detailed grading at each intersection and cul-de-sac and allow real-time volume determination as the road profile is adjusted,
• Design roads that that incorporate varying roadway widths, multiple templates, super elevation, topsoil removal & replacement, road rehabilitation including overlays after leveling or milling operations and more,
• Automatically elevate building pads and property lot lines using grading rules applied to a road design,
• Process Road Design for final sections, final contours and volumes,
• Pick a button to “Process” or have updates automatically occur when changes to centerlines or surfaces affect profiles, changes to profiles affect cross sections or changes to surfaces affect storm or sewer structures,
• Automatically generate a Carson software support plan and profile sheets in model or paper space where the plan and profile views can be shifted or rotated incrementally with the pick of a button,
• View your entities or surfaces in 3d or drive through them in a humvee, police car or school bus.

Menus in Civil 2017

Menu Bar in Civil 2017

The menus below are available in Carlson Civil 2017

The menus below are in all non-OEM programs of Carlson 2017 desktop software

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Features and Benefits of Hydrology 2017

Here are some of the things you can do with Carlson Hydrology:

• Use it to perform all of your stormwater modeling and design or use it to compile data that can then be used in other hydrology programs,
• Link directly to other hydrology programs including HydroCAD®, Pizer HYDRA®, TR-20, SEDCAD, HEC-RAS and HEC-2,
• Analyze and design using either SCS or Rational method,
• Determine runoff volumes with easy-to-use, layer-based tools
• Track runoff and analyze watershed data within the entire watershed or just above a selected point – such as a catch basin,
• Create surface model files with CAD support for existing and proposed conditions
• Design and then report storage volumes for bench and valley ponds that can be designed using various design criteria such as adding multiple interior benches and automatically removing the berm in cut conditions,
• Create custom fields for pipe structures and inlet libraries,
• Tap extensive libraries for rainfall data, inlets, manholes and outlet structures,
• Pick a button to “Process” or have updates automatically occur when changes to road designs surfaces affect storm or sewer structures,
• Design sanitary sewer or storm pipe runs in a dockable palette or in a spreadsheet editor,
• Tie pipe design criteria to surfaces, centerlines and profiles
• Calculate inlet intercepted and bypass flows, gutter spread and depth, pipe flow depth and velocity, and hydraulic and energy grade lines
• Choose to match stormwater pipes at the crown or at the flowline
• Receive warnings for collisions and when pipe length, cover, slope, flow rates or other design criteria do not fall within an acceptable, customizable range
• Design ponds, spillways, orifices, weirs, multiple outlets, channels, culverts, pipes and lift stations
• Draft sewer pipe dynamically in plans, profiles and 3D

Menus in Hydrology 2017

Menu Bar in Hydrology 2017

The menus below are available in Carlson Hydrology 2017

The menus below are in all non-OEM programs of Carlson 2017 desktop software

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Features and Benefits of all Carlson desktop programs

• Work natively in DWG format files – whether using the IntelliCAD or AutoCAD platform,
• Import DGN, DXF, DWF files,
• Import and Export LandXML/RoadXML files,
• Export Google Earth KML/KMZ files,
• Export files to be used in GPS guided machine control systems,
• Export DTM, Google, Idan, Microstation, MOSS, Peabody, Topcon, and 12D polyline files
• Customize project folders and sub-folders to organize your project data,
• Incorporate your own CAD Standards Tools into basic drafting functions,
  Import, export and convert points using text or most any other format including Civil 3d,
• Access to the entirety of the Carlson software File, Edit, View, Draw, Inquiry, Settings, Points and 3D Solids menus including these popular commands:
  • Drawing cleanup
  • 2d and 3d polyline editing commands to reverse polylines, add/remove segments or vertices, etc.
  • Shrinkwrap entities
  • Boundary polyline
  • Erase and Copy by layer
  • 3d Viewer Window
  • Surface 3d Viewer
  • Search Published Control – an Esri-powered command

Menus in all non-OEM Carlson desktop programs

Features and Benefits of Survey 2017

Carlson Survey is a comprehensive, CAD software program containing all of the tools that a surveyor needs. Here are some of the things you can do with Carlson Survey:

