Carlson 2013 Has Been Released

Carlson released the 2013 version of their desktop products today. This includes: Civil Suite, Civil, Survey, Hydrology, GIS, Takeoff, Construction, Point Cloud, Geology, Surface/Underground Mining and Natural Regrade.

The 2013 embedded-AutoCAD versions of Takeoff and Survey have not yet been released.

Unlike previous versions of Carlson that support running on top of IntelliCAD or AutoCAD products 2000-2012, Carlson 2013 can only be run on IntelliCAD or AutoCAD products 2004-2013. This includes AutoCAD, Map, Land Desktop and Civil 3d. Also, anyone using the FREE IntelliCAD that comes with Carlson is eligible for a FREE GIS Starter Kit from Esri which includes ArcMap.

You can download Carlson 2013 here.

If you are using 2012 and are current on your annual maintenance contract, you can click here to look up your new 2013 serial number online. You will need to enter your contact information and your 2012 serial number in order to generate the 2013 serial number. You can find your serial number by opening Carlson Software and going to Help > About Carlson Software > Change Registration.

If you have trouble finding your serial number or would like to know the cost to upgrade to 2013, please email me with your request.

Click here for the full list of improvements to Carlson 2013

Click here for improvements to the General commands in 2013

Click here for the additional data file & conversion support in Carlson 2013

Click here for improvements to Survey commands in 2013

Click here for improvements to Civil commands in 2013

Click here for improvements to Hydrology commands in 2013

Click here for improvements to GIS commands in 2013

Click here for improvements to Takeoff commands in 2013

Click here for improvements to Point Cloud commands in 2013

Click here for improvements to Geology commands in 2013

Click here for improvements to Surface/Underground Mining commands in 2013

Click here for improvements to Natural Regrade commands in 2013

Thank you to the Richmond AutoCAD Manifest (RAM)

I’d like to thank Art Thomas and the Richmond Virginia AutoCAD User Group for inviting Jeremy and me to demonstrate Carlson Software and data collection last night. Our hour-and-a-half long presentation covered the basic tools and Survey, Civil and GIS specific features of the Carlson products.

The RAM User Group has been active for 20+ years and has a lot to offer CAD users in the central Virginia area. Their meetings are usually on the 3rd Wednesday of each month and start after work at 5:30. If you’re based in the Richmond area, I’d highly recommend that you join up with them.

 

Another Happy Carlson Customer

Here is a great story about another customer of mine, John Prevette with Gooden & Associates out of Hope Mills, NC, and his successful transition from Civil 3d to Carlson Civil Suite.

http://info.carlsonsw.com/blog-1/bid/121528/Moving-to-Carlson-from-Civil-3D
And, I know what you’re thinking but the answer is “No.” Carlson did not pay him to say this – I asked just to make sure! In all seriousness, it’s great he was willing to be interviewed and confirm just how great a design tool Carlson is and just how quickly you’re able to get up to speed.

Feedback from Aaron Hahn, Hahn Engineering & Consulting

I’ve been a little slack in requesting feedback from my customers over the past year so I was very pleased to receive the following unsolicited feedback from Aaron Hahn this week:

I purchased the Civil Suite last month and I wanted to thank you for all your pdf tutorials you posted on your site. They have been extremely helpful and they have made the switch from Civil 3D to Carlson quick and easy.

I can confidently say, that I prefer this software over Civil 3D already (used Civil 3D for years)! It’s faster, has more control, and is generally cleaner than Civil 3D. Clean and simple.

Thanks for all your help! Looking forward to getting up to speed on more of your tutorials and webinars 🙂

Aaron Hahn
Hahn Engineering & Consulting
British Columbia, Canada
Software Purchase – December 2011

See other testimonials here

Picks and Clicks: Field to Finish Follow Up

This article originally appeared in the December 2011 issue of Professional Surveyor magazine.

After we published “Understanding Field to Finish” in the September issue, I received more feedback and questions than I had for any other article to date. Although my plan for this month’s column had been “CAD Standards Part 2” (Part 1 is in the June issue), it makes more sense to answer some of the questions that were sent my way about Field to Finish first.

