University of Nevada Las Vegas College of Civil & Environmental Engineering

CEE 301 - CAD Tools for Civil Engineering Design

Instructor - Jeff Jensen

Class Email: cee301spring08@gmail.com

CEE 301 Agenda-Fall 2007

Tuesday from 4:30pm - 6:00pm

and open lab Thursday same time

Location: UNLV TBE-B367

Section 0: Table of Contents

Calendar of Lecture Topics, Guest Speakers and Assignments

Week 1
- Class 1: Tuesday, 22 January 2008
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Introduction of Course Syllabus:
    - Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 1 - AutoCAD Basics
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #1, Term Project Homework 1
Week 2
- Class 2: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 1 - AutoCAD Basics - Notes
    - AutoCAD Basics: Window Environment, Zoom and Pan, Grips, Layers, Status Bar, Options, Transparent Commands
    - AutoCAD Templates
    - AutoCAD Plotting
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #2, Term Project Homework 2
Week 3
- Class 3: 5 February 2008
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 2 - Civil 3D Environment
    - Research Recorded Documents - Title to Land
    - Civil Design Process (reference: Module 1 of the Autodesk Curriculum for Civil 3D Instructor Guide p. 1-4)
    - Documenting the design
    - Civil 3D Environment
    - Civil 3D Toolspaces
    - Civil 3D Workspaces
    - Civil 3D Drawing Settings
  - Assignments
Week 4
- Class 4: Tuesday, 12 February 2008
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Review Term Project design criteria
    - Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 3 - Settings and Styles
    - ~~Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 - Module 4 Survey~~
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #4, Term Project Homework 4
Week 5
- Class 5: Tuesday, 19 February 2008
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 5 - Points
    - Civil 3D Points
    - Delete Points
    - Working with AutoCAD Point Blocks
    - Import Points - assign Point Groups
      - Manually create points
      - Import ASCII text files
      - Description Keys - standardized abbreviation given to describe survey points
    - Civil 3D Parcels - Create Parcels From Existing Objects
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #5, Term Project Homework 5
Week 6
- Class 6: Tuesday, 26 February 2008
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 6 - Surfaces
    - Transparent Commands (referred to as Toggles or Transient Commands on p. 2-10 of the Civil 3D Curriculum)
    - Civil 3D Surface
    - Harmony of Creation - Civil 3D Surface
    - Civil 3D Surface Contours
    - Module 3: Edit Civil 3D Surface
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #6, Term Project Homework 6
Week 7
- Class 7: Tuesday, 4 March 2008
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 7 - Parcels
    - Civil 3D Sites
    - Civil 3D Parcels
    - Civil 3D Alignments
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #7, Term Project Homework 7
Week 8
- Class 8: Tuesday, 11 March 2008
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 8 - Horizontal Alignments
    - Civil 3D Alignments
    - Guest Speaker - Sanjay Asnani, PE with Autodesk Worldwide Education, email: sanjay.asnani@autodesk.com, Voice: 813-661-9684
      - Autodesk University 2007 - ED205-1: AutoCAD Civil 3D for Educators: Teach Design, Not Drafting
      - Screencast or Screencast alternate link
      - AU2007ED205-1.pdf handout
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #8, Term Project Homework 8
Week 9
- Class 9: Tuesday, 25 March 2008
  - Datasets:
    - Download Civil 3D 2008 Curriculum - Module 9, Exercise 2 (I_Profiles-EX2.dwg drag onto Civil3D 2008 command line to open or download from UNLV I_Profiles-EX2.dwg)
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 9 and Module 14 - Profiles
    - Civil 3D Profiles - Create Profile From File
    - Plan and Profile Examples by local Civil Engineering Firms
    - Transparent Commands - 'PSE, 'PGS and 'PGL
    - AASHTO Vertical Curves
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #9, Term Project Homework 9
Week 10
- Class 10: Tuesday, 1 April 2008
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Ferrin will show how to create a corridor model from an alignment, profile and assembly
    - Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 10 and Module 15 - Assemblies and Corridors
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #10, Term Project Homework 10
Week 11
- Class 11: Tuesday, 8 April 2008
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 11 and Module 16 - Cross Sections
    - Review progress on term project subdivision design
    - Civil 3D Cross Sections
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #11, Term Project Homework 11
Week 12
- Class 12: Tuesday, 15 April 2008
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 12 - Grading
    - Review progress on term project subdivision design - corridor
    - Civil 3D Grading
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #12, Term Project Homework 12
Week 13
- Class 13: Tuesday, 22 April 2008
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Map 3D
      - Map3D and Web Map Service (WMS)
    - Continue working on Term Project - Corridor Design
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #13, Term Project Homework 13
Week 14
- Class 14: Tuesday, 29 April 2008
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Map 3D - Import Assessor Parcel shapefile (parcel16223.zip). Use STYLE command to make a new textstyle using Aerial Font and TextHeight 5.0, then set to current.
    - Continue working on Term Project - Corridor Design
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #14, Term Project Homework 14
Week 15
- Class 15: Tuesday, 6 May 2008 (Study Week)
  - Lecture Topics:
  - Jeff and Ferrin will help students wrapup their term project design. Ferrin is also available by appointment on Thursday, 8 May 2008 from 4:30pm-6:00pm. Please email Ferrin (fpa@affleckengineering.com) directly to arrange this appointment.
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #15, Term Project Homework 15
Week 16
- Class 16: Tuesday, 13 May 2008 (Final Exam)
  - Lecture Topics:
    - Take home final exam is ready as of noon on Monday, 12 May 2008.
  - Assignments
    - Lecture Homework #16, Term Project Homework 16
Unassigned topics
- Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 17 - Roadway Plan and Profiles
- Research Recorded Documents - Title to Land
  - Assessor Parcel Map: map176243.pdf
  - Plat Book: PB 135-59
  - PBS&J Offsite Improvement Plans: 06-13106
  - PBS&J Drainage Study: 05-49302
  - PBS&J Traffic Study:
- Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008 Module 13 - Pipes
- AutoCAD ExpressTools: BREAKLINE or from the Menu Toolbar: Express -> Draw -> Breakline Symbol
- Civil 3D Alignments
- Module 4: Civil 3D Parcels - Create Right of Way
- Toolbox Toolspace
- Clark County Right of Way Standard Drawings
- City of Las Vegas Zoning
- Module 4: Civil 3D Parcels
- Module 4: Creating Civil 3D Sites
- Module 4: Creating Civil 3D Parcels
- Module 4: Add labels for parcel.
- Civil 3D Toolspaces
- Civil 3D Visualization
- AutoCAD 3D Viewports
- Civil 3D Points
- Publish DWF
- AutoCAD Plotting
- Export/Publish to DWF
- Continue Module 2 of Civil 3D 2007 Curriculum
- Import Points
- Draw Lines using Transparent Commands ('PN, 'NE, and 'BD)
- Difference between Decimal Degrees and Degrees Minutes Seconds
- Create Parcel Object
- Generate LandXML report
- Term Project - Goodsprings Points File
- Module 7: AutoCAD Map 3D
- Importing ESRI Shapefiles (can download from Clark County GISMO)
- Viewing Aerial Photos
- Insert images - company logo
- Data downloads
  - Shapefile: SCLmajorShapefile.zip
  - Aerial Photo: s0616222aerialphoto.zip
  - RFCD Logo: rfcdlogo.bmp
CAD Related Files:
- 06-13106os-PBSJ.zip
- CCAUSD 211.1 Knuckle
- download the PBS&J New Final Map (NFM) for Clark County (Application# 06-500173) 06-500173-PBSJ.zip. Note, can download information on this NFM from Clark County Development Services On-line Records Document Image Search, select application type Land Use (Zoning) Applications and in the Application Number field, enter 06-500173. Note a NFM is renamed to a Plat Book by the Assessor to record the legal parcel boundaries.

Section 1: Syllabus

Instructor Biography

Jeffery J. Jensen, PE
Homepage: http://faculty.unlv.edu/jensen
email: jefferyjjensen@gmail.com
Teaching Assistant: Ferrin Affleck with Affleck Engineering, email: fpa@affleckengineering.com, voice: 702-431-4827

Mission Statements

Civil and Environmental Engineering Mission Statement

It is the mission of the department to produce quality civil engineering graduates with technical and management skills that meet or exceed the expectations of industry, government and graduate programs.

CEE 301 Mission Statement

To make great civil engineers! To provide the knowledge and tools necessary for them to be able to civilize the wilderness.

CEE 301 Course Relationship with UNLV College of Engineering Program Outcomes

Outcome 2
- The graduates acquire problem solving experiences through independent study
  - CEE 301 Method: Using Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 software to design a solution to the Claymont St cross gutter between Flamingo Rd and Cottage Grove Ave
- The graduates acquire problem solving experiences through group study
- Participate in a strong design experience throughout the curriculum
- Construct problem statements
  - CEE 301 Method: Need to learn the tools (Autodesk Civil 3D 2007) to solve the problem with Claymont St cross gutter
- Document problem statements
  - CEE 301 Method: Know the Big Picture. How to deal with Mother Nature - seems like the world is cursed for our benefit (to make us Great), making how we feel inside ourselves match our outside environment (Civilize the Wilderness), protect property, life and the public/private interest
- Offer and evaluate alternative solutions to open-ended problems incorporating mult-disciplinary knowledge
Outcome 4
- The graduates have the ability to effectively communicate in written form
  - CEE 301 Method: Use Microsoft Word to identify problems and propose solutions to the Claymont St cross gutter between Flamingo Rd and Cottage Grove Ave
- The graduates can provide professional presentations appropriate to the situation and audience
  - CEE 301 Method: Using TechSmith's Camtasia Studio and Microsoft PowerPoint for presentations
Outcome 6
- The graduates have the ability to use modern analysis and design tools in engineering practice
  - CEE 301 Method: Using Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 software to design a solution to the Claymont St cross gutter between Flamingo Rd and Cottage Grove Ave
Outcome 11
- The graduates recognize the need for life-long learning in the practice of the civil engineering profession
  - CEE 301 Method: problems and concepts are typically the same (provide cost effective solutions to civilize raw land, provide infrastructure to support the use of that land, handle mother nature-flooding/high winds/earthquakes/droughts...) but the approaches and methods to solve these problems change (GPS survey equipment, CAD software, improved construction materials, ...)
- The graduates are aware of the need for further training to remain current in the field
  - CEE 301 Method: always inventing new ways to solve old problems

Learning Objectives

CEE 301 Course Learning Objectives

Upon successfully completing this course, the student will be able to perform the following:

Identify a problem and develop a design to solve it using modern tools (Autodesk Civil 3D 2007). Provide a presentation with figures on the proposed solution.
Understand the basics of AutoCAD and Civil 3D 2007 - what it can and can't do
Read and interpret civil engineering plans
Calculate line work for a subdivision
Make roadway alignments and stationing
Build a 3D surface of the existing ground
Build a 3D surface of the proposed finished grade
Make a Plan and Profile plot of the existing ground
Make a Plan and Profile plot of the proposed finished grade
Draw 3D ploylines for pads
Run earthwork volumes and +/- grid tics