• Access both the Carlson Survey and the full C & G menus,
• Utilize the very best software tools for all your site design & subdivision design needs,
• Enter deed descriptions and generate a variety of lot reports including fully customizable legal descriptions,
• Enter deed descriptions and correlate field located property corners with deed property corners to find the best fit orientation & alignment,
• Use the Deed Reader command to extract deed line and curve data from a text file (the text file can sometimes be generated using the OCR feature of scanning software),
• Use the Lot Network feature to create a dynamic subdivision design that takes into account road centerline and right of way, building setbacks, wetland or poor soils areas and inserts one or more building footprints onto each lot,
• Have full point management capabilities including data collector download/upload, import/export points in text and most other formats including Civil 3d,
• Process raw data files using various methods via CAD software including SurvNet Least Squares,
• Perform dozens of COGO functions,
• Use Field to Finish (F2F) to process automatic linework and description key/description code definitions,
• Utilize dozens of time-saving point stake out commands,
• Import surfaces from Civil 3d and Google Earth®,
• Create surface model files for existing and proposed conditions,
• Edit the contours generated from a surface model and automatically update the underlying TIN file,
• Design and balance cut and fill for one or more building pads at a time,
• Calculate earthwork volumes between two surfaces including building pads, stockpiles and borrow pits,
• Create, define, edit and draw centerline alignments using a variety of methods including best fit,
• Create, define, edit and draw profiles using a variety of methods,
• Automatically update stationing when centerlines change, profiles when centerlines or surfaces change, etc,
• Automatically generate plan and profile sheets in model or paper space,
• Import, edit and export GIS shape files,
• Import a variety of image files including MrSid and geo-referenced TIF and JPG files.

Menus in Survey 2017

Menu bar in Survey 2017 showing the compact version of the CG Survey menu

Menu bar in Survey 2017 showing the expanded version of the CG-Survey menu

The menus below are available when using the expanded version of the CG-Survey menu

The menus below are in all non-OEM programs of Carlson 2017 desktop software

(Click image to see more)

Post: P3D Topo? Or Point Cloud? Point Cloud Basic? Or Point Cloud Advanced…?

Features and Benefits of Point Cloud 2019

Comparison: Point Cloud Basic vs Point Cloud Advanced

Commands in Point Cloud Basic and Point Cloud Advanced

Carlson Point Cloud is a modular program that provides this powerful ability to go from field scan to finished plat, all with seamless integration to Carlson Survey, Carlson Civil and Carlson Mining. Carlson Point Cloud delivers a whole new level of powerful automation for large data sets. It gives laser scanner users the ability to process millions of data points with Carlson Software ease-of-use.

Register your scan to local coordinates, filter or decimate the points, overlay raster images in 3D, snap to edges and code the descriptions for automated field-to finish processing of linework and symbols and create contours, profiles, sections, and breaklines. You will be able to read scan data from many instruments, view and process up to 1 billion points, and then perform the Field-to-Finish from the scanned data!

This Carlson Software office product allows users to export surface models, points, contours, breaklines, grid and profiles to CAD.

Features and Benefits of Point Cloud 2017

Register your scan to local coordinates, filter or decimate the points, overlay raster images in 3D, snap to edges and code the descriptions for automated field-to finish processing of linework and symbols and create contours, profiles, sections, and breaklines. You will be able to read scan data from many instruments, view and process up to 1 billion points, and then perform the Field-to-Finish from the scanned data!

This Carlson Software office product allows users to export surface models, points, contours, breaklines, grid and profiles to CAD.

Menus in Point Cloud 2017

Menu Bar in Point Cloud 2017

The menus below are available in Carlson Point Cloud 2017

The menus below are in all non-OEM programs of Carlson 2017 desktop software

(Click image to see more)

Features and Benefits of Takeoff 2017 (R9) with embedded AutoCAD (OEM)

Key features include:

• Calculate site cut & fill and topsoil
• Differentiate strata volumes & dirt vs. rock
• Accurately determine subgrade quantities
• Estimate trench and pipe quantities
• Estimate roadways from cross-sections
• Prepare the design info for exact staking
• Create a 3D model for machine control

Menus in Takeoff 2017 (R9) with embedded AutoCAD (OEM)