(I am using Carlson Survey for the examples in this article, but corresponding features and commands should be available as part of the Field to Finish feature of most other programs.)

The majority of readers’ questions revolve around how to code field descriptions and generate linework for multiple point codes. You use multiple point codes when you have a single field shot that defines more than one feature—for instance, a shot that locates both an edge of pavement and a sidewalk. However, before diving too quickly into multiple point codes, let’s make sure we have a good understanding of the different ways that you can use descriptions and linework codes to generate linework.

 

In Figure 1, the dotted lines represent the actual edges of pavement that exist in the field. Points 1-10 have a description “EP” designating them as Edge of Pavement.

When locating features that are generally symmetrical and that have two “sides,” such as a road, a sidewalk, or even a ditch having two tops of bank, we have a choice in how best to collect the points. Depending on field (and traffic) conditions, it may make more sense to take all the shots along one side of the road before crossing the road and taking all the shots along the opposite side.

The other way to collect shots is in what we call Zorro fashion: where we crisscross the street, taking shots on both sides, as we progress down the road. You can see that we used the Zorro style when taking shots in Figure 1. Point 1 is on the northwest side of the road, and shots 2 and 3 are on the southeast side. We then crossed back over to the northwest side to pick up 4 and 5, and so on.

To draw the linework for the edges of pavement, you must create a field code for the EP description. You can see from Figure 2 that it requires only a couple of specific settings to indicate that this is a 2D polyline type of entity and on what layer the polyline is to be created.

With the EP field code defined, using Field to Finish to draw points 1-10 generates the linework on layer “EP” (shown in red in Figure 3). Obviously this is not quite what we expected. I like to say that this is an example of the software doing exactly what we told it to do … rather than what we meant to tell it to do. So, we need to make a couple of adjustments.

The software understands only that it’s expected to connect all of the EP points with a 2D polyline. Carlson Survey allows you to choose whether the field code points are connected in “Sequential” order or “By Nearest Found.” The default setting is “Sequential,” which is why it connected the points the way it did. Unless we provide a little more information, there is no way for it to differentiate one edge of our pavement from another. If we make a minor change in the descriptions we use, we can have the program generate the linework correctly.

Rather than calling all edge of pavement points EP, we can use a number to modify the description so that we can tell the two polylines apart. We can use “EP1” for the northwest side and “EP2” for the southeast side. Now, when we redraw the points using Field to Finish, we end up with Figure 4, which is exactly what we wanted.

It is important to note that the field code does not change even though we’re now using EP1 and EP2 instead of EP. The field code is still “EP.”

Let’s introduce just a little more complexity. Beyond points 1-10, we have an extension of this road with two additional edges of pavement that are shown as dotted lines in Figure 5. We do not want to continue the linework from points 9 and 10 but to start new polylines instead.

If we use descriptions EP1 and EP2 for the new edges of pavement, Field to Finish will assume we are continuing the other edges of pavement. So we must, again, have a way to differentiate the new edges of pavement from the ones drawn previously.

Using the same method as in the prior example, we can use descriptions “EP3” and “EP4” for the new edges of pavement. As you can see in Figure 6, this leaves us with the four separate polylines that we wanted.

The only drawback here is that the numbering of each distinct edge of pavement could get confusing on a large site. In this example, once they’ve been used, EP1 or EP2 can’t be used again without Field to Finish thinking all the EP1 points are part of the same polyline.

The good news is that it only requires another small coding difference to allow you to re-use EP1 or EP2 again. In Figure 7, we still use the EP1 and EP2 descriptions, but we use them in combination with special linework codes “+7” and “-7.” In Carlson lingo, “+7” is the default code to “Start a new polyline” and “-7” is the code to “End the polyline.” You can see that once we have descriptions “EP1 -7” and “EP2 -7” at points 9 and 10, we start new polylines by reusing EP1 and EP2 at points 11 and 12. As long as you’re diligent about using the “-7” special linework code to end the previously drawn polyline, you can reuse the descriptions.

