Auto Land Desktop
With the retirement of Land Desktop, many land surveyors and engineers are wondering where to go next with their design software. This month’s column is the first of a two-part series explaining how and why two AutoCAD Land Desktop experts made the decision to move in different directions: Jennifer DiBona currently recommends Carlson Software, and Eric Colburn, PLS currently recommends AutoCAD Civil 3D. Eric’s case for moving to Civil 3D will be in next month’s issue of this magazine.A little over 10 years ago Auto-desk bought CAiCE Software and, shortly thereafter with the introduction of Civil 3D, it was obvious that Land Desktop was on its way out. For those of us who had used Land Desktop since the days of DCA and Softdesk, we looked forward to the automation that Civil 3D promised.Now, granted, we got a lot of new automation with Civil 3D, but we got a lot of new learning curves as well. Civil 3D isn’t so much an upgrade to Land Desktop as it is an entirely new way of designing and drafting and using AutoCAD. It isn’t meant to be used out of the box, and finding your way through the maze of styles and templates can be exasperating.Over several years and several releases of the program, I tried to map out a successful strategy to move various clients from Land Desktop to Civil 3D. It wasn’t that it couldn’t be done; I just needed to be 100% sure my clients would still be able to get projects out the door ahead of schedule and under budget before we pulled the trigger.Before I ever got to that comfort level with Civil 3D, I sat through a demonstration of Carlson Software.
Autocad Land Desktop 2007
I was already familiar with Carlson Survey because I’d worked with it when it was called Autodesk Field Survey. But when I saw how simple they’d made the design process and learned more about the ways they work with their customers, I became a fan. With their Civil and Hydrology programs, they had managed to incorporate the dynamic design and automation my clients were looking for into a product that anyone with basic AutoCAD experience and a little design knowledge would be able to pick up quickly.In full disclosure, not too long after that demonstration, I became a reseller of Carlson Software products and continue to sell their software today.
Platforms and ProductsFor 30 years, Carlson Software has been developing products for the mining, land surveying, engineering, and the construction industry. Today, their line of software and hardware products covers all aspects of land development from data collection to design to construction, including machine control.When trying to compare apples to apples, the programs included in Carlson Civil Suite—Survey, Civil, Hydrology, and GIS—are the general equivalent of Civil 3D and/or the combination of Land Desktop, Civil Design, and Survey.Carlson Survey, Civil, Hydrology and GIS can be purchased as part of the Civil Suite or as individual, standalone programs. Whether purchased separately or as part of the Civil Suite, each program includes a free copy of embedded IntelliCAD (a clone of AutoCAD) or can be installed on top of any AutoCAD-based program such as AutoCAD, AutoCAD Map, Land Desktop, or Civil 3D versions 2004-current (excluding AutoCAD LT). You can read more about IntelliCAD in the May 2012 edition of this magazine.As an alternative, Carlson Survey can also be purchased with an embedded AutoCAD (like an AutoCAD LT) platform.Surveyors can rest assured that, regardless of the preferred platform, Carlson Survey truly includes all the functionality they need to do their job.
We migrated to Carlson from AutoCAD and LDD a over two years ago and have pulled our hair out trying to get anywhere near the functionality out of Carlson as we did from ACAD and LDD. While the software is awesome when it works, and truly does some pretty cool things, the problems are that it’s unstable and sometimes unpredictable.
We have days where we literally send in 10 or more crash reports while dong something as simple as using the MTEXT editor or the design bench pond routine. David Carlson and the team at Carlson Software are very pleasant to work with, while I admittedly am not when it comes to lost productivity and missed deadlines due to software issues, and are responsive when trying to find solutions. However, and unfortunately, after spending over two years fighting with this program we as a firm have begun the transition back to ACAD.
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