Menu bar in Takeoff 2017 (R9)

The menus below are available in Carlson Takeoff 2017 (R9) with embedded AutoCAD (OEM)

Features and Benefits of Survey 2017 with embedded AutoCAD (OEM)

Carlson Survey is a comprehensive program containing all of the tools that a surveyor needs. Here are some of the things you can do with Carlson Survey:

• Access both the Carlson Survey and the full C & G menus,
• Utilize the very best software tools for all your site design & subdivision design needs,
• Enter deed descriptions and generate a variety of lot reports including fully customizable legal descriptions,
• Enter deed descriptions and correlate field located property corners with deed property corners to find the best fit orientation & alignment,
• Use the Deed Reader command to extract deed line and curve data from a text file (the text file can sometimes be generated using the OCR feature of scanning software),
• Use the Lot Network feature to create a dynamic subdivision design that takes into account road centerline and right of way, building setbacks, wetland or poor soils areas and inserts one or more building footprints onto each lot,
• Have full point CAD management capabilities including data collector download/upload, import/export points in text and most other formats including Civil 3d,
• Process raw data files using various methods including SurvNet Least Squares,
• Perform dozens of COGO functions,
• Use Field to Finish (F2F) to process automatic linework and description key/description code definitions,
• Utilize dozens of time-saving point stake out commands,
• Import surfaces from Civil 3d and Google Earth®,
• Create surface model files for existing and proposed conditions,
• Edit the contours generated from a surface model and automatically update the underlying TIN file,
• Design and balance cut and fill for one or more building pads at a time,
• Calculate earthwork volumes between two surfaces including building pads, stockpiles and borrow pits,
• Create, define, edit and draw centerline alignments using a variety of methods including best fit,
• Create, define, edit and draw profiles using a variety of methods,
• Automatically update stationing when centerlines change, profiles when centerlines or surfaces change, etc,
• Automatically generate plan and profile sheets in model or paper space,
• Import, edit and export GIS shape files,
• Import a variety of image files including MrSid and geo-referenced TIF and JPG files.

Menus in Survey 2017 with embedded AutoCAD (OEM)

Menu bar in Survey 2017 showing the compact version of the CG-Survey menu

The menus below are available in Carlson Survey 2017 with embedded AutoCAD (OEM)

Menu bar in Survey 2017 showing the expanded version of the CG-Survey menu

The menus below are available when using the expanded version of the CG-Survey menu

Features and Benefits of SurvCE and SurvPC 5.x

• Get the software that supports a wide variety of equipment, old or new.
• Enjoy excellent, free (and prompt) technical support
• Be heard – Carlson listens to its customers’ input for new features or drivers for all of its products

Carlson SurvCE is a complete data collection system for Real Time (RTK) GPS and Total Stations with in-field coordinate geometry. It supports the widest range of popular and new release RTK GPS and conventional/robotic total stations.

SurvCE and its full-windows companion SurvPC can be configured with various combinations of 4 modules: Total Station (Basic), Robotics (requires Basic), Carlson GPS and Advanced Roading (Requires Basic or other Carlson GPS).

Refer to this FAQ to see if your hardware is supported in SurvCE & SurvPC

Refer to this FAQ for system requirements

Menus in SurvCE and SurvPC 5.x

Map View | COGO Menu

Map View | TOOLS Menu

Features and Benefits of GIS 2017

• Take advantage of the Carlson/Esri® partnership with these and other CAD software commands:
  • Import/Export Esri SHP files
  • Export DWG file with Esri MSC data
  • Export Esri Projection file
• Import and Export GIS Data between Carlson GIS and Carlson SurvCE
• Work with many image formats including:
  • Geo-referenced images
  • Google Earth images
  • CAD software images
  • MrSID images
• Convert GIS data to and from AutoCAD Map
• Query and Report GIS generated entities
• Hatch & Label GIS generated polylines
• Create, Audit and Erase links to GIS database
• Define Note file prompts for data collection

Menus in GIS 2017

Menu Bar in GIS 2017

The menus below are available in Carlson GIS 2017

The menus below are in all non-OEM programs of Carlson 2017 desktop software

(Click image to see more)

Features and Benefits of Construction 2017

Fully supporting all of the major 3D Machine Control formats for today’s heavy equipment with 3D Machine Control Systems, Carlson Construction gives you the tools you need for taking your data into the 3D environment. Whether your Carlson software need is “Data Preparation,” “Site Preparation,” or specifically creating Machine Control Guidance Models, Carlson Construction will get the job done for you.