Multiple Point Codes

You use multiple point codes when you have two site features (such as the edge of pavement and a sidewalk) that intersect. As you can see in Figure 8 there are two points where a sidewalk meets the edge of pavement. In Figure 9, you can see the descriptions we used so we could have Field to Finish process points 5 and 6 as part of both the EP and SW linework entities.

Point 5’s description “EP1 SW1 +7” means that this shot is a vertex along the current EP1 polyline and also starts a new polyline named SW1 to define the edge of the sidewalk. Point 6’s description “EP1 SW2 +7” means that this shot is also a vertex along the current EP1 polyline and starts another new polyline named SW2 for the other side of the sidewalk.

To have Carlson’s Field to Finish process these points as shown, we had to create only one additional field code: the “SW” code for sidewalk. We set the Entity Type to 2D Polyline and set the Main Layer to “SW” (Figure 10).

Now, let’s take a closer look at the descriptions for points 5 and 6 (Figure 11). In Carlson Survey, if you use a space between two descriptions, the program allows you to process them separately using the two corresponding field codes. The corresponding field codes used to process these descriptions are EP and SW so Carlson will process the same point twice, first using the EP field code and then again using the SW field code.

Because having a space in a point description is an indicator to Carlson that multiple field codes may need to be processed, it is a best practice to avoid using spaces in your descriptions. Using a description such as 24” RCP PIPE can create several problems, but the main one is that Carlson will think it is supposed to process three separate field codes: one for 24”, one for RCP and one for PIPE. A better description would be PIPE/24” RCP. In this example, a field code named PIPE would be processed. And, because a forward-slash (/) separates PIPE from 24” RCP, Carlson considers everything after the slash as a comment and will ignore it when processing Field to Finish.

If you follow the maze of dialog boxes in Figure 12, there are several settings to take note of:

  • In the Code Table Settings dialog box, there are three possible settings for Split Multiple Codes.
  • If you select “All,” any point description that contains a space will be processed as a multiple point code. If you select “None,” all spaces will be ignored when it comes to processing multiple point codes. If you select “Prompt,” you will be prompted with the dialog box from Figure 13 each time a space is encountered in a point description.
  • In the Code Table Settings dialog box, select the option to “Use Multiple Codes for Linework Only.” This causes Carlson Survey to create both the EP and SW linework on their respective layers but only one point (created on the layer specified by the first field code). If you do not select this option, the program will create two points with the same point number but with different descriptions. Each point will be inserted on the layer specified by its respective field code.

In the Special Codes dialog box, you can see the default settings and are able to customize the Special Codes used to process descriptions, points, and linework in Field to Finish.

With that, I hope I’ve been able to answer a few more of your Field to Finish questions. Please don’t hesitate to call or email as needed. I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday season, and I’ll see you back here in 2012!

This article originally appeared in the December 2011 issue of Professional Surveyor magazine.

Picks and Clicks: Understanding Field to Finish

This article originally appeared in the September 2011  issue of Professional Surveyor magazine.

Don’t be intimidated!

DEFINITIONSField to Finish—A general term used to describe the process of automatically drawing survey field data based on point descriptions and other field codes.Field Code (Description Key)—An alphanumeric code, corresponding to the point’s description, that defines how points are processed using Field to Finish. For points to be sorted onto a particular layer, be included in a point group, have a symbol inserted, or have linework that connects points be automatically generated, a Field Code having the point’s description must first be created.Field Code File (Description Key File)—A file that contains all of the Field Codes. 

Linework Codes—Codes entered before or after a point description that, when processed using Field to Finish, indicate where linework starts and ends or how to create additional, associated linework.

Somewhat like the seemingly Herculean task of developing CAD standards that I wrote about in the June issue, Field to Finish is one of those topics that almost everyone attending my workshops or training classes wants to learn more about. If they are not using Field to Finish, they think they should be—and, if they are already using it, they think they could be doing more or doing it better.

For those who are unfamiliar with it, Field to Finish is a general term used to describe the process of automatically drawing survey field data based on point descriptions and other field codes.