Software

Autodesk Civil 3D 2008
- Free 1 year academic license
  - Download from the Autodesk Student Engineering & Design Community (http://students.autodesk.com)
  - Autodesk Contact for Universities
    - Sanjay Asnani, PE Infrastructure Solutions Specialist - Civil, WW Education. Voice 813-661-9684, Mobile 813-464-0100, email: Sanjay.Asnani@autodesk.com, www.Autodesk.com/Education
    - Contact for passes to Autodesk University (Nov 28 to Dec 1), cost is $1000 with discount
    - Contact on errors in Curriculum
    - Contact for tech support. Currently working on getting Instructors ability to have phone support.
    - Civil 3D 2008 is due April 2008, not likely to have the Hydrology modules which are in Land Development Desktop (LDD)
    - Should have a Map 3D geospatial curriculum in Feb 2007
  - Registration Issues
    - Education - edu.abc@autodesk.com
    - Believe you can only perform two installs using this license. Third install must contact Autodesk to obtain an activation code.
    - Need Serial number (obtain from students.autodesk.com once you have downloaded the software
    - Problems, contact authcodes@autodesk.com, https://register.autodesk.com, 800-551-1490
    - Will be emailed activation code
  - Free membership, must register with an email address ending in .edu to verify as a university student.
  - Approximately 1.2 GB download, recommend using DVD included with Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 Essentials textbook
  - Autodesk Design Academy provides a project-based curriculum which includes a ready-to-use course syllabus, student exercises and projects, online learning resources, and the following Autodesk Software (AutoCAD 2007, Architectural Desktop 2007, Revit Building 9, Building Systems 2007, Inventor Professional 11, Civil 3D 2007, VIS 2007, and Design Review 2007)
TechSmith's Camtasia Studio v3.1.2
- What is it? Screen recording and presentation (a Video recorder for your computer)
- camtasiaf.exe 28.2 MB download from techsmith (download camtasiaf.exe from UNLV, mirror download - slow)
- Snag it 8.02 PHCC5-2CVHD-CPUCD-CD5FD-L6M2B
- Video Capture Notes
  - Two formats: .avi and .camrec
  - Recommend using a Camtasia Region of screen capture dimensions of width= 980 pixels by 640 pixels (980x640)
    - The Flash playback control program will always be 55 pixels in height
    - Video captions are about 100 pixels in height
    - 720x480 is the native DVD resolution
    - 16:9 (1280x720)
  - To highlight mouse with yellow circle and show ring animation with each and every mouse click, the do the following
    - Effects -> Cursor -> Highlight Cursor and Clicks, from the Camtasia Recorder Window
  - To draw on screen which recording, hit F11 hotkey (must set prior to recording in Tools -> Options -> Hotkeys tab). On the Camtasia Recorder window select Effects -> Annotations -> ScreenDraw. To remove the annotation screen draw, just toggle F11 off. When in ScreenDraw, the mouse highlight is turned off.
  - F10 - shortcut key to start/pause recording
  - F11 - shortcut key to stop recording
  - Ctrl + Shift + M is shortcut key to insert a Marker when Recording
  - Storyboard View - cannot edit clips in storyboard view, must be in Timeline View
- Video Editing Notes
  - Timeline - the seekbar (a.k.a. Current Time Indicator CTI) shows the current frame being viewed
  - Click on the timeline to move the CTI
  - Click and drag on the timeline to select a portion of the video clip. To unselect, click anywhere else on the timeline
- Produce Videos
  - Convert .avi to windows media player (.wmv) and apple quicktime (.mov)
Microsoft Word
What options are available to transfer files between UNLV and my home/office?
- Email with attachment
  - College of Engineering (e.g. username@egr.unlv.edu)
  - UNLV (e.g. username@unlv.nevada.edu)
- USB Thumbdrive
- Burn CD using Windows Explorer
- UNLV NetStorage as an alternative to SSH and College of Engineering
- SSH (Secure SHell) used by the College of Engineering
  - Purpose - transfer files between home/office and UNLV. Need to install the SSH client on your home/office computer.
  - Secure versions of ftp and telnet on TCP port 22
  - Allows you to securely login to remote host computers to copy remote files
  - Provide secure encrypted and authenticated communications between two non-trusted hosts
  - Only method UNLV College of Engineering allows to remotely transfer files between home/office and UNLV
  - FileZilla is a fast FTP and SFTP client for Windows with a lot of features
  - Recommend using Windows Remote Desktop instead of SSH
    - To Run Remote Desktop: Start -> All Programs -> Accessories - > Communications -> Remote Desktop Connection
    - To Run Remote Desktop from the command line: mstsc.exe
    - Currently UNLV blocks the Remote Desktop Port 3389, so cannot use to login to UNLV from home/office
  - Microsoft has a Knowledge Base ID on Using FTP Batch Script (Q96269) which is needed to automate download procedures.
  - SSH 3.2.9 download, (download Secure Shell 3.2.9 from UNLV)
    - to write to the http://www.ce.unlv.edu/Courses/CEG_468/ directory, /homes/cewww/Courses/CEG_468.
    - SSH allows direct telnet and ftp to ~~ftp.egr.unlv.edu~~ student.egr.unlv.edu. Login name: jensenf (instructor), navigate to /homes/cewww/Courses/CEG_468.
DWG TrueView 2007
Autodesk DWF Viewer
- DWF Viewer Download
- DWF Blog:
- DWF FAQ
- Comparison of DWF and PDF
  - Note PDF can embed true type fonts, DWF cannot (the entire font is not embedded in the DWF, only embeds the data for the letters that appear in the file, see Why does my DWF appear to be larger than my DWF?
  - DWF files only support the following true type fonts: Arial, Arial Black, Comic Sans MS, Courier New, Impact, Lucinda Console, Lucinda Sans Unicode, Martlett, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Verdana, Verdana Italic, Webdings, and Wingdings (see AutoCAD Help -> User's Guide -> Plot and Publish Drawings -> Publish Drawings -> 3D DWF Publishing)
  - DWF vs. PDF
- DWF files versus Plot files
- DWF are more like DXF exchange format than printing formats such as JPEG or PDF (see The cool people say D-W-F, not dwiff)
  - Plot files are device specific, DWF files are device independent
  - DWF files are vector based, Plot files may or may not be
  - DWF files are searchable, text in a DWF file is text. Plot file text has been rasterized.
  - Plot files are generally one sheet, DWF files can contain multiple sheets (creating mult-sheet DWF files can be done with one click using the Sheet Set Manager and the PUBLISH command)
  - To turn off background plotting, type OPTIONS at the command line, select Plot and Publish tab, uncheck Enable background plot when: Plotting, Publishing
  - When using the Educational version of Autodesk Civil 3D, the current layer (system variable clayer) will have the following text printed on the Top, Bottom, Left and Right Margins "PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT".
    - Note: if you turn off plotting for the current layer before Publishing the DWG to DWF, the "PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATION PRODUCT" is still added to the current layer
    - Note: if you turn off plotting and also turn off the current layer before Publishing the DWG to DWF, then the "PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATION PRODUCT" is added to the zero "0" layer.
Autodesk Design Review
- Autodesk Design Review 30 day trial
- Ships with Autodesk DWF Viewer (but with added functionality of markup, measure, and annotate the DWF), DWG TrueView 2007, Autodesk Inventor View 11, and Autodesk DWF Writer 3.1 (see Autodesk DWG TrueView 2007 versus Autodesk Design Review 2007)
- Using DWF with Commercial Reprographers
- Retail cost is $199
- DWF Program Manager: Seyed Mirsepassi, Software Development Manager, ACS Product Development. Email: seyed.mirsepassi@autodesk.com, Voice: 607-266-7248, Fax: 607-266-7100, Address: Autodesk, Inc., 10 Brown Road Suite 2000, Ithaca NY 14850-1248. Discussed a DWF wishlist option to attach files within a DWF, similar to what Adobe Acrobat can do. This is a great feature for archive purposes.
Adobe Acrobat
- How to Link from an HTML page to a specific page in PDF file (Techdoc 317300). Just append #page=25 to the end of the URL to open the pdf file at page 25.
Programs to edit text files
- GNU AWK (gawk) from gnuwin32.sourceforge.net gawk-3.1.4-1.exe
- GNU Awk (gawk) windows compiled version gawk 3.1.5
- Sed for Windows: Stream Editor, sed-4.1.4.exe
- HTML and DHTML Reference
Safe Software
- FME - spatial extract, transform and load (ETL) tool for spatial data integration. FME consists of three main components: a translator, a transformation editor (i.e. coordinate conversion) and a viewer.
- Miles Wheeler, Account Manager. Voice: 604-501-9985 x285, Fax: 604-501-9965, Email: miles.wheeler@safe.com, Address: Suite 2017, 7445 - 132nd St, Surrey British Columbia Canada V3W 1J8
- Grant for FME (submitted 9 Feb 2007). Denise Popoff email: Denise.Popoff@safe.com, looks after the requirements for educational institutions as well as licensing.
Clark County Regional Flood Control District DDMS
- Visual FoxPro ODBC Driver
  - vfpodbc.msm
  - VFPODBC.msi
WebCampus
- Instructor Help call 895-0777 or http://tlc.unlv.edu, try IThelp@unlv.edu
- Student Help call 895-0761 or visit CBC-B133B
- Username is L000577789 and password is MMDDYYYY
- Faculty homepage: http://faculty.unlv.edu/jjensen or http://faculty.unlv.edu/jefferyjjensen
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
Web Hosting
- UNLV Website Publishing
  - Create a directory public_html on the H: drive then create a file called index.html within it
  - Example URL: http://complabs.nevada.edu/~username
- Google Pages
  - Need to create an account with Google, if you already have a gmail account, can skip this step
  - Website will be your gmail account name, for example: http://jefferyjjensen.googlepages.com
Google Video
- Pros: 1) Use to store, distribute and sell Civil 3D Videos created using Camtasia software, 2) free, 3) unlimited storage
- Cons: 1) all videos converted to DivX format, 2) cannot download the video, can only be viewed using the supplied Google Player, 3) cannot use to store videos in the original format (e.g. MPEG2) unlike www.fotki.com where you can store all your digital images for $30 a year.
- Request account
  - send email to dwdengineering@gmail.com
  - Subject Line: CEE301 student's name (e.g. CEE301 Jeff Jensen)
  - Body text: provide name (e.g. Jeff Jensen)
GeoTIFF
- GeoTiffExaminer is a program (geotiffe.exe) which enables uses to examine and modify the information contained in a GeoTiff file (.tif) or in an accompanying world file (.tfw). Tech support email: norm@rockware.com or call 888-ASK-NORM (303-279-9366).
  - What is GeoTiffExaminer? Raster images in the TIFF format (Tagged Image File Format) can be georeferenced in two different manners. First, an accompanying file, usually called a World File, may be provided. A world file carries pixel scale information and the location, in real world coordinates, of the (typically) northwest pixel. Second, this same information can be added in specially identified tags in the Tiff file. In this case, the Tiff file is usually referred to as a GeoTiff. GeoTiffExaminer is a program which enables users to examine, and modify, the information contained in a GeoTiff files, or its World File companion.
- GeoTIFF FAQ
- TIFF Tag Viewer
  - AsTiffTagViewer is a free TIFF Tag Viewer
  - TIFF tags (code, data type, count and value)
- libgeotiff (contains the listgeo.exe and geotifcp.exe executables from ftp://ftp.remotesening.org/geotiff/libgeotiff/listgeo-geotifcp-win32-x86-112502.zip). Can also use the listgeo_GUI
  - To convert a TIFF file (abc.tif) and a world file (abc.tfw) into a simple GeoTIFF file (geo_abc.tif) without a projection definition use the following command:
    - % geotifcp.exe -e abc.tfw abc.tif geo_abc.tif
    - Note, GeoTIFFexaminer shows the coordinates are correctly referenced within the geo_abc.tif
    - Note, ESRI ArcCatalog will correctly read the TIFF tags and place the georeferenced GeoTIFF but the projection info isn't included in the GeoTIFF, that is Stateplane Coordinate System, Nevada East Zone, Units Feet, so the data frame projection must be defined prior to adding the GeoTIFF to ArcMap.
    - Note, ESRI ArcMap will getting a warning message "Unknown Spatial Reference: The following data sources you added are missing spatial reference information. This data can be drawn in ArcMap, but cannot be projected: geo_abc.tif). If the data frame projection is the same as the geo_abc.tif projection, then the vectors (e.g. streets) will overlay correctly with the raster aerial image (i.e. geo_abc.tif).
    - Note, Autodesk Civil 3D - using the MAPIINSERT command, the geo_abc.tif was not found or is not valid. Appears Autodesk Civil 3D and Map will not read the GeoTIFF positional information stored in the TIFF header, but wants the secondary world file instead.
- Integraph - ImageStation Raster Utilities (ISRU)
  - ISRUStandalone.exe
  - Has the ability to view the GeoTIFF header file as well as preprocess raster images, tiling raster images, and adding overviews (which is similar to an ESRI pyramid)
Internet Mapping - MapGuide
- Nathalie Mainland, MapGuide Product Marketing Manager, email: Nathalie.Mainland@autodesk.com
- MapGuide Consultant - Andrew Morsell, President of Spatial Integrators, Inc. Email: amorsell@spatialgis.com, Voice 509-466-3959, Mobile 509-290-1444, Fax 253-793-4814. 15509 N Chronicle Ct, Mead WA 99021.
Microsoft Action Pack
- Microsoft Action Pack Subscription: Standard Contents
- Organization: j3 enterprises
- Organization ID: 1207880
- Contact email: jjensen@j3pe.com
Civil 3D Consultants
- Civil 3D Styles and Labels Master - Kevin Breslin with Avatech Solutions. Voice 248-543-6200, Fax 248-543-6700, Email kevin.breslin@avatech.com. 1433 E 12 Mile Road, Madison Hts MI 48071
- Civil 3D Survey Master - Jody Reynolds with Microdesk, Voice 800-336-DESK, email jreynolds@microdesk.com, Fax 603-472-3677. 15 Constitution Dr, Suite 1M, Bedford NH 03110-6042. Rick Reid is the Land Surveyor in the office and is familar with the Ground to grid transformations.
U.S. National CAD Standard
- Altiva Software - CADconform includes the National CAD Standards PDF. Also all the CAD symbols and linewidths have been converted to AutoCAD format.
  - Contact is Marie Franklyn, Business Development Manager. 14100 Southwest Freeway, Suite 560, Sugar Land TX 77478. Voice: 281-295-2252, Fax: 832-201-0462, Email: mfranklyn@altivasoft.com
  - Agenda Items for Meeting
  - Pricing for UNLV computer lab
  - Setup meeting to present to RTC bluebook committee about adopting the standard
  - Setup meeting with AGC and Builders
  - Determine who at NDOT uses it
  - Have it adopted by UDACS - Uniform Design and Construction Standards for Potable Water Distribution Systems
  - Have it adopted by Design and Construction Standards for Wastewater Collection Systems
- Need to work with MasterFormat numbering convention for standards on construction specifications and uniform bidding.
- Charles "Rick" Green (email: crgreen@wilsonco.com, Voice: 505-348-4039, Fax: 505-348-4055, Address: 4900 Lang Avenue NE, Albuquerque NM 87109) is an architect with Wilson & Company, Inc, Engineers and Architects in Albuquerque NM. An acknowledged expert in construction-document preparation and production, Rick is the coauthor of The Architect's Guide to the U.S. National CAD Standard and is recognized throughout the construction industry as one of the country's leading authorities on the NCS. He is chairman of both CSI's Uniform Drawing System (UDS) Program Task Team and NIBS' UDS Modules Task Team, and also serves on the steering committee that governs the National CAD Standard Project Committee. Speaker at Autodesk University 2006 - title of presentation Complying with the U.S. National CAD Standard
- Ed Lowe (email: elowe@burnip.com) is a CAD Coordinator with Burgess & Niple, Inc., a multidisciplineed engineering and architectural firm in Painesville Ohio. Ed has over 24 years experience in the production of construction drawings including extensive use and support of AutoCAD for the past 16 years. As CAD coordinator, Ed oversees all CAD production for a wide variety of projects. His responsibilities also include class instruction, standards development, enterprise-wide installation and CAD-related IT support. Ed currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the National CAD Standard Steering Committee and he is also the chair of the NIBS CAD Layers Task Team.
- Notes on NCS
  - Plan and profile sheets can be located in one of two locations in the drawing set: 1) Sheet type designator 1 for Plans or 2) Sheet type designator 3 for Sections.
  - Grading plans would be located on Sheet type desginator 1 for Plans.
  - Sample set of civil sheets could be identified as follows:
    - V-101 Survey
    - C-001 General Civil Notes
    - C-101 Grading and Drainage Plan
    - C-301 Plan and Profile
    - C-501 Civil Details
  - Need to update the abbreviations used by Surveyors, currently no abbreviation for EG = existing ground in the NCS. Cannot use dots in abbrevations, so C.L. is not acceptable, neet to use CL for centerline instead. Example Survey abbreviations:
    - BM = Benchmark
    - FF EL = Finish Floor Elevation
    - FH = Fire Hydrant
    - TOPO = Topography
    - TOS = Top of Slab
    - TOW = Top of Wall
    - SDMH = Storm Drain Manhole
    - SURV = Survey
Construction Specifications Institute
- Email: csi@csinet.org, Voice: 800-689-2900
- Need to setup a meeting to adopt National CAD Standard along with MasterFormat
GPS Software and Hardware
- Magellan Professional (formerly Ashtech, AshtechSales@MagellanGPS.com)
  - Mr. Riley Skeen, Regional Sales Manager, Voice: 307-250-3006, Email: rskeen@magellangps.com
- Trimble Navigation Limited
  - Darcy Shunk, Trimble Sales Representative, Geomatics and Engineering Division. Voice: 408-504-8481, Fax: 253-399-3357, Email: darcy_shunk@trimble.com, Address: Trimble Navigation Limited, 540 E Stottler Dr, Gilbert AZ 85296.
  - Nathan Pugh, Senior Sales Manager, Western Region, Survey Division. Voice: 702-587-4545, mobile: 303-332-8718, Email: nathan_pugh@trimble.com, Address: Trimble Navigation Limited, 10355 Westmoor Dr, Suite 100, Westminster CO 80021.
    - Determine UNLV College of Civil Engineering Annual Budget for Survey Equipment and software. Used to determine the best solution Trimble can do.
    - Donate latest versions of Trimble Survey Office and GPS Survey Software
    - Donate older GPS equipment to UNLV (Trimble just destroys the old equipment)
    - Provide Training by either Darcy or attend course when taught by Monsen.
    - Lease program with Monsen Engineering
    - Bill Desjardines, GPS/Survey Sales with Monsen Engineering Email: billd@monsenengineeringlv.com, Address: 5115 Valley View Blvd, Las Vegas NV 89118, Voice: 702-220-6505, Fax: 702-220-6554.
  - Trimble Users
    - Nathan Diehl, PE with BYU - Facilities Planning. Voice: 801-422-5572, Email: Nathan.Diehl@byu.edu