Menus in Construction 2017

Menu Bar in Construction 2017

The menus below are available in Carlson Construction 2017

The menus below are in all non-OEM programs of Carlson 2017 desktop software

(Click image to see more)

Features and Benefits of CADNet 2017

Carlson CADnet, introduced in 2014, allows users to import faster images and PDF files and, if needed, even to merge multiple images into one file that can be digitized or otherwise converted by CAD software using a variety of raster-to-vector routines. CADNet also gives you many tools to help clean up text and linework generated from raster images.

Recent updates to CADNet gives you the ability to export drawing entities to 3D PDF files, import Sketchup files and import and export BIM models (doors, windows, walls, roofs, etc.) and bring them into CAD as CAD software entities; plus, CADnet includes a routine to export surfaces into BIM.

Menus in CADNet 2017

Menu Bar in CADNet 2017

The menus below are available in Carlson CADNet 2017

The menus below are in all non-OEM programs of Carlson 2017 desktop software

(Click image to see more)

Features and Benefits of Trench 2017

Carlson Trench is for calculations related to installing pipes, sewers, or utility lines. The CAD software calculates the volume of the trench cut, the volume of backfill (excluding the pipe size), and the linear footage of pipe broken down by the pipe material, size, and/or depth.

Carlson Trench is fully integrated with Carlson Civil and Carlson Construction, and also Carlson Hydrology to meet the variety of customers’ needs.

Menus in Trench 2017

Menu Bar in Trench 2017

The menus below are available in Carlson Trench 2017

The menus below are in all non-OEM programs of Carlson 2017 desktop software

(Click image to see more)

Click here to watch our Carlson Software: All Substance, No Styles webinar

for an overview of the program

1

You have options as to the platform: embedded AutoCAD (OEM), on top of full-AutoCAD or IntelliCAD

2

Carlson has Free Technical Support regardless of whether your software is 1 year or 10 years old or even if you’re still trying it out before buying.

3

 Carlson gives you the ability to design dynamically but does it with basic CAD entities such as lines, polylines, text and blocks which makes it easy to share drawings with others.

No more proxy entities or AECC Objects to fight with!

4

 Carlson doesn’t retire their products and never forces you to upgrade. Their annual maintenance is optional.

5

 Carlson Plays Well With Others: Their goal is to have their software be compatible with as many other software and hardware manufacturers as possible. There is a seemingly endless list of “Import from…” and “Export to…” commands in the software.

6

 Carlson gives you the tools you need.

The first 7 or 8 menus in all programs are identical and have all the basic tools you need to be more productive. Here are just some of the things you can do in every program:

FAQ: What you should know about purchasing Carlson Software

But, I find a lot of surveyors also need Carlson GIS for bringing in aerial photos, images of quad and soils maps.

And, this is a little out of the box, but if you’re a surveyor who does a lot of construction staking, I highly recommend Carlson Civil as well. Carlson Civil has a lot of tools that are meant to be used for design but, in my experience, can be invaluable for stakeout.

Most of these tools are in the 3D Data menu of Carlson Civil and include:

• 2D to 3D Polyline by Points and by Text with Leader
• Assign Contour Elevations
• Pad Polyline by Interior Text
• Draw Building Perimeter Polyline
• Convert Spot Elevations to Points
• Points by Slope

If you need Survey plus any of these other programs, you will have to use Carlson Survey with IntelliCAD or For Your AutoCAD because Survey and Takeoff are the only programs available on the embedded AutoCAD (OEM) platform.

And if you need Survey plus any of these other programs, you may want to consider the Civil Suite because the bundled pricing is often better than buying 2 or more individual modules.

Since all three of these modules are included in the Carlson Civil Suite, that’s usually the better deal.