 

Depending on the survey software you use, Field to Finish may include some or all of these tasks:

  • insertion of survey points on to separate layers based on the point’s description,
  • sorting of points into point groups,
  • “tagging” of points, based on the point description, as “non-surface” points (this means that the points, even if selected, will be ignored when building a surface model),
  • insertion of a symbol onto a separate layer based on the point’s description or note,
  • rotation or scaling of a symbol based on the point’s description or note, and
  • drawing of 2D and/or 3D polylines connecting points based on the point’s description or note.

Although most survey programs can perform these or other tasks that fall under the Field-to-Finish header, to my knowledge, Carlson Survey is the only one to have commands or files that are actually named “Field to Finish.”

 

Land Desktop and AutoCAD Civil 3D use the term “Description Keys” for their feature that sorts points onto separate layers and inserts, rotates, and scales symbols. A separate feature called “Automatic Linework” or “Process Survey Linework” generates the polyline figures in these programs. For purposes of this article, Field to Finish refers to the generic term and, unless otherwise specified, applies to any survey program.

Benefits

For those who have never used Field to Finish, it can be summarized in one word: intimidating! But once you see what can be accomplished with a little extra coding, I believe you’ll be convinced it’s worth it. Because a picture is worth a thousand words, it’s easier to show you the benefits of Field to Finish.

The generic command for importing points (rather than Field to Finish) was used to import the points in Figure 1. In addition to overlapping attributes that make it hard to read, the points are all on the same layer, making connecting the dots even more time consuming and difficult.

 

However, if you use Field to Finish to import the points into the drawing, it looks like Figure 2. The points have been frozen in this view, but you can see the symbols and 2D and 3D linework that have been generated on their proper layers.

 

Granted, these examples demonstrate the power of Field to Finish when used to its fullest capacity, and it does require additional time and attention in the field to generate these results. In my training classes I encounter a lot of skepticism from folks who don’t believe the extra time in the field is worth it. While it may look cool, they say, it’s just easier to sort to layers, insert symbols, and connect the dots manually back in the office.

Bite-size Pieces

I respectfully disagree—and I believe that tackling significant changes in procedure is best accomplished with bite-size pieces rather than one big bite. Do you remember how you’re supposed to eat an elephant? One bite at a time, of course!

  • Nibble: Sort points onto separate layers and into point groups.
  • Snack: Tag points such as fire hydrants and inverts of manholes as “Non-Surface” points.
  • Bite: Specify symbols to be inserted on points where needed.
  • The whole enchilada—er—elephant: Also use special linework codes to connect points using lines or 2D polylines (for plan generation) and 3D polylines (for defining breaklines for surface models).
Point Description ConsistencyRegardless of the level of Field to Finish automation you strive for, the single biggest key to success with Field to Finish is consistency among the point descriptions. If you are attempting to implement Field to Finish for the first time and want to ensure buy-in from your field crews, allow them to help develop the list of descriptions. After all, they are the ones having to enter them in the field. If the folks in the field are not consistent with the descriptions they enter for each shot, Field to Finish is doomed to fail.For instance, in the office, it doesn’t matter whether the description for a fire hydrant is “FH,” “HYD,” or “FIRE HYDRANT.” Once the Field Code File has been created, it’s simply a matter of processing the Field to Finish routine. So, rather than someone in the office dictating what descriptions the field crew should use, ask the crew what description makes most sense to them and what they are confident they can remember and enter every single time.

 

Even though the “nibble” part seems simple enough, it still requires a considerable amount of thought and consideration. So, how do you start? First, determine what descriptions will be used for shots taken in the field. In order to use Field to Finish, you will need to create a field code for each description that may be processed now or in the future.

 

Start by going back to one or two of the largest point files you’ve worked on recently and sort it out based on the point descriptions in it. Use this list as a guide to determine what descriptions to keep and what to throw out and also to trigger your memory for other descriptions that may be used in the future.

 

Once you’ve completed your list of descriptions, each description must be defined as a Field Code (Description Key) in the software. It’s during this step that layers can be assigned for the points, symbols can be specified for insertion, point groups can be defined, and non-surface points can be tagged. Depending on the software you use, the dialog boxes and interface will be different, but the data and settings entered are generally the same.

