Wicked Cool Stuff
Dominick Gallegos, Civil 3D Technical Marketing Manager for Autodesk, shares his unique perspective and ideas on the functionality and use of Civil 3D for a range of different project types.
About DominickLatest Post
- posted 11/07/06 by Anthony Governanti Data Sharing vs. Data Management
- With the release of Service Pack 3 for Civil 3D 2007, we now have an alternative way to share objects between drawings; Data Shortcuts. This is functionality that a lot of customers may have been waiting for after either hearing about or experiencing difficulties implementing vault.
I want to make it clear that this is an alternative to Vault, but it IS NOT a replacement for it.
There are some key differences, and I like to explain it as the difference between Data Sharing and Data Management. Using data shortcuts is simply data sharing. Using Vault and a Civil 3D project is data management.
For the context of this post data I'll define sharing as the ability to share Civil 3D objects (surfaces, alignments, profiles, and pipe networks) between drawings. On the other hand, data management is inclusive of data sharing, but adds some key functionality like automatically creating the data references, automatically updating data references, tracking the file dependencies across drawings, versioning of drawings, and access control.
So now you ask - "OK Govna, you guys are making a big frickin deal about SP3 and Data Shortcuts....now what the heck are you trying to say here?"
What I'm trying to say is that you need to be aware of the differences so you can make an informed decision. Prior to SP3, you didn't have much choice when it came to sharing data across drawings in Civil 3D, Vault was really the only viable solution. Now you do have a choice; Data Shortcuts or Vault. The key thing to understand is that Data Shortcuts are for sharing the data, but not really well suited for managing it. If you are ok with having to do the management of data manually, then they are the right tool for you. But, if - or better yet - when you get to a point where that manual process is too much to deal with, Vault will be there ready and waiting to accept you with open arms.
Till next time,
Cheers,
AG
User Comments
Can I get an Amen! Great stuff Anthony. People should realize that yes, the shortcuts work, but they're now a real management problem since Vault is the Project solution.
Posted 11/7/2006 1:31 PM by James Wedding