It’s that time again! This is our 4th annual series of workshops geared specifically for NC licensed surveying, engineering and construction professionals.

Like in years past, we will have a morning session where an overview of Carlson Software and CAD Tips & Tricks will be presented. Then, for the afternoon session, you will be able to attend two sessions (from a total of 6) on a variety of topics.

This year’s Morning Session will cover:

• »  IntelliCAD Overview, AutoCAD/IntelliCAD Tips & Tricks, Getting Started with CAD Standards
• »  Preview of Carlson Software, Data Collection, GPS, Integration with Esri and IntelliCAD

The first Afternoon Session provides a choice of 3 topics:

• »  Carlson Fundamentals – Deed Processing, Working with Points, Field to Finish, Surface Modeling & Site Grading, RoadNet, Hydrology preview, Finding and Using Freely Available GIS Data in North Carolina
• »  Seamless Civil Data Conversion – No Problem! – This session will show how Carlson’s seamless data conversion enables users to go back and forth from Land Desktop, Civil 3D and other software packages. If your concern is in continuing to take good care of your clients and keeping the lines of communication open, you’ll see that this is actually no concern at all.
• »  Carlson Point Cloud 2011 – For those who have seen this product in the past, you’ll be impressed with all the improvements in 2011. This session will present many of the new & improved routines in Carlson’s Point Cloud 2011 including how to clean a cloud to remove cars and other physical features so as to make it smaller and easier to work with, how to get volumes for a stock pile, how to use Carlson Field to Finish for symbols and breaklines from the cloud and how to generate a surface and contours in your CAD file.

The second Afternoon Session provides a choice of 3 topics:

• »  Demonstration of Carlson’s All-In-One Surveyor+ GPS & Data Collector – See this office and (weather-permitting) field demonstration of Carlson’s new Surveyor+ GPS System. This equipment provides a dual frequency RTK GNSS receiver and field controller and comes loaded with Carlson SurvCE. This system is versatile with Network RTK, Base/Rover RTK and static capabilities. It’s also flexible and works with almost every brand of total station and robotic instrumentation. This demonstration will include Carlson’s Field to Finish feature.
• »  Collecting Survey Data for Direct Import into Esri – In this session you will learn how to export a GIS feature/attribute structure from a client’s Esri GIS, use SurvCE or SurvPC to collect additional survey-grade data to that schema, and then write it back to ArcGIS in a single seamless workflow.
• »  Carlson 2011 Updates and Advanced Design and Grading – In this session you will learn many of the new features in Carlson’s 2011 product offerings for surface modeling, grading and Hydrology. One of the most exciting features is Carlson’s ability to make edits to contours and apply the changes back to the underlying TIN surface file. Updates to Carlson’s Civil & Hydrology packages (including design criteria for NCDOT, City of Greensboro and others) will be covered.

The cost for the 1-day workshop is $99. Early bird pricing is available through October 31, 2010 for $89 per person. Lunch will be provided and NC licensed professional surveyors and engineers will receive 8 PDH credits for attending.

Tuesday, Dec 14th in Wilmington NC – Find out more here or click here to register

Wednesday, Dec 15th in Raleigh NC – Find out more here or click here to register

Thursday, Dec 16th in Statesville NC – Find out more here or click here to register

UPDATE As soon as I heard about the Civil Suite price increase (originally set for 9/1/2010), I announced it here because I’d been asked about it so frequently. Now, it appears that the date has been extended to 9/15/2010 for the lower pricing. So, I’ve updated my advertising where possible. The cutoff date is apparently still in flux… all I can say is to keep checking. I plan to keep $1,995 on Civil Suite at least until Carlson raises their prices and hopefully beyond that.

As expected, Carlson Software has decided to end their “Recovery Special” and take the price of Civil Suite back to its original $3,500. Carlson’s price of $2,500 will remain in place only through September 1, 2010 [Now 9/15/2010 – See Above].

As a reminder, prices listed above and on our Carlson Software Pricing page are Carlson’s Retail Pricing and do not reflect discounted pricing available from That CAD Girl. Additionally, That CAD Girl includes one-hour FREE online training with each purchase of Carlson Software.

With the expected release of Carlson 2011 products in September, come join us for a day-long workshop presenting the newest features of Carlson Survey, Civil, Hydrology, GIS and Point Clouds. We will also spend time in the afternoon demonstrating Carlson’s new Surveyor+ RTK GPS System with SurvCE data collection.

The price for the session is only $25 – this includes lunch and your entry for several door prizes.

Tuesday, Oct 5th in Atlanta GA – Find out more here or click here to register

Wednesday, Oct 6th in Columbia SC – Find out more here or click here to register

Thursday, Oct 7th in Richmond VA – Find out more here or click here to register

Our June 2010 Newsletter can be downloaded HERE

All classes listed below will be held at the Hampton Inn on Hampton Woods Lane in Raleigh, NC. Lunch will be provided and NC licensed Land Surveyors and Engineers will receive PDH credit hours for attending. A certificate will be provided to everyone completing the training and may be used for PDH credit in other states.