 

For Carlson Software users, there is a routine in the “Draw Field to Finish” dialog box that automatically creates a Field Code Table (populated with Field Codes) from a Coordinate File. If you’re not using Carlson Survey, I recommend opening your point file in Microsoft Excel to sift through and sort the list of descriptions.

 

The Field Code that processes points with an FH description, as defined in Carlson Survey 2012, is shown in Figure 3. On the “General” tab of the dialog box, note the highlighted areas that show the layers, point group, and the checkbox to tag points as non-surface. Importing points with an FH description and using the “FH” Field Code definition results in the symbol named SPT16 being inserted on the layer V-WATR-STRC, the point being inserted on layer V-NODE-WATR-STRC, and the point included in a point group named EX-WATER.

 

The “Symbol” tab of the dialog box (Figure 4) is where you specify the symbol name and various other rotation, scale, and insertion settings.

Connecting All Your Points

As I stated previously, it’s a reasonable goal to get to the point where Field to Finish is used to sort points and/or symbols onto their proper layers and into point groups and to tag some points as non-surface to keep them from being included in a surface model. These are office-only tasks, because using Field to Finish to complete them does not require anything from the field crew other than consistency when entering point descriptions.However, the ultimate goal is having Field to Finish connect all of your points with 2D and/or 3D linework. Compared to the previous tasks, this requires more buy-in from the field crew because of the additional coding and noting.

 

In Figure 5 you can see the linework coding that has been added to the “BOC” (Back of Curb) point descriptions in the sample of the point file. The “+7” linework code instructs the program to begin drawing linework, and the “-7” instructs it to stop drawing that piece of linework. The “PC” and “PT” identify the starting and ending points of a curve that fit all points in between the PC and PT.

The Field Code that processes points with a BOC description is shown in Figure 6. If you use the linework codes from the point file along with the BOC Field Code definition, it results in a 2D polyline on layer V-ROAD-CURB-BACK that starts at point 119 and goes to point 120. Then it goes into a curve that best fits between points 120 and 124 and ends with another tangent line from point 124 to point 125. A 3D polyline connecting the same points will also be drawn on layer 3D-EXISTING. In addition, the points will be inserted on layer V-NODE-CURB-BACK and included in a Point Group named EX-ROAD.

 

And this is just a sample of what can be done using Field to Finish. Depending on your software and data collector firmware, there are many other linework codes that can be used to automate the creation of linework based on your point descriptions and notes. In some cases there are specific linework codes that must be used, such as “B” for Begin linework (instead of the +7 used above) or “E” for End linework (instead of -7). Other programs, like Carlson, allow you to customize these codes. The “Special Codes” dialog box in Figure 7 shows the default linework codes used in Carlson Survey 2012.

 

I have one last piece of advice for those who are considering jumping into the world of Field to Finish for the first time. Cheat! Well, kinda. Every survey program with a Field to Finish feature has sample files that you can use as-is or modify to meet your needs. Rather than starting from scratch, it’s sometimes easier to work with one of those prepared files.

 

As always, I encourage you to send your feedback or contact me with questions at [email protected].

This article originally appeared in the September 2011 issue of Professional Surveyor magazine.

Picks and Clicks: Conquer Problem Drawings

This article originally appeared in the February 2011  issue of Professional Surveyor magazine.

While working with IntelliCAD, AutoCAD, or any other AutoCAD-based programs, we’ve all encountered the proverbial drawing from “you-know-where” that seems to drive us crazy from start to finish. Here I offer several tips to help you identify problems and conquer your problem drawings. I’ve listed these tips in the order I would apply them.

1 Purge your drawing.

The PURGE command removes any unused layers, linetypes, text styles, shapes (for linetypes and text), and many other items in the drawing.

When you run the purge command once, it will purge those items that are not currently in use and that have no other dependencies. For example, if a particular linetype definition depends on a particular shape, the purge command will delete the linetype definition only on the first pass.

Purging again will now delete the shape because the dependent linetype no longer resides in the drawing. Enabling the option to “Purge nested items” before purging will automatically execute the command repeatedly until all unused and dependent items are gone.