Textbooks

Required
1. Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2008
Recommended
Nice-To-Know
- Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 Tutorial ( civil_tut.pdf)
- Digging Into Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 by Rick Ellis, Publisher - Cadapult Software Solutions, Inc.. Request exam copies from Katie@cadapult-software.com
  - Rick Ellis, CEO of Cadapult Software Solutions, Inc. Email: rick@cadapult-software.com, Voice: 503-829-8929, Fax: 503-829-8923, Mobile: 503-351-8917, Address: PO Box 344, Canby OR 97013.
  - Russell Martin. Email: russell@cadapult-software.com
- Digging Deeper Into Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 - Level 2 (due mid January 2007) by Rick Ellis, Publisher - Cadapult Software Solutions, Inc..
- Autodesk Civil 3D Curriculum (217 MB) (download from UNLV Civil3D_Curriculum.zip)
  - Autodesk Education Curricula Homepage
  - Can also download from http://students.autodesk.com, after login select Faculty Resources link on the left pane, then click Civil 3D Curriculum (Zip download 217 MB) link.
  - Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D Instructor Guide with Student Workbook for all Modules ( Instructor Guide - All Modules.pdf download from UNLV Instructor-Guide---All-Modules.pdf)
  - Errors in Civil 3D 2007 Curriculum (download from Autodesk or UNLV - Errata-Civil3D2007Curriculum.pdf)
- The Illustrated AutoCAD 2008 Quick Reference by Ralph Grabowski, ISBN 10: 1428311602
  - Ralph Grabowski blog is WorldCAD Access
- AutoCAD Map 3D 2007
  - User's Guide pdf
  - Map 2007 Tutorials pdf
  - Introduction to Geospatial Concepts for Engineers ( pdf from Autodesk or pdf from UNLV)
- Civil 3D 2007 Manuals, distributed with software
  - Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 User's Guide (civil_ug.pdf from UNLV, civil_ug.pdf from Autodesk)
  - Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 Tutorial (civil_tut.pdf)
  - Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 Getting Started (Civil_3D_GSG.pdf from UNLV, civil3D2007_cgs.pdf from Autodesk)
  - Autodesk Vault 5 - Managing Your Data for Autodesk Civil 3D (Managing_Your_Data_5.pdf download from UNLV)
  - Autodesk Map 3D 2007 User's Guide (map_ug.pdf from Autodesk Map 3D documentation, or download map_ug.pdf from UNLV)
  - Autodesk Map 3D 2007 Tutorials (map2007_tutorials.pdf from UNLV)
  - Vanilla AutoCAD 2007 User's Guide acad_aug.pdf
  - Vanilla AutoCAD 2007 Command Reference acad_acr.pdf
  - Vanilla AutoCAD 2007 Quick Reference adsk_aqr.pdf
  - Vanilla AutoCAD 2007 Customization Guide acad_acg.pdf
- Autodesk Raster Design
  - Autodesk Raster Design 2007 Getting Started Guide (download from UNLV or Autodesk)
  - Autodesk Raster Design 2006 - Getting Started ARD_GSG.PDF
  - Autodesk Raster Design 2007 - user's Guide ARD_UG.PDF
  - Autodesk Raster Design 2007 - Tutorials ARD_RDT.PDF
- AutoCAD civil 3D Webcasts
- Autodesk Civil 3D White Papers
  - Autodesk Civil 3D Styles: A Guide to the Fundamentals
- Civil 3D 2007 Fundamentals by Ascent
- Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 Essentials - Autodesk Official Traning Courseware (AOTC)
  - Cost is $55 if purchased from Tina at thecadstore.com, cost is $90 if purchase directly from Autodesk.
  - Purchase Autodesk Civil 3D 2007: Essentials from the Autodesk Store
  - Includes DVD with the Civil 3D 2007 software
- Civil 3D 2007 Essentials by Ascent, ISBN 1-58503-303-0. Publisher SDC Publications, contact Steven Schroff (voice 913-722-0675, schroff@schroff.com)
  - Example files (AutodeskLearningCivil3Dessentials.zip) note, sample filename do not match filenames in the textbook
- Thomson Delmar Learning
  - Harnessing Autodesk Civil 3D 2007
    - Chapter 13: Survey Basics HarnessingCivil3D2007Ch13.pdf, Sample data
    - Chapter 14: Survey and Traverse Adjustments HarnessingCivil3D2007Ch14.pdf, Sample data
- Autodesk Civil 3D: Procedures & Applications by Harry O. Ward (hward@gmu.edu), Publisher: Pearson Education, ISBN 0131713507, Estimated Availablity 8/30/2006
- Autodesk Civil 3D vbook by Andrew Walther and Mike Carris (voice: 804-897-4813, email: mike.carris@globaltcg.com or mike.carris@k-teksolutions.com) with K-TEK Solutions. Other products from Dave C. Arnold with DCA Products, founder of Softdesk.
- ENR Square Foot Costbook, 2007 Edition. ISBN 1-58855-073-7. Publisher BNI Publications, Michael Wasco, Director of Sales. Email: mikewasco@bnibooks.com, Voice: 760-734-1113, Fax: 760-734-1540. 990 Park Center Dr, Suite E. Vista CA 92081.
- acecivil3d.blogspot.com
- CAD Camp 2006 in Raleigh NC (pdf from UNLV, pdf from www.cadresys.com)

