The Dave and Dan Civil 3D Show

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posted 01/30/07 by Dave Simeone Oh my… Suddenly everyone’s promoting Model-Based products!

I’ve been starting to notice that other Civil/Survey products are starting to message that they’ve got “model-based” applications so I thought I’d share some observations.

First of all, I’m very happy to see that the term “model-based” is resonating in the market. When we were first preparing for the launch of Civil 3D (Back “in the day”), we found that most civil/survey professionals we interviewed didn’t connect “modeling” with what they did for a living. For them, modeling was more of a mechanical term (3D shaping of a car or toaster…). In the past 2 years, however, we’ve seen the civil/survey community become much more comfortable with the term “model-based.” I attribute this change to the following…

1. The object interaction (ie, model-based design) is very obvious in Civil 3D
2. We’ve invested quite a bit in promoting the concept of model-based design of the civil/survey market
3. You in the market recognize that you’re more familiar with model-based concepts than you first let on
4. Other products in the market are realizing that they also need to promote themselves as model-based products

What I find very interesting (and in my opinion, complimentary) is that suddenly products that have been available for many, many years are now promoting themselves as “model-based”.

Just so we’re all on the same page, here are the basic components (at least from my perspective…) of a model-based civil/survey environment:

The Base Model
Does the object know what it is, and can you use it to create other things? For instance, can I create contours, contour labels, 3D surfaces, etc, from a surface model?

Cross-Object model interaction
Is the road profile derived from the surface? How about pipe rims? Is the road model being designed based on existing surface conditions?

Model – Drafting interaction
Are the graphics and labels in the drawing derived from the model?

Sound reasonable?

So how is Civil 3D different than anything else out there?

Dynamic Model vs. Static Model

For me, the difference between Civil 3D and anything else on the market is the dynamic nature of the model interaction and the depth of those relationships.

What happens if the surveyor working on a road resurfacing project adds incremental topo shots that result in an updated existing ground surface? In the real world, that will result in updated existing and, potentially, proposed profiles, as well as proposed road model, catch basin and manhole rim elevations, etc, etc? All these elements are connected in the real world and need to also be connected in your model-based civil/survey software. This connectivity is the difference between the static model that we all have worked with for years and the Dynamic Model that Autodesk Civil 3D introduces.

Here are some things that differentiate a static and dynamic model based civil/survey environment…

- Do objects update if a change is made somewhere else in the model?
- Is the design criteria that I first used when designing something (ie, road mill/overlay) used again if elements that contributed to the solution change (ie, EG surface)? In other words, does the software update the solution automatically or do I need to manually re-design/edit?
- Can I query or draft across multiple elements in the model (ie, label with station offset of two roads plus the elevation of finish ground surface)
- Does my drafting update automatically if there is a change or do I need to recreate (delete then redraw labels)?

This is already too long, so I’ll end for now… The main point I was hoping to get across is that the process of completing a civil/survey project will always require the ability to make changes along the way. A civil/survey model is just the foundation. What really solves the production problem is the dynamic interaction between the team members and deliverables that make up the project.

My plan for my next post is to take this a little deeper by focusing on how the dynamic model impacts production drafting. This is where the dynamic modeling concepts really sings…

Thanks
DAS

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