2 Purge remnants of registered applications that have accessed your drawing.

Typing “–PURGE” will execute the command line version of the purge command. This version includes a few options not available from the purge dialog box.

One of the extra options is “Regapps,” which is available only from the command line version of the command. You access it by typing “R” when prompted. This option removes “leftover” data from other programs (registered applications) that have been used to work on the drawing file.

3 Audit the drawing.

The AUDIT command looks for discrepancies between the objects displayed on the screen and the objects’ definitions in the drawing file database. The command then gives you the option of correcting the errors it has found. This command can be executed only while the drawing is open and active.

4 Recover the drawing and all reference files.

The RECOVER command is a more robust version of the audit command and can be used to open drawings that are so corrupt they cannot be opened otherwise.

Starting the recover command prompts you to browse to and select the problem drawing. If the problem drawing is already open and active, recover will prompt you to save changes before reopening the drawing and starting the recovery process.

For drawings that have attached XREFs (external references), use the RECOVERALL command to open and repair the selected drawing plus all dependent XREFs. Note that errors corrected by the audit are not saved back to the XREFs.

5 Block out the drawing contents to a new drawing.

If you suspect a drawing has become corrupt, you can WBLOCK the entire drawing out to another file. After starting the wblock command, set the “Source” option as “Entire Drawing” and provide the location and name for the newly created file.

Note that this command saves only Model Space entities to the new drawing. If needed, use AutoCAD Design Center to transfer layout tabs.

6 Insert the problem drawing as a block into a new drawing.

Using the same principle as above, you can use the INSERT command to bring the Model Space contents of a problem drawing into another drawing. Doing this will reduce or eliminate corruption in the problem drawing.

Make sure to use 0,0,0 as the insertion point and set the rotation angle and scale appropriately.

As with wblock, this command saves only Model Space entities to the new drawing. If needed, use AutoCAD Design Center to transfer Layout tabs.

7 Export drawings from vertical programs to AutoCAD.

Autodesk products such as Land Desktop or Civil 3D create program-specific, proprietary entities such as AEC Contours and AEC Point Objects. These proprietary objects can become corrupt or otherwise create problems when being accessed from standard AutoCAD or another program that doesn’t recognize the proprietary entities.

You can enter the -EXPORTTOAUTOCAD command at the command line to create a new drawing file that strips out the proprietary entities and leaves only standard AutoCAD entities. For instance, a Land Desktop or Civil 3D drawing containing AEC Contour entities will result in elevated polylines with text when exported to Autocad. And a Land Desktop or Civil 3D drawing containing AEC Point entities will result in a block with attributes when exported to AutoCAD.

Note that any AEC Objects will obviously lose their intelligence, but the new drawing can be opened in any version of Autocad.

8 Use DWG TrueView Convert to fix errors and bind XREFs.

DWG TrueView is a free program that you can download from Autodesk’s website. It is most valuable for its ability to convert drawings to earlier versions individually or in bulk. In the Conversion Setup dialog box, you can specify one or more options to clean drawings during the conversion process.

9 Use the Drawing Cleanup command in AutoCAD Map or Carlson Software.

Both AutoCAD Map and Carlson Software provide Drawing Cleanup commands that provide a variety of cleanup tools. In either version, you have the option of performing one or more cleanup tasks on the entire drawing or on only selected entities in the drawing.

Note: Use these commands with caution and apply cleanup options incrementally to avoid making unwanted changes. Also, I recommend making a backup copy of the active drawing before performing this command.

If you use AutoCAD Map, Land Desktop, or Civil 3D, you can access the Drawing Cleanup command from Map âžś Tools. In Carlson Software, access it from the File menu.

10

I’ve come up with 9 tips that will help you clean up and, maybe, access drawings that have become corrupt. To round out the list and make it an even 10, I’d like to hear from readers to find out what your favorite drawing recovery and cleanup tools are. Please email me at [email protected] and I’ll report in a future column.

This article originally appeared in the February 2011 issue of Professional Surveyor magazine.