Evaluation/Exam/Desk Copies

John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Higher Education, Sybex and Microsoft Press
- Urban Hydrology, Hydraulics, and Stormwater Quality: Engineering Applications and Computer Modeling by A. Osman Akan, ISBN: 978-0-471-43158-9
- Stormwater Management for Land Development: Methods and Calculations for Quantity Control by Thomas A. Seybert, ISBN: 978-0-471-72177-2
- Evidence and Procedures for Boundary Location, 5th Edition by Walter G. Robillard ISBN: 978-0-471-69447-2 (requested Feb 2007)
- Interpreting Land Records by Donald A. Wilson, ISBN: 978-0-471-71543-6 (requested Feb 2007)
- Surveying and Layout Fundamentals for Construction (DVD) by Paul Holley ISBN: 978-0-471-78389-3 (requested Feb 2007)
- Brown's Boundary Control and Legal Principles, 5th Edition by Walter G. Robillard ISBN: 978-0-471-21598-1 (own 4th Edition)
- A Guide to Understanding Land Surveys, 2nd Edition by Stephen V. Estopinal ISBN: 978-0-471-57717-1 (own)
- Fedora 5 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Bible by Christopher Negus ISBN: 978-0471754916 (requested Feb 2007)
- Introducing Geographic Information Systems with by Michael Kennedy with the University of Kentucky. ISBN: 978-0-471-79229-1
- Wendy Tucker (voice: 702-925-8575, email wtucker@wiley.com) is the UNLV Wiley Sales Rep as of 22 March 2008
- Wiley Sales Representative is Heather Matzdorff (email: hmatzdor@wiley.com)
- Wiley Sales Representative is Karen Tinley (email: ktinley@wiley.com)
- Wiley Representative is Wendy Tucker (email: wtucker@wiley.com)
- Sybex
  - Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 ISBN: 978-0-470-16740-3 (requested 1 Dec 2007, order# 29602984)
- Microsoft Press
  - To request an evaluation copy visit Wiley MOAC Web site
  - To request an evaluation copy of any Microsoft Press trade titles (Non-MOAC or ALS), please send an email to deskcopy@hbgusa.com with Title, ISBN, Adopted Title and Full shipping address
  - Microsoft Windows PowerShell(TM) Step By Step, by Ed Wilson, ISBN-10: 0735623958 (requested 22 March 2008)
  - Windows PowerShell(TM) Scripting Guide, by Ed Wilson, ISBN-10: 0735622795 (requested 22 March 2008
Prentice Hall
- Elementary Surveying: An Introduction to Geomatics, 11th Edition by Paul R. Wolf ISBN: 978-0-131-48189-3
- Surveying, 10th Edition by Francis H. Moffitt ISBN: 978-0-673-99752-4 (available 9/2007)
- Surveying with Construction Applications, 6th Edition by Barry F. Kavanagh ISBN: 978-0-131-70932-4 (own)
- Geomatics by Barry F. Kavanagh ISBN: 978-0-130-32289-0 (own)
- Graphic Communications in Construction by Dennis Fukai ISBN: 978-0-130-60552-8 (own 2 copies)
- Autodesk Civil 3D: Procedures and Applications by Harry O. Ward, ISBN: 978-0-131-71350-5 (own)
- Civil Drafting Technology, 6th Edition by David A. Madsen ISBN: 978-0-131-71199-0 (own)
- A Practical Guide to Red Hat Linux: Fedora Core and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, 3rd Edition by Mark G. Sobell ISBN: 978-0132280273 (own)
- Microsoft Expression Web by Nolan Hester (requested April 2007) ISBN: 978-0-321-49223-4
- Sales Rep: Matt Christopherson (voice: 702-203-6503, email: Matt_Christopherson@prenhall.com)
- Sales Rep: Katie Fitch (voice: 702-403-0583, email: Katie_Fitch@prenhall.com)
- Core Python Programming, 2nd Edition by Wesley J. Chun ISBN-13: 9780132269933 (requested 4 April 2008)
- Core PHP Programming, 3rd Edition by Atkinson and Suraski ISBN-13: 9780130463463 (requested 4 April 2008)
- Access 2007 Guidebook by Maggie Trigg and Phyllis Dobson
McGraw Hill Higher Education
- Urban Stormwater Management Tools by Larry W. Mays, ISBN 0-07-142837-2 (own)
- Handbook of Hydrology by David R. Maidment, ISBN 0-07-039732-5 (own)
- Handbook of Hydraulics by Brater and King
- Fluid Mechanics with Engineering Applications, 10th Edition by E. John Finnemore, ISBN-13: 9780072432022
- Land Development Handbook, 2nd Edition by The Dewberry Companies ISBN-13: 9780071375252
- Windows Server 2003 Pocket Administrator, 1st Edition by Nelson Ruest and Danielle Ruest. ISBN-13: 9780072229776 (requested 4 April 2008)
Goodheart-Willcox Publisher
- AutoCAD and Its Applications: Comprehensive 2007 by Terence M. Shumaker, David A. Madsen, David P. Madsen, and Craig P. Black. ISBN 1-59070-760-5
- is looking for Civil 3D Authors. Need to contact Paul B. Schreiner, Managing Editor of Technical/Trades/Technology, Voice: 800-323-0440 x1208 (or 708-687-5000), Fax: 708-687-5068, Address: 18604 West Creek Dr, Tinley Park IL 60477.
Thomson Engineering
- Sales Rep: Voice: 866-349-2431x3316 Email: Joanne.Woods@thomson.com
- John Fedor, Acquisition Editor with www.cengage.com
- Thomson Delmar Learning Author's Guide
ESRI Press
- ESRI Press Desk Copy Request Form
Professional Publications, Inc. - The Power to Pass
- 1001 Solved Surveying Fundamentals Problems (LSSP2), 2nd Edition by Jan Van Sickle, PLS, 1997, 728pp. ISBN 1-888577-12-6 (requested 16 March 2007)
- Surveyor Reference Manual, 4th Edition, by Andrew Harbin, PE and George Cole, PE, PLS. 2006, 576pp. ISBN 978-1-59126-044-8 (requested 16 March 2007)
- Sales Rep, Joan voice: 800-426-1178 x115
- Evaluation and Desk Copy Request Form
Autodesk Press
- Harnessing AutoCAD 2008 by Thomas Stellman and G.V. Krishnan. ISBN: 1428311564 (requested 27 April 2007)
  - Harnessing AutoCAD 2008 Exercise Manual ISBN: 1428311572 (requested 27 April 2007)
  - Harnessing AutoCAD 2008 E-Resouce ISBN 1428324275 (requested 27 April 2007)
- The Illustrated AutoCAD 2008 Quick Reference
Packt Publishing
- Free Review Copies - send email to reviewrequest@packtpub.com
- Moodle E-Learning Course Development by William Rice (requested 12 May 2007)
Infinity Science Press
- AutoCAD 2008 Essentials by Munir Hamad. ISBN-13: 978-1-934015-06-3
Apress, Inc
- Academic Copy Request
- 2855 Telegraph Avenue, #600. Berkeley CA 94705.
- Sales Rep - Lawrence Tam, voice: 510-549-5930x120, fax: 510-549-5939, email: lawrence.tam@apress.com
- AutoCAD 2006 VBA
- Pro Windows PowerShell, by Hristo Deshev, ISBN-10: 1590599403
- Pro Web 2.0 Mashups Remixing Data and Web Services by Raymond Yee, ISBN10: 1-59059-858-X
- Beginning Ajax with PHP by Lee Babin, ISBN10: 1-59059-667-6
- Beginning Google Maps Applications with PHP and AJAX by Michael Purvis, ISBN10: 1-59059-807-9 (requested 31 May 2008 for CEE498X - Using Google Maps and Earth in Civil Engineering)
Ten Speed Press
- Request Desk Copies by submitting requests on UNLV letterhead and mailing or faxing to Ten Speed Press
- What Color is Your Parachute? 2009 - A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career- Changers by Richard Nelson Bolles, ISBN 1580089313
- What Color is Your Parachute? For Teens - Discovering Yourself, Defining Your Future by Richard Nelson Bolles and Carol Christen. ISBN 1580087132
Academic O'Reilly
- Examination/Desk Copy Request Form or call 800-998-9938 or send email to adoption@oreilly.com
- Windows PowerShell Cookbook by Lee Holmes, 1st Edition October 2007
- Desktop GIS by Gary E. Sherman, 1st Edition May 2008.
- Google Maps Hacks by Rich Gibson and Schuyler Erle, 1st Edition January 2006.

AutoCAD Civil 3D Training Videos

General Civil 3D

Autodesk Civil 3D Certification

Total 40 questions, need 78% (31 out of 40) to pass
Application Interface (1 question)
Working with Point Data (2 questions)
- Research a fast method to create points and styles
Surface Modeling (6 questions)
Parcel Development (4 questions)
- Feature Lines
Road Design (5 questions)
- Move an alignment x,y how does this change the stationing when on a surface
Corridor Modeling (5 questions)
- Determine at what station along a corridor with assemblies if in cut or fill
Grading (6 questions)
Sharing Data (3 questions)
- Question on Vault
Pipe Networks (5 questions)
- How to add pipes to a profile
Survey (3 questions)

Civil 3D 2007 Proficiency Examination Objectives

Create and manage points
View and edit point data
Use point styles and labels
Create points using transparent commands
Import data from an external LandXML file
Add a break line to a surface
Generate a surface analysis
View surfaces in 3D
Create a surface output
Create contour labels
Add a volume surface to the Surfaces collection
Calculate volume difference
Create parcels
Label parcel segments
Create a parcel table using segment labels
Create parcel reports
Create an alignment
Edit an alignment
Create a profile view
Create and edit a profile layout
Create sections
Create an assembly
Edit a corridor model
Create a corridor surface
Create a volume report
Create a section view of a corridor model
Create a feature line, a grading group, and a grading object
Create a surface from a grading object
Generate a quantity takeoff report
Create a grading solution
Import Land Desktop data
Export data
Access the Vault
Create a pipe network
Edit a pipe network
Edit pipe network part properties
Draw pipe network parts
Edit pipe network parts
Import survey control network data
Create a local survey database
Modify survey database settings

Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 Certified User Exam Preparation Guide - Autodesk Official Certification Courseware (AOCC)

Part of the Autodesk Certification Series
Autodesk Academic Certification

Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 Essentials - AOTC

Chapter 1: Working with Point Data

Exercise: Create Points
Exercise: View and Edit Point Data
Exercise: Change Point and Point Label Styles
Exercise: Create and Apply Label Styles
Exercise: Create a Point Group
Exercise: Create Points with Transparent Commands

Chapter 2: Surface Modeling

Chapter 3: Site Development

Chapter 4: Road Design

Chapter 5: Corridor Modeling, Subassemblies, and Cross Sections

Chapter 6: Grading

Chapter 7: Sharing Data

Chapter 8: Pipe Networks

Chapter 9: Survey

Module 1 Notes

TIN Surfaces

Grid Surfaces

TIN surfaces require about 100 bytes per point, whereas grid surfaces require about 16 bytes per point (see Civil 3D 2007 User's Guide p. 741)

Class Roster

Student Name	Preferred Email	Picture
Ballesteros, Ramiro "Adam"	BALLEST7@UNLV.NEVADA.EDU
Berta, Biruktait	biruktaitk@hotmail.com
Black, Adam	blk.inc@gmail.com
Conner, Steven	CONNERS4@UNLV.NEVADA.EDU
Cotte, Danielle	danielle.cotte@gmail.com
Elkouz, Mark	markelkouz542@yahoo.com
Fuller, James	jimf2399@gmail.com
Garcia, Carlos	car04g@yahoo.com
Gonzalez, Eduardo	eduardo@eduardok.com
Hollis, Dominique	HOLLISD@UNLV.NEVADA.EDU
Inos, Rufin	juninos1986@yahoo.com
Kittipongdaja, Pinthep	pinthep04@yahoo.com
Linn, Yan	dpalinn@gmail.com
Norcott, Heston	hestongrr@gmail.com
Robinson, Sean	robin165@unlv.nevada.edu
Suerdieck, Dana	suerdie2@unlv.nevada.edu
Torres, Gaby	gaby_t60@hotmail.com

Final grades submitted online at WEB GRADING/CLASS ROSTERS
Username: jjensen
L-Number/PIDN: L000577789
any problems, contact Ruth.Garay@unlv.edu, voice 702-895-3372 or Jim, voice 702-895-0892
College of Engineering Email: http://mail.egr.unlv.edu
- Use if username@egr.unlv.edu
UNLV Email: http://rebelmail.unlv.edu
- Use if username@unlv.nevada.edu

Computer Lab

Matthew Buk - Computer Facilities Supervisor, matthew.buk@unlv.edu, Voice: 702-895-2459, mobile: 702-525-7306. Contact if issues with TBE-B367 lab computers.
Cyndi Backstrom - cyndi.backstrom@unlv.edu, Voice: 702-895-0435. Contact if issues with Campus Computing Services Support login username and password, NetStorage, and network drive (H: and L:)
Maxine Franks, Campus Computing Services, 895-0777, maxine.franks@unlv.edu. Contact if issues with Faculty homepage.
General questions for Campus Computing Services: ithelp@unlv.edu
Cannot link a webpage to any files store on the L: drive, must authenticate using NetStorage
How to create a personal webpage at UNLV
- create a directory public_html on the H: then create a file called index.html under this directory. Reference the homepage with your login name, example http://complabs.nevada.edu/~jeff%20jensen/
College of Engineering Plotter
- Stored in Dr. Piechota's student lab TBE-B107
All lab computers have Deep Freeze by Faronics installed. "No matter what changes a user makes to a workstation, simply restart to eradicate all changes and reset the computer to its original state...Placing no restrictions on a user's ability to access all system resources..." You can install any software, as long as it doesn't require a reboot to run. Once done with the software, just restart the computer and the software is automatically removed.
ESRI Site License managed by Susan Bunyan with SCS (email: susan_bunyan@nshe.nevada.edu, voice: 702-895-4582)
UNLV College of Civil Engineering Administration
- Neal J. Griffith, Administrative Assistant II. Email: neal@ce.unlv.edu, Voice: 702-895-3701, Fax: 702-895-3936. Contact for textbook orders
UNLV Official Colors

Grading

Grades Query

Check your homework grades on line: Grades Query Login webpage

Description	Percentage	Number Assignments	Assignment Worth	Total Points
Lecture Homework	40%	14	20	280
Term/Class Project - Logandale NV subdivision design	40%	1	280	280
Final Exam	20%	1 with 14 questions	140	140
Extra Credit - Module 14, 15 and/or 16	0	3	20	60
Total	100%			700

Grade	Percentage Range	Minimum Points
A	100%-93%	651
A-	92%-89%	623
B+	88%-86%	602
B	85%-82%	574
B-	81%-79%	553
C+	78-74%	518
C	73%-69%	483
C-	68%-65%	455
D	64%-60%	420
F	59%-0%	<420

Lecture Homework

Email Rules when submitting answers to homework assignments

Email answers to cee01spring08@gmail.com (formerly cee301@egr.unlv.edu, cee301fall07@gmail.com)
- Instructor Notes: to access email from mail.egr.unlv.edu and use SquirrelMail. Username is cee301 and Password is Normal. Gmail account, username is cee301fall07@gmail.com and the Password is Normal.
Email subject Line must contain Full Name, Class number, and Module number. Example John Doe, Class #9, Module 4
Typically must attach a PDF or DWF of homework assignment
Always use the same email account when submitting homework. Don't send email assignment from UNLV email account one week, next from a work email account, and then another time using a personal email account. Use one account only when corresponding with the Instructor.
Item to email will identified below with the heading Email

Lecture Homework for Class #1
- Obtain UNLV Computer Account and Email (e.g. username@egr.unlv.edu or username@unlv.nevada.edu)
- Create an Autodesk Community Student account at http://students.autodesk.com
- Know how to Transfer files between home/work and UNLV. Recommend using SSH, NetStorage, USB Thumbdrive, email or burning a CD
- ~~Download and Install DWF Viewer at home/work~~
- Download and Install Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 at home/work from http://students.autodesk.com
- Download and Install Required Textbook curriculum and datasets
- Email send an email from your preferred email account to cee301spring08@gmail.com Subject line must be as stated in the Email Rules above.
- Email a thumbnail picture of yourself
- Read student workbook Module 1 and do the exercises at the end of the module
Lecture Homework for Class #2
- Read student workbook Module 2 and do the exercises at the end of the module
Lecture Homework for Class #3
- Read student workbook Module 3 and do the exercises at the end of the module
- Using Civil 3D, draw a cul-de-sac from the Clark County Area Standard Drawing (USD212Cul-de-sac.pdf), save as a pdf an Email.
Lecture Homework for Class #4
- Email DWF or PDF of the drawing completed for module 3, exercise 4 and 6. Add your name, date and class number.
- ~~Read student workbook Module 4 and do the exercises at the end of the module~~
Lecture Homework for Class #5
- Read student workbook Module 5 and do the exercises at the end of the module. Email the following:
- Module 5 Exercise 1 - print a plan showing the new trees added to the drawing
- Module 5 Exercise 3 - Print a plan with the new catch basin points added
- Module 5 Exercise 5 - Print a plan showing point (170, 169, 168, 167) with "TRL.1D"
- Module 5 Exercise 7 - Print the points table
Lecture Homework for Class #6
- Read student workbook Module 6 and do the exercises at the end of the module
- Module 6 Exercise 3 - print a plan showing the surface triangles
- Module 6 Exercise 4 - print a plan showing the surface triangles with no triangles larger than 75 feet
- Module 6 Exercise 5 - print a plan showing the southern most intersection and the edits made to the surface
- Module 6 Exercise 6 - print a plan showing the contour, spot and slope labels for the surface
- ~~Module 6 Exercise 8 - print a plan showing the Google Earth Image in the AutoCAD drawing~~
- ~~Module 6 Exercise 9 - print the rendered image (use Print Screen, Alt-PrtScn to copy the image to the clipboard, then paste into Microsoft Paint)~~
Lecture Homework for Class #7
- Read student workbook Module 7 and do the exercises at the end of the module
- Module 7 Exercise 1 - print a plan showing the alignment and stationing, show the parcel.
- Module 7 Exercise 2 - print the subdivision of parcels at the end of the exercise
- Module 7 Exercise 3 - print the subdivision of parcels at the end of the exercise
- Module 7 Exercise 4 - print the Northern parcels, renumber with the Eastern most parcels split
- Module 7 Exercise 5 - print the labeled parcels
- Module 7 Exercise 6 - print the tables
- Module 7 Exercise 7 - print a report
Lecture Homework for Class #8
- Guest Speaker Assignment - using Google Earth, zoom into San Rafael CA, zipcode 94903, copy the image and surface into Civil 3D. Note, need to define the coordinate system in Civil 3D - use Stateplance Coordinate System, California Zone III, units feet, horizontal datum NAD83. Create a proposed alignment. Print the site. For assistance, see the Autodesk University 2007 screencast or handout under Class 8 Lecture Topics.
- Read student workbook Module 8 and do the exercises at the end of the module
- Module 8 Exercise 1 - print the site showing the new alignments.
- Module 8 Exercise 2 - print the new edge of pavement alignments that where imported showing the geometry point labels turned off.
- Module 8 Exercise 3 - print the new alignment for Cedar Cove and Oak Lane (Proposed).
- Module 8 Exercise 5 - print Oak Lane, not showing the "Oak Lane" alignment because it is using the "_No Display" style.
- Module 8 Exercise 6 - print the plan shwoing the three types of labels that you created.
- Module 8 Exercise 7 - print the line and curve tables for the tags created.
- Module 8 Exercise 8 - print the 3 LandXML Reports for Oak Lane.
Lecture Homework for Class #9
- Pick a Civil Engineering firm you would like to research as a potential employer. Do the following and email your answers.
  1. Provide the firm name and visit their website.
  2. Research what their offsite improvement plans look like (see Example Plan and Profiles by local Civil Engineering Firms). Reference a sheet which has a plan and profile and also has a vertical curve. Provide the URL. Example, http://faculty.unlv.edu/jensen/CEE_301/OffsiteImprovementPlans/SlaterHanifan-07-4419off-p16.pdf#page=14
- Read student workbook Module 9 and do the exercises at the end of the module
- Module 9 Exercise 1 - print the plan and profile of Orchard Rd
- Module 9 Exercise 2 - print the profile showing the design profile with vertical curves
- Module 9 Exercise 3 - print the profile showing the changes made to the styles of the profile and the design grid
- Module 9 Exercise 4 - print the profile showing the changes made to the labels
Lecture Homework for Class #10
- Create a simple cooridor, email a pdf of the alignment and profile
- Read student workbook Module 10 and do the exercises at the end of the module
- Module 10 Exercise 4 - print the two assemblies created
- Module 10 Exercise 5 - print the cul-de-sac showing the corridor
- Module 10 Exercise 6 - print the bulb of the cul-de-sac showing the surface boundary at the back of the sidewalk
- Module 10 Exercise 7 - print the corridor showing the new COGO Points which were created
- Module 10 Exercise 8 - print the cul-de-sac with showing the new grading feature lines created around the back of the sidewalk.
Lecture Homework for Class #11
- Read student workbook Module 11 and do the exercises at the end of the module
- Module 11 Exercise 2 - print the cul-de-sac showing the sample line sections
- Module 11 Exercise 3 - print the sections showing modifications made to the style
- Module 11 Exercise 4 - print section 1+40 showing the Cedar Cover Top
- Module 11 Exercise 5 - print the left side of the section at station 1+40, show the new labels
- Module 11 Exercise 6 - print the volume report created and displayed in Explorer. Also print the material table from AutoCAD
Lecture Homework for Class #12
- Read student workbook Module 12 and do the exercises at the end of the module
- Module 12 Exercise 1 - print the corridor showing the offset feature lines
- Module 12 Exercise 2 - print the new surface created from the feature lines around the corridors
- Module 12 Exercise 3 - print the streets showing the changes to the surface in this exercise
- Module 12 Exercise 4 - print the changes you have made to the surfaces and display the volume calculations
- Module 12 Exercise 5 - print the area showing the labels created in this exercise with the lots draining to the rear
- Module 12 Exercise 6 - print the site showing the EG-FG Combo surface with 1 foot contours, the elevation table and the quick profile through the site
Lecture Homework for Class #13
- Read student workbook Module 13 and do the exercises at the end of the module
- Module 13 Exercise 1 - print the sheets showing the Roads Top Surface with Triangles.
- Module 13 Exercise 4 - print the sheets showing the new Storm Sewer created.
- Module 13 Exercise 6 - make a print showing split viewports (vports) demonstrating the newly created labels.
Lecture Homework for Class #14
- Email a pdf, dwf or screen shot image of the results of importing the Assessor's Parcel layer for Book 162 Section 23 into AutoCAD Map3D. Show Parcel number and Owner along with parcel boundaries.
Lecture Homework for Class #15
- Study Week - no assignments
- Extra Credit - Read student workbook Module 14 and do the exercises at the end of the module
- Extra Credit - Read student workbook Module 15 and do the exercises at the end of the module
- Extra Credit - Read student workbook Module 16 and do the exercises at the end of the module
Lecture Homework for Class #16
- Email final exam answers to cee301spring08@gmail.com by 8am on Friday morning, 16 May 2008.
1. Templates, Settings and Styles
  - Final exam questions should all be done using the _AutoCAD Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS Extended template.
  - Create a new drawing using this template. List all the predefined Area Label Styles under the Parcel collection in the Toolspace. (Hint: one of the styles is named Name Area & Perimeter)
2. Civil 3D Points
  - Import this points file using the PNEZD (comma delimited) format, (UNLVRF-PTS.csv). Draw a line between Point Number 118 and Point Number 119. The length of this line is closest to (A-196, B-217, C-91, or D-173)?
3. Surfaces
  - Create a TIN surface from the UNLV Harry Reid imported points from above. Add an outer boundary around the northern most east/west street. Create a screen shot image of the surface, must be able to see the TIN triangles. Should look similar to this, but somewhat readable.
4. Labels
  - Using the TIN surface from above, label the slope of the TIN surface (triangle Points 10504, 10505 and 10605 which is located at the northeast intersection) using one-point surface label
5. Map 3D
  - Import this Assessor Parcel shapefile (parcel16223.zip). Make sure you check the Import polygons as closed polylines checkbox. Provide a screen shot/image of the imported parcels, should look similar to the image in Parcels question next.
6. Parcels
  - Using the Assessor Parcel shapefile just imported, create 3 parcels from the existing parcel polylines in the upper left corner. Use the Area label style Name Area & Perimeter to show the area of these three parcels. Provide an image/screen shot of the 3 parcel, ensure I'll be able to read the area of each parcel.
  - Solution should look similar to this, but readable.
7. Horizontal Alignments
  - Using the Civil 3D 2008 Curriculum, Imperial Dataset, Module 08, Exercise 1 (I_Alignments-EX1.dwg), determine the Point of Tanget station of the point shown in the graphic when converting the polyline into an alignment. Use a starting station of 10+00.00' at east end of the site.
8. Profiles
  - Using the Civil 3D 2008 Curriculum, Imperial Dataset, Module 09, Exercise 5 (I_Profiles-EX5.dwg), determine the existing and proposed centerline elevation of Orchard Road at station 5+00. Recommend using the Inquiry Tool.
9. Assemblies
  - Create an assembly of the Residential Two-Way Local or Cul-de-sac (Option A) Uniform Standard Drawing 207. Assembly does NOT have to include any aggregate base material below the sidewalk (BasicSidewalk), L-curb (BasicCurbAndGutter) and pavement (BasicLane). Provide an image/screen shot of your assembly with the properties window displayed. Select the pavement, ensure the width property is visable. Ensure the sidewalk has a width of 5 ft. Should look similar to this but also include a screen shot of the sidewalk width.
10. Corridors
  - Using the Civil 3D 2008 Curriculum, Imperial Dataset, Module 10, Exercise 5 (I_AssembliesandCorridors-EX5.dwg), create a simple corridor of the street shown in the graphic below. Provide a screen shot of the completed corridor.
11. Grading
  - What are Feature Lines?
12. Cross Sections
  - What are sample line groups?
13. AutoCAD Basics, draw an Intersection using Uniform Standard Drawing 201. Have the north-south street 80 foot right of way and the east-west street 60 foot right of way. Label the radius of each corner of the intersection. Provide an image/screen shot of the intersection, ensure the labels/dimensions are readable.
14. AutoCAD Basics, draw a Cul-de-sac per Uniform Standard Drawing 212. This will be for the city of North Las Vegas using a right of way (R/W) of 5l feet. Label R, R/W Width and W. Provide an image/screen shot of the cul-de-sac, ensure the labels/dimensions are readable.

Civil 3D Problems

Civil 3D Points
1. Import Points (text file, spreadsheet, LandXML, ArcGIS)
2. Export Points
3. Create Surface from Points
4. Label Points
5. Difference between AutoCAD nodes and Civil 3D Points

Civil 3D Demonstration Quizes

Civil 3D Points (use Module 3 data and NCS Extented template)
1. Show how to import points (see Civil 3D Import Points)
2. Show how to export points (see Civil 3D Export Points)
3. Show how to create points from an X,Y coordinate (see Civil 3D Create Points)
4. Show how to make point groups
5. Show how to display points
6. Show how to modify the display style of points
7. Show how to convert Civil 3D points to AutoCAD Blocks (see Civil 3D - Create Blocks From COGO Points)
8. Show how to setup point transformations using Drawing Settings (see Civil 3D - Settings - Transformations)
Civil 3D Surfaces
1. Show how to create a TIN surface (see Civil 3D Create Surfaces)
2. show how to create a Volume surface (see Civil 3D Create Surfaces)
3. Show how to add points to a surface definition (see Civil 3D Create Surfaces)
4. Show how to add a breakline to a surface definition (see Civil 3D Create Surfaces)
5. Show how to add a boundary to a surface definition (see Civil 3D Create Surfaces)
6. show how to label a surface slope (see Civil 3D Surface Labels)
7. Show how to label a surface spot elevation (see Civil 3D Surface Labels)
8. Show how to create surface contours (see Civil 3D Create Surfaces)
9. show how to label surface contours (see Civil 3D Surface Contour Labels)
10. Show how to customize a surface label (see Customize Surface Label Styles)
11. Show how to display the surface triangles (i.e. view the TIN) (see Civil 3D Create Surfaces)
12. Show how to edit a surface edge (see Civil 3D Surface Edits)
13. Show how to create a cut/fill surface
Civil 3D Alignments
1. Show how to modify an alignment stationing label style
2. Do an alignment for a knuckle
3. Do an intersection alignment
4. Stationing of the alignment
5. Create points from an alignment
Civil 3D Parcels
1. Show how to create Parcels
2. Parcel Styles (Parcel - fill and segment, Label - area, line, curve, table styles)
3. Show how to select a parcel
4. Show how to create parcel right of way (ROW)
Civil 3D Grading
Civil 3D Feature Lines
Civil 3D Profiles
Civil 3D Corridors
Civil 3D Sites
Autodesk Map 3D
1. Show how to import ESRI coverages and Interchange Files (.e00)
2. Show how to display aerial photos
3. Show how to connect to a shapefile using Feature Data Objects (FDO)

Excel - Random Worksheet

RandomStudentsQuiz.xls
F9 will recalculate the spreadsheet

Term Project

Term Project Data - Create a subdivision in Logandale NV

Design Criteria Word Document
Recommend using the _Autodesk Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS Extended.dwt template (File -> New)
Survey Drawing - survey.dwg
Original Drawing - original.dwg

Term Project Homework

Term Project Homework for Class #1
- Term Project Teams - select a partner, max 3 people in a group
- Email members of your project team to cee301spring08@gmail.com
Term Project Homework for Class #2
- None
Term Project Homework for Class #3
- None
Term Project Homework for Class #4
- Import Land Development Desktop (LDD) points from the survey.dwg into a point group (name it Existing Points)
- Create a surface (name it Existing Ground)
- On the surface definition - add the point group
- On the surface definition - add the breaklines (layer is SRF-FLT)
- draw a polyline around the subdivision, ensure it is closed. Then add to the surface definition as a boundary.
- Create a custom point label style called spot elevation (see Customize Surface Label Styles)
- Swap edges using surface edits
- create existing surface
Term Project Homework for Class #5
- create boundary and subdivide into 9 lots (20,000 sq ft each) and Email a plot of this subdivision
Term Project Homework for Class #6
- draw street right-of-way. Will show how to draw a knuckle and cul-de-sac
Term Project Homework for Class #7
Term Project Homework for Class #8
- define alignment of streets
Term Project Homework for Class #9
- create existing and proposed street profiles
Term Project Homework for Class #10
- create assembly and corridor
Term Project Homework for Class #11
- onsite grading and proposed surface
Term Project Homework for Class #12
- ~~create sewer system~~
Term Project Homework for Class #13
- create plan and profile sheets
Term Project Homework for Class #14
- complete term project design
Term Project Homework for Class #15
- Email Civil 3D dwg of final term project by 8am on Friday morning, 9 May 2008

Civil 3D Networking

tech home
extreme

Hello Friends

Universities and Colleges

Virginia Tech College of Engineering
- Dr. Randy Dymond, PE, CFM. Associate Professor Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Associate Director, Center for Geospatial Information Technology. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Blacksburg VA 24061. Voice: 540-231-9023 or 8935, Fax: 540-231-7532, Email: dymond@vt.edu

Autodesk

World Wide Education Programs
- Kathleen O'Sullivan, Student Community Website Manager, voice: 603-621-3298, mobile: 603-303-0274 email: kathleen.o'sullivan@autodesk.com
- Roy Martin, Education Territory Manager, Mid-Atlantic Region, voice: 717-460-0784, mobile: 717-460-0784 email: roy.martin@autodesk.com
- Sanjay Asnani, PE voice: 813-661-9684, mobile: 813-507-1478
- Marco Martens, Autodesk Education Consultant in Italy, email: marco.martens@autodesk.com, voice: +393351831673. He knows Civil 3D, Bentley and ESRI products. Comes to Las Vegas in March.
TheCADStore.com Tina Scarletto (book requests 800-576-6789 x117, tina.scarletto@thecadstore.com) and Alan Cox (software request 800-576-6789 x123)
Autodesk ISD Executive Counsel
- Chairman: Michael Schramm, Autodesk Education Program Manager - Infrastructure Solutions Division. Voice: 415-507-8357, Mobile: 415-722-0864, Fax: 415-507-8005, Email: michael.schramm@autodesk.com, Webpage: http://students.autodesk.com, Address: 3900 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael CA 94903. Responsible for Civil 3D Curriculum.
- Member: Tim McCoy with GC Wallace. Email: tmccoy@gcwallace.com, voice: 702-804-2075
- Member: G. Steven Ross, Vice President of Schoor DePalma Engineers and Consultants. Voice: 732-577-9000, Fax: 732-577-9888, Email: sross@schoordepalma.com, 200 State Highway Nine, PO Box 900, Manalapan NJ 07726-0900. Proponent to get hydrology and hydraulics back into Civil 3D.
- Member: Robert E. Middlebrooks, AIA Principal with Clark Nexsen Architecture and Engineering. Voice: 757-961-7737, Mobile: 757-338-5240, Email: rmiddlebrooks@clarknexsen.com, 6160 Kempsville Circle, Suite 200A, Norfolk Virginia 23502.
Autodesk Civil 3D Programmers
- David A. Simeone, Autodesk Civil 3D Product Manager - Infrastructure Solutions Division. Voice: 603-621-3172, Email: dave.simeone@autodesk.com, Address: 100 Commercial Street, Manchester NH 03101.
- Bradford L. Heasley, Autodesk Geospatial Solutions Specialist, Infrastructure Solutions Group. voice: 210-568-9389, mobile: 210-865-1308, fax: 210-745-2157, email: bradford.heasley@autodesk.com, knows MapGuide and FDO
- Neal Niemiec, email: neal.niemiec@autodesk.com. Knows MapGuide and FDO
- Eric Galvan, Autodesk Civil Sales Executive, AEC Division. Voice: 702-269-4546, Mobile: 702-308-6376, Fax: 702-269-7585, Email: eric.galvan@autodesk.com. Lives in Las Vegas NV. Working on the new Las Vegas CAD Managers LUG for Thursday, 29 March 2007 from 5:30-7:30 PM at Rounders Bar & Grill (4455 S. Buffalo Dr. Between Tropicana & Flamingo). Agenda includes: 1) Introductions, 2) Purpose, 3) Ground Rules (not a sales platform, not a recruiting platform), 4) Meeting frequency (Monthly? Date/Time 2-3 hrs), 5) Future Topic Suggestions / Goals
Raster Design
- Gary T Stephenson, Autodesk Imaging Program Manager. Voice: 518-885-7389, Fax: 603-621-3309, Email: gary.stephenson@autodesk.com, Address: 100 Commercial Street, Manchester NH 03101. Says AutoCAD Map has a lookup table to map the EPSG codes to the Mentor Software Projection Names. Also, AutoCAD Map will recognize GeoTIFF projections and insertion points as long the projection is defined in Map prior to importing.
Projections, Coordinate Systems
- Geoff Zeiss, Ph.D., Director of Technology Enterprise Solution Architecture, Infrastructure Solutions Division. Voice: 613-755-5070, Mobile: 613-614-6459, Fax: 613-567-5433, Email: geoff.zeiss@autodesk.com, Address: 427 Laurier Avenue W suite 500, Ottawa Ontario, K1R 7Y2, Canada. Knows about the Projection Standards EPSG codes vs the Mentor Software. Friends with Nathan Crews - the LandXML expert.
Map 3D API and Mapguide API
- Dongjin Xing, Developer Technical Consultant, Autodesk Developer Network, voice: 415-507-4652, email: dongjin.xing@autodesk.com

Engineering Firms

Silver State Traffic
- Susan Thomason, voice: 217-1968, email: sstraffic@msn.com
WRG Design
- Ryan Wunderlich - will be using the National CAD Standards with roll out of Civil 3D 2007 in July 2007
VTN
- Keith Warren
- John Grego
PBS & J
- Douglas Johnson - knowledge of Traffic, Signals, Signing and Street lighting.
Slater Hanifan
- William White
RBF Consulting
- Michael Mason - Civil 3D guy
Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA)
- Glen Colgate - uses AutoCAD Map
Nevada Power
- Jimmy Hill - AutoCAD tech
North Las Vegas
- Xiaohui
- Mark Hedges - MapGuide and Map3D
- Karen Hedges
Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD)
- Anthony Fiti - MapGuide application developer
- Matt Seidl
- Ramonal Obato
- Tera Schwartz
Black and Veatch
- Robert Swanson - Civil 3D CAD Manager
Beazer Homes
- Dean Harris - Buzzsaw
Las Vegas Civil CAD Users Group
- Mark Swink
City of Henderson
- Ross Weckesser
PBQD
- Lorenzon Sanchez Jr.
Bureau of Reclamation
- Alejandro Orosco - Engineering Tech
Clark County Department of Aviation
- Greg Kim
Bulloch Brothers
- Scott Bartlett
Bush and Gudgell (St George UT)
- Robert Watson - Civil 3D
- Scott McKinney
Nevada Department of Wildlife (Reno NV)
- Lisa Schettler
Construction Industry Solutions (coins)
- Ricardo "Ricky" Rivera - expert on creating a Plat in Civil 3D. Voice: 972-910-9076, Mobile: 817-800-1373, Fax: 972-910-9069 Email: ricky.rivera@coins-global.com, Address: 545 E John Carpenter Fwy Ste 600, Irving TX 75062. Autodesk University 2006 Instructor

Civil 3D Webcasts

Autodesk On-Demand Webcasts in Chronological Order
AutoCAD Civil 3D Resource Center
Ask Lucy Screencasts
- Lucy's Tutorials

Guest Speakers

Call Before You Dig by Underground Service Alert (USA North)
- Don Heyer, Operations and Public Relations Manager
- Address: 4090 Nelson Avenue Suite A, Concord CA 94520-1232.
- Voice: 925-798-9504 x4. Mobile: 702-595-7919. Fax: 925-798-1683. Email: dheyer@usan.org
- Member of the Common Ground Alliance
Autodesk, Inc
- Peter Funk, Email: Peter.Funk@autodesk.com
- David A. Simeone, Civil 3D Product Manager - Infrastructure Solutions Division. Voice: 603-621-3172, Email: dave.simeone@autodesk.com
- Lucy Kuhns, Applications Engineer - Infrastructure Solutions Division. Voice: 505-310-5335, Email: Lucy.Kuhns@autodesk.com
- Autodesk, Inc. 100 Commercial Street. Manchester, New Hampshire 03101.
Dennis R. Brown, PE. Stanley Consultants, Inc. 5820 South Eastern Ave, Suite 200. Las Vegas NV 89119. Voice: 702-765-6314, Main: 702-369-9396, Mobile: 702-524-2913, Fax: 702-369-9793, Email: BrownDennis@stanleygroup.com
Marti Marek with Southwest Gas, Voice: 702-364-3262, Email: marti.merek@swgas.com
Jody Walker-Belsick with Walker Engineering. Voice: 702-873-5197, Email: jbelsick@walker-eng.com

Section 2: Civil 3D Instructor Materials

AutoCAD Basics

AutoCAD Window Environment

Toolbars
Title bar
Menu bar
Crosshairs
Drawing Area
Command Window
Status bar

Invoking Commands

Menu
Toolbar
Command Line Window
- Type the Name of the Command
- If within a command, can right mouse click on the drawing window to reveal all the Options with the command.
- Not all Objects can be accessed using the Command Line
- Transparent commands - a command within a command. Invoke using the apostrophe ' before the command name. (see AutoCAD 2007 Command Reference p. 2)
On-Screen Cursor or "Cursor-focused" Command Line

Zoom and Pan

Civil 3D Standard Toolbar - Includes Zoom
Can control display of drawing using the mouse wheel and left/right buttons
Zoom In - rotate mouse wheel forward
Zoom Out - rotate mouse wheel backwards
Zoom Full Extents - double click mouse wheel
Pan - hold down mouse wheel and drag mouse
Magnification Changes - for each click of the mouse wheel, set using the ZOOMFACTOR system variable, minimum value = 3 (slightly zoom in/out) and maximum value = 100 (appears to double the magnification if zooming out and reduce the magnification by 50% if zooming in)
Reference: AutoCAD Help -> Driver and Peripheral Guide -> Pointing Devices -> Pointing Device Buttons
American Institute of Architects (AIA) CAD Layer Guidelines provides a layer naming system

Grips

To stretch using more than one grip
1. Select one or several objects to stretch
2. Hold down SHIFT and click several grips so they are highlighted
3. Release SHIFT and select a grip as the base grip by clicking the grip. The default grip mode, Stretch, is active
4. Move the pointing device and click. The selected grips act in unison and the selected objects are stretched
Reference: Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 Help: AutoCAD Help -> User's Guide -> Create and Modify Objects -> Change Existing Objects -> Modify Objects -> Use Grips to Edit Objects -> Use Grip Modes

Layers

Properties
- Freeze/Thaw Layers - frozen layers are not displayed and will not plot. Frozen layers cannot be edited and will not regenerate, for example the ERASE command will not affect frozen layers but could delete layers which are turned off. Snowflake icon implies the layer is frozen, Sun icon implies the layer is thawed.
Current Layer
- current layer is displayed in the layer manager toolbar
- switch current layer, just use the drop down menu from the layer manager and select the layer you want current.
- LAYCUR will make the selected object's layer the current layer
- CLAYER system variable sets the current layer
Layer 0
- default current layer for AutoCAD drawings.
- Cannot be deleted for renamed
- it is advisable to draw on layers you create other than layer 0
- Layer 0 is typically reserved for the creation of block symbols. Blocks created on layer 0 will inherit the layer properties of drawing they are being inserted in.
Reassign objects from one layer to another
- Step 1: select the objects (should see the grips)
- Step 2: from the Layer Manager drop down list, select the layer you want the objects to be assigned to
- To double check the layer assignment, just view the properties of the object to see the layer name.

Status Bar

Display Cursor Coordinate Values
- Unknown how to force AutoCAD to display coordinates in standard notation (10,000,000) instead of scientifc notation (1.0E+7) when displaying stateplane coordinates.
Drafting Setting Commands to Toggle System Variables
- Snap Mode - invisible reference grid in the drawing area (model space or paper space)
  - Shortcut Key: F9
  - SNAPMODE system variable, 1 = On, 0 = Off
  - can set using the DSETTINGS command, Object Snap tab
- GRid Mode - display a visible array of dots
  - can set using the DSETTINGS command, Object Snap tab
- Ortho
  - cannot be on if Polar is on
- Polar
  - can set using the DSETTINGS command, Object Snap tab
  - cannot be on if Ortho is on
- Object Snap - OSnap
  - can set using the DSETTINGS or DS command at the command prompt, Object Snap tab
- OTrack
- DUCS
- DYN - Dynamic Input
  - Toggles Dynamic Input on and off or use [F12] function key
  - Dynamic Input allows commands to be typed in a temporary input area (similar to a tooltip) next to the crosshairs instead of the command line (see Shumaker 07 p. 37)
  - Allows you to keep your focus at the point where you are drawing
  - When Dynamic Input is turned off, the command line is used for command input and any of its corresponding options
  - Use the down arrow key to cycle through the available options
  - Use the Enter key to select an option
  - "Cursor-focused" Command Line
  - Dynamic Input Settings
    - Option 1: right-click on DYN button from the status bar and select Settings
    - Option 2: Menu Toolbar: Tools -> Drafting Settings...
    - Option 3: DSETTINGS or DS from the command line
    - Enable Pointer Input is checked, commands are entered into the pointer input field next to the crosshairs. The X and Y coordinates are also displayed in the tooltip area, and values can be typed directly into these fields.
    - (see Shumaker 07 p. 92-95)
- LWT
  - LWEIGHT command to bring up lineweight settings or just right click on LWT in the status bar and choose settings
  - Lineweights are width values that are assigned to graphical objects as well as some types of text
  - Lineweights are not displayed unless the LWT button on the status bar is selected
  - Alternative to using lineweights is a polyline with a width
- Model or Paper
  - If in Layout View, switch between model space viewport and paper space
  - If in Model View, switches to Layout View
  - MSPACE command switches from paper space to a model space viewport
  - PSPACE command switches from a model space viewport to paper space
Tray Settings
Status Bar Menu
Clean Screen
- Toggle on/off clean screen (located at the lower right corner of the application window. Alternative is View -> Clean Screen from the menu bar)
- Expand the drawing display area to display only the menu bar, status bar and command window

Angles

Surveyor's Angles = @72'8"<n45d20'6"e this will draw a relative line from the previous point which is 72 feet 8 inches long at a bearing north 45°20'6" east
- (see AutoCAD User's Guide p. 118)

Civil 3D Transparent Commands

Can only be used within another running command. So, if the command prompt is just like Command:, then transparent commands will not work. Example error message:
Can be activated by using the Transparent Commands Toolbar (just right click on a blank area of a toolbar above the display area and choose Civil -> Transparent Commands) or entering the commandname at the command prompt (all transparent command names begin with an apostrophe ('))
Transparent Command settings are specified on the Ambient Settings tab in the Edit Drawing Settings dialog box. Example settings:
- Prompt for elevation, Z values
- Prompt order for X/Y, Northing/Easting, or Lat/Long
- Format for specifying elevation using grade or slope
A ">>" is added to the beginning of the command prompt when using Transparent Commands
'PN = Point Number, use when prompted to enter a point on the drawing area, can specify the point number instead
'BD = Bearing and Distance. Bearing is an angle from due North or due South (e.g. North45.0000East)
- Angle can be in decimal degrees (AUNIT=0), degrees minutes seconds (AUNIT=1), gradians (AUNIT=2), radians (AUNIT=3) or surveyor's units (AUNIT=4)
- Quadrants - NE = 1, SE = 2, SW = 3, NW = 4
- Set Angle units using the Drawing Level Settings on the Settings Tab of the Toolspace window. Click Ambient Settings tab and angle format can be [DD.MMSSSS (decimal dms), DD.DDDDDD (decimal degrees), DD MM'SS.SS", or DD MM' SS.SS" (spaced)]
'NE = Northing and Easting, specify a point location when you know the ground coordinates
'GN = Grid Northing and Grid Easting
- "Before you can enter meaningful grid northing and easting values, you must first specify a zone and coordinate system, and then define transformation settings for the drawing, including a base point, a rotation angle, or another reference point" (see Autodesk Civil 3D User's Guide p. 1743)
'LL = Latitude and Longitude (must specify a zone and coordinate system for the drawing)
'SO = Station and Offset (must have an alignment existing in the current drawing)
Profile Related Transparent Commands
- 'PSE = Profile Station Elevation. Need to select the Profile Grid View, enter a Station Number (e.g. 12+00, just enter 1200), then enter an elevation.
- 'PGS = Profile Grade Station. Need to select the Profile Grid View, enter a grade (e.g. to enter 2% just type 2), then for the length enter the Station Number. To enter a downhill grade use -2 for 2% downhill.
- 'PGL = Profile Grade Length.
To exit the Transparent Command hit the Esc key
For complete list of all Transparent Commands, see Autodesk Civil 3D User's Guide p. 1731

3D Viewports

To see objects in 3D, recommend using 2 viewports (Command Line: VPORTS). Have one view port in 2D, that is plan view and have the other view port in 3D, that is SW Isometric

Convert Decimal Degrees (DD) into Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds (DMS)

DD = 121.135°
Degree = 121° (whole number of the decimal degree)
Minutes = 0.135 x 60 = 8.1, the whole number is the minutes (8')
Seconds = 0.1 x 60 = 6 (0.1 is the remainder from the Minutes calc)
DMS = 121°8'6"
To enter survey coordinates in AutoCAD, 121d8'6" (this is internally converted to Decimal Degrees by AutoCAD). See AutoCAD Command Reference p. 205
See How to Convert a Decimal to Sexagesimal and Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 Procedures and Applications by Harry O. Ward p. 158

AutoCAD Options

To avoid smooth arcs being displayed as choppy line segments, set the VIEWRES to the max 20,000. Can also use the OPTIONS command, Display tab, and under the Display resolution, change the Arc and circle smoothness from the default of 1000 to 20,000 (valid range is 1 to 20,000).

AutoCAD Plotting

Steps to Create a Plot

Create a model of your subject in Model Space (click the Model tab)
Click a layout tab
- Recommend using a predefined Drawing Template, provides title block, border, and so on
- Right mouse click on the layout tab, select From template... option on the context menu
- Open SheetSets folder
- Open Civil Imperial.dwt drawing template
- Use Layout name(s) D-Size, click OK
- A new layout tab should exist called D-Size
Specify layout page settings such as plotting device, paper size, plot area, plot scale, and drawing orientation
Insert a title block into the layout (unless you have started with a drawing template that already has a title block)
Create a new layer to be used for layout viewports
- Recommend creating a new Layer called ViewPort
- Make the layer current
Create layout viewports and position them on the layout
- Draw a closed polyline (PLINE command)
- Use the MVIEW command with the Object option to convert the closed polyline into a Viewport.
  - Can use COPY and ARRAY to create multiple layout viewports
  - Alternative is the MVSETUP wizard
Set the orientation, scale, and layer visibility of the view in each layout viewport
- To scale a viewport - Option 1
  - select the viewport then type in the PROPERTIES command
  - Scale is a ratio of the Paper Space to Model Space, for example 1"=40' implies a 1" measurement on the plans is actually 40 feet long on the ground.
- To scale a viewport - Option 2
  - use the Viewport Toolbar
  - can modify the list of scales that are displayed in all view and plot scale lists with SCALELISTEDIT
- To scale a viewport - Option 3
  - use the ZOOM command with the XP option
- Stretching the layout viewport border does not change the scale of the view within the viewport
Add dimensions and annotate in the layout as needed
Turn off the layer containing the layout viewports
- Use LAYER or VPLAYER
Turn off Background Plotting - to avoid potential plotting errors
- OPTIONS commands
- click Plot and Publish tab
- Background processing options Section
- Uncheck the Plotting checkbox under the Enable backgound plot when:
- Uncheck the Publishing checkbox under the Enable background plot when:
- If this isn't done, could get the following error message: Background Plot Request Failed. Your request could not be completed due to an unexpected problem. Turn off background plotting and try to plot again.
Option 1: Plot your layout
Option 2: Publish Drawing - convert DWG to DWF
- Benefits - anyone can then print the DWF, uses Windows System Printers instead of AutoCAD Device Dependent plotters
- File -> Publish... (or just type PUBLISH command)
- Select DWF file under the Publish to heading
- Click the Publish Options button. Include Layer information under the DWF data options.

Reference: AutoCAD Help -> User's Guide -> Choose a Work Process Before You Begin -> Create Multiple-View Drawing Layouts (Paper Space) -> Understand the Layout Process. AutoCAD 2007 Users Guide p. 211

AutoCAD Publishing to DWF

See DWF notes in software section of agenda
Pros
- Ability to preserve layers in DWF. See DWF Options
- AutoCAD not required to Print drawings
Cons
- Unable to attach files like Adobe PDF
Integrating DWF Writer with ArcGIS
Fonts and DWF
- Following fonts come with Windows operating system (see http://www.fixarna.com/frontpage/windowsfonts.htm)and are not embedded by default when creating the dwf
- Arial, Arial Black, Comic Sans MS, Courier New, Impact, Marlett, Tahoma, Tahoma Bold, Times New Roman, Times New Roman Bold, Times New Roman Bold Italic, Times New Roman Italic, Verdana, Verdana Bold, Verdana Bold Italic, Verdana Italic Webdings and Wingdings
- See Avoiding AutoCAD DWF font woes
DWF6 ePlot PC3 files support hyperlinks when creating dwf files from the layout

AutoCAD Templates

Use File -> New to create a .dwg based on a .dwt template
Help to ensure a consistent look and feel of plans produced from a company
Speeds up the process to create a drawing
Do not use the default acad.dwt which is very limited, but highly recommend using AutoCAD Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS Extended.dwt
Template Files (.dwt) contain the following
- Pre-defined layers
- Blocks (note recommend just saving blocks as external drawings, .dwg
- Styles (text, line, dimension, object, label, and table)
- Line Types
- Drawing Units and Limits
- Drawing Settings (Grid, Snap, OSnap, Polar)
- Layouts (including Border blocks and viewports)
- Point Groups
- Page Setups (unknown if the plotter settings are included, idea is to have a device independent template)
- Plot Style Tables
To copy styles from a template (.dwt) into an existing drawing, rename the .dwt to .dwg and insert it as a block. Thus the styles will be copied into the Settings Toolspace.
Template files where formerly stored in C:\Program Files\Autodesk Civil 3D 2007\Template
As of AutoCAD 2004, templates are stored in your Windows User Profile, for example: C:\Documents and Settings\jjensen\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\C3D 2007\enu\Template
See Using Templates in Civil 3D 2007 by Jeff
See Hamad 08 Appendix BOld

AutoCAD Object Properties

General Object Properties

Used to control the appearance of objects
Set object properties using the PROPERTIES command
Color - to avoid confusion in a large drawing, recommend setting the Object's Color property to ByLayer. Thus the object will inherit the color of the Layer.
Layer - all objects are created on the current layer
- Current layer name is displayed in the list box of the Layers toolbar. Use LAYCUR or the "Make Object's Layer Current" icon from the Layers Toolbar to select an object. The object's layer will now become the current layer.
Linetype - to avoid confusion in a large drawing, recommend setting the Object's Linetype property to ByLayer. Thus the object will inherit the Linetype of the Layer.
Linetype scale
Plot style
Lineweight - adds width to the object (a.k.a. object thickness), both on screen and on paper
- LWT off - in model space, all objects are drawn with a thickness of 1 pixel
Hyperlink
Thickness

Civil 3D Environment

Toolspace
Event Viewer
Tool Palettes
Workspace - collection of menus, toolbars and palettes that load automatically.

Basics of Civil 3D Interface

Autodesk Civil 3D Interface Video

Civil 3D Toolspaces

Civil 3D - Toolspace Window

Used to access detailed object properties and settings
To turn on/off Toolspace
- From the Menu toolbar: General -> Show Toolspace...
- From the Command prompt: showts
- From the Command prompt: hidets
The Prospector, Settings, and Survey Tabs have several controls in common
- Tree Structure
  - Display items in a hierarchical structure
  - Collections - any item that can contain other items (e.g. Open Drawings from the Toolspace Window -> Prospector tab, Master View, is a collection of .dwgs)
- Shortcut/Context Menus
- Object icons - row of icons which appear at the top of each Toolspace tab (e.g. Display Panorama Window icon, Display Help icon)

Prospector Toolspace

Use to manage project and drawing objects
Prospector Tree (see civil_ug.pdf p. 53)
- Master View
  - Open Drawings
    - Cannot use the Prospector Toolspace to Open Drawings, need to still use File -> Open
    - To activate another drawing, either select the drawing window title bar in the Model Space drawing area or right click on the drawing in the Prospector Toolspace and choose Switch to
    - Note - AutoCAD 2007 still only supports one Model Space with many Layouts, opening multiple drawings is just basically the same as closing one drawing and opening another. The layout cannot reference a model space in one drawing and have another viewport reference a different model space in a different drawing, which can be done by ESRI's ArcMap.
  - Projects
  - Drawing Templates
- Active Drawing View
  - Display only items in the active drawing. Switching to another drawing causes the tree reflect the new drawing.
- Item View - secondary pane displayed beside or below the tree which displays information about an item or the contents of a collection (see civil_ug.pdf p. 45)
  - List View
  - Graphic View
Propector Icons
- Project State
- Drawing Item State
- Drawing Item Modifier - any combination of
  - 1) the object is out-of-date or violates constraints,
  - 2) the project object is more recent than the local copy
  - 3) the local copy of the project object no longer matches the project version, which means that you have edited it
  - see civil_ug.pdf p. 113
- Preview Display (graphic view)- will show a thumbnail/preview of a Civil 3D object.
  - It is a 2 step process to preview a 3D Object such as a Parcel
  - Step 1 - enable the Preview Display icon (if icon has a box around it, then its on, no box, then its off)
  - step 2 - right click on the Civil 3D Object collection (not the object itself) and select Show Preview.
  - Step 3 - click any of the Parcel objects (e.g. Single-Family : 1) to see the graphic view
- Display Panorama Window
  - Panorama Window - similar to Open Attribute Table in ArcMap, display horizontally oriented data, such as point data in a grid
  - The active drawing controls the state of the Panorama window.
  - If switching between drawings, the Panorama window either becomes inactive or shows only the vistas associated with the active drawing
  - The Panorama window is part of the Toolspace and is only displayed when certain objects in the Tree are selected in on the Settings tab or the Prospector tab
- Help

Settings Toolspace

Used for style creation and editing. Styles are created, copied, edited and saved from the Settings tab of the Toolspace.
Drawing Level Settings
- Drawing Wide Settings - include units and zone, transformation settings, abbreviations, and object layers
  - To Edit, right mouse click on the DrawingName.dwg in the Toolspace -> Settings tab and select Edit Drawing Settings...
- Ambient (Background, Default) Settings - for specifying units of measurement. affect Autodesk Civil 3D behaviors.
  - To Edit, right mouse click on the DrawingName.dwg in the Toolspace -> Settings tab and select Edit Drawing Settings..., then click on the Ambient Settings tab
  - Control parameters such as angle, area, direction, elevation, and so on
Object (Feature) Level Settings
- Control all settings that pertain to the 3D Design Object (e.g. Points, Parcel, and so on)
- Override the drawing (.dwg) ambient (Background, Default) Settings
- To Edit, right mouse click on the 3D Design Object (e.g. Point, Surface, Parcel, and so on) and select Edit Feature Settings...
Command Level Settings
- Specify command-specify settings
- Override the Drawing Level Settings and the Object Level Settings on a command-by-command basis
- To Edit, in the Toolspace -> Settings tab and right mouse click on the 3D Design Object (e.g. Points, Parcel, and so on) and select Edit Feature Settings...
Example Styles - note all Civil 3D Styles originate in the Drawing Template (.dwt)
- Point Style - controls the display of the point node
- Point Label Style - controls the display of point label

Surveyor Toolspace

Toolbox Toolspace (a.k.a Report Manager)

Basically creates a LandXML file and opens Internet Explorer to view it
Menu Toolbar: General -> Toolbox
Menu Toolbar: General -> Report Manager...
It appears both applications do the same thing, so why doesn't Autodesk delete one?
Another similar application is installed with Civil 3D, Start -> All Programs -> Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 -> Autodesk LandXML Report

Raster Design Toolspace

Used to insert and manage raster files
How do you turn on/off the Image Manager Toolspace?
- Example: From the Command Line? imanage
- Example: From the Menu Toolbar? click Image menu -> Manage

Civil 3D Workspaces

collection of menus, toolbars and palettes that load automatically
A collection of user interface elements, including their contents, properties, display states and locations.
Toggle Workspace Toolbar On/Off
- Right click on blank portion of any toolbar and choose ACAD > Workspaces. Checkmark implies the Toolbar is visible (turned on)
- Command Line: WORKSPACE
Workspaces are stored in the Customize User Interfaces (.CUI) files. In fact, the .CUI files keeps track of any customizations you make.
Sample Workspace found at C:\Documents and Settings\jjensen\Application Data\Autodesk\C3D 2008\enu\Support\acadSampleWorkspaces.CUI

AutoCAD Interface Settings (Profiles)

Profiles store drawing environment settings such as 1) default search and project file paths, 2) template file locations, 3) Initial folder specified in file navigation dialog boxes, 4) default linetype and hatch pattern files, and 5) printer defaults
Profile information is typicaly set on the Files tab of the Options dialog box, stored in the system registry and can be exported to a text file (an .ARG file)
Current profile name, as well as the current drawing name, are displayed in the Options dialog box
See AutoCAD Help -> User's Guide -> The User Interface -> Customize the Drawing Environment -> Save and Restore Interface Settings (Profiles)

Civil 3D Drawing Settings

Transformation Settings

Zone transformation Settings do the following (see civil_ug.pdf page 24)
- Relate local coordinates to grid coordinates
- Relate distances on the ellipsoid to the projection/flat plane
Must specify reference points in establishing transformation settings
Reference points are two points that tie the local and grid coordinates together. Can be defined by
- By the grid and local coordinates of two known reference points in the drawings
- By the grid and local coordinates of one known point and a known rotation to grid north
Drawing Settings dialog box, Transformation Tab (see civil_ug.pdf page 1951)

Transformation from Ground Coordinates to Grid Coordinates

Step 1: Modify Drawing Settings
Step 2: on the Units and Zone tab, enter a zone description. Note, this is difficult when the zone is local coordinates, that is an assumed origin of 5000,5000 is implied and how one would reference this to a standard projection.
Step 3: on the Transformation tab, enter a zone description and check the Apply transform settings checkbox
On the same dialog box, enter the Local Northing and Easting coordinates under the Reference point with its corresponding Grid Northing and Easting coordinates (typically this is given by the surveyor). Then under the Rotation point, enter the second coordinate pair.

Map Projections

Modified to Ground - Mapping Projections by Jack Gnipp, PLS

Civil 3D Surfaces

Create Surfaces
Edit Surfaces
Surface Contour Labels
Surface Labels - Slope and Spot Elevation
Edit Surface Styles

Civil 3D Create Surfaces

Step 1: Open the Create Surface Dialog Box. Three options to open this dialog box.
- Option a: Panorama Toolspace - right click on the Surfaces Collection, choose New... (civil 3D 2007)
- Option aa: Panorama Toolspace - right click on the Surfaces Collection, choose Create Surface... (civil 3D 2008)
- Option b: Menu Toolbar - Surface -> Create Surface
- Option c: Command Line - CreateSurface
Step 2: Define a surface type, layer, name and description
- Surface Types
  - TIN Surface
  - Grid Surface
  - Grid Volume Surface
  - TIN Volume Surface
Step 3: Assign data to the surface definition
- TIN Surface Definitions