Registration for all classes is limited to 10 people – please call us at 919.417.8351 to register.

Intro to Carlson with a CAD Refresher, $249    July 12-13, 2010

This class will focus on the basics of Carlson Software along with a review of some IntelliCAD and AutoCAD features that will assist you when working with Carlson Software. Please click here for pre-requisites and more details or download a PDF with agenda and directions here.

Surface Modeling with Carlson Software, $249    July 26-27 or Aug 23-24, 2010

This class will start with an introductory lesson on existing ground surface modeling and will then move to proposed surface modeling techniques including modeling for site and subdivision design, ponds, retaining walls and multi-level building pads. Please click here for pre-requisites and more details or download a PDF with agenda and directions for July 26-27 or Aug 23-24 here.

My Field to Finish, $349     Aug 16-17, 2010

This class will provide an overview of Carlson’s Field to Finish feature and will provide each attendee with time to create a standard field to finish code file (.fld file) to be used in his or her office. We will also cover the creation of block libraries and custom linetypes that can be assigned to field codes. In order to ensure that each attendee is prepared for and brings the content needed for the class, a one hour pre-training session will be held online approximately 2-3 weeks before the class. Please click here for pre-requisites and more details or download a PDF with agenda and directions here.

My Company Standards, $349     Sept 20-21, 2010

This class provides training and guidance to help you create a comprehensive CAD standard for your company. We will cover standard layers, linetypes, pen weights, text styles, blocks and title blocks. A more detailed list and description of needed content will be provided after registration. In order to ensure that each attendee is prepared for and brings the content needed for the class, a one hour pre-training session will be held online approximately 2-3 weeks before the class. Please click here for pre-requisites and more details or download a PDF with agenda and directions here.

This is a good article about Bruce Carlson and where Carlson Software is planning to go in the future…

Independence All the Way

It’s time to take another look at Carlson Point Cloud.

Carlson’s Point Cloud program has been re-vamped with many powerful and exciting new features giving those folks struggling to process data generated from laser scanners the ability to process up to 1 billion points.

Carlson Point Cloud is even more valuable to land surveying, civil engineering and mining professionals because of its seamless integration with Carlson Survey, Carlson Civil and Carlson Mining.

With the new and improved Point Cloud program, your scan can be oriented to a local coordinate system and clouds can be “cleaned” to filter and thin out duplicate points. You also have the ability to snap to edges and code points for use with the Field to Finish feature of Carlson Survey. This allows you to define more accurate breaklines and create better surface models for generating contours, profiles & cross sections in Carlson Civil.

Read more about Point Cloud by clicking here. There are also several new 5 minute videos demonstrating the functionality of this program available here.

See key features of Carlson Point Cloud 2010

Looking for Carlson Software manuals? Prior to the 2010 release, Carlson included printed manuals with your purchase and, in addition, the manuals have always been available to print for yourself from the Help files.

With the 2010 release, Carlson “opened” a storefront on the self-publishing site called Lulu.com. You can order 2009 and 2010 Carlson Software manuals here http://stores.lulu.com/carlsonsw.

It’s time to take another look at Carlson Point Cloud.

Carlson’s Point Cloud program has been re-vamped with many powerful and exciting new features giving those folks struggling to process data generated from laser scanners the ability to process up to 1 billion points.

Carlson Point Cloud is even more valuable to land surveying, civil engineering and mining professionals because of its seamless integration with Carlson Survey, Carlson Civil and Carlson Mining.

With the new and improved Point Cloud program, your scan can be oriented to a local coordinate system and clouds can be “cleaned” to filter and thin out duplicate points. You also have the ability to snap to edges and code points for use with the Field to Finish feature of Carlson Survey. This allows you to define more accurate breaklines and create better surface models for generating contours, profiles & cross sections in Carlson Civil.

Starting on May 1, 2010, That CAD Girl is offering the “Point Cloud Complete” bundle that includes Carlson Survey, Civil, Survey, GIS and Point Cloud for $6,795.

To schedule a live, online or on-site demonstration, contact us at 919.417.8351 or [email protected].

Read more about Point Cloud by clicking here. There are also several new 5 minute videos demonstrating the functionality of this program available here.

Beginning on May 18th, I will be presenting a series of Free webinars in partnership with Carlson Software. This series of webinars will generally alternate between IntelliCAD/AutoCAD topics and Carlson Software topics.

May 18, 2010, 12:00 EDT: Tips & Tricks for Carlson Civil: Beyond the Demo

May 18, 2010, 3:00 EDT: REPEAT Tips & Tricks for Carlson Civil: Beyond the Demo

June 3, 2010, 12:00 EDT: Introduction to Model Space & Paper Space for IntelliCAD or AutoCAD

June 17, 2010, 12:00 EDT: Introduction to Field to Finish

Descriptions and registration links can be found here: Carlson Software Webinars

Click here to access Archived Webinars