The good thing about the Takeoff Suite is that you can buy the whole thing or just the pieces and parts you need. Many contractors only need the functionality of Construction and CADNet so, unless you need Trench and GeoTech as well, you could save a little money by just buying those modules. And you could always add the other pieces later if necessary.

Construction includes most of the functionality you will need for building models and doing takeoffs: tools for elevating 2D to 3D, site and roadway surface modeling (including resurfacing), quantity calcs, exporting to machine control and more.

CADNet includes the digitizing and imaging tools such as raster to vector, importing PDFs and BIM files and more.

GeoTech is for importing borehole data for analyzing subsurface conditions and materials.

Trench is for calculations related to installing pipes, sewers, or utility lines.

One other thing to note is that Construction is mostly a blend of the functionality you’ll find in Carlson Survey & Civil. Since the pricing of Civil Suite is the same as Construction, you may find that purchasing Civil Suite and CADNet is a good alternative to Construction and CADNet.

These images were current for the Carlson 2021 products but I don’t think much has changed…

Refer to this FAQ to see the latest improvements to Carlson’s desktop software products

Features and Benefits of Precision 3D 2017

Carlson Precision 3D Topo’s editing ability of digital terrain models (DTMs) offers many benefits:

• Load and review the two most common formats for surfaces: LandXML and DXF files of 3D Faces, in addition to TIN and Grd files from Carlson Software.
• Overlay other LandXML file types such as points, alignments, parcels, storm and sanitary sewers, culvert pipes and other piping systems.
• View the 3D Surface with user-controlled textures to quickly spot errors in the DTM.
• Fix the errors in the DTM for re-saving and use in CAD programs, or for direct output for machine control and survey stakeout.

Never before has there been such an array of tools to locate and correct DTM errors, all in a sharp 3D interface. Surveyors, contractors and engineers alike can use the software to make sure the final DTM surface is of the highest quality. Editing tools include surface blending, spike and dimple removal, DTM vertex editing and surface pad placement by defined polygon and outslope conditions. Multiple undoes and redoes allow you to study your changes and makes things perfect.

Carlson Software provides unlimited desktop licensing to qualified colleges and universities around the world.

Here is a handy chart – current as of the 2023 product release: Comparison: Point Cloud Basic vs Point Cloud Advanced

Point Cloud Advanced 2023 – Quick Guide

Carlson Point Cloud Advanced 2023 – Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftIdxr9cPmU&t=36s 

Carlson Point Cloud Advanced 2023 – Part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXchPkwVPcE&t=33s 

I don’t know about you but the new Carlson product offerings for P3D Topo and Point Cloud Basic and Point Cloud Advanced confuse me. Admittedly, these are products I haven’t dived into much and have relied on Mark Long and Doug Aaberg for their advice and direction. So, I put the question to them, “Who Needs Point Cloud? And Who Needs P3D Topo?”

Doug Aaberg: I feel that while Carlson P3D topo is a good solution for producing, manipulating surface models as well as some hydrology capabilities while Carlson Point Cloud is a good solution for performing virtual surveys and extracting existing data out of a cloud. It is probably to simple to surmise by saying Engineers would like P3D while Surveyors would like Point Cloud but I sort of think that way. The truth is, there is a lot of overlap between the two products.

Mark Long says: Carlson P3D Topo is intended to take large point clouds and create surface models for design professionals via Drones or Lidar.

 

And as to the difference between Point Cloud Basic and Advanced? Doug says: Point Cloud Basic – designed to work within a CAD environment to manipulate and extract data from a point cloud. It has a very large capacity (up to a billion points) and is a great program for performing a “virtual survey” directly in a cloud. It allows the creation of Carlson points and 3D polylines utilizing a typical Carlson Field to Finish code table (FLD file) and draws entities directly into an open CAD drawing with no additional export function. A notable feature is Survey by Grid which sets points at any specified grid spacing.

Point Cloud Advanced – contains all of the functionality of Carlson Point Cloud Basic plus the ability to extract features such as trees, hydrants and poles. It also allows the creation of solids and utilizes typical Carlson cross section alignments (mxs files) to extract cross sections and profiles. You can select cloud data by color or elevation and create regions for isolating portions of a cloud for editing or extracting features.. A notable feature is the ability to simplify a TIN and create smoother looking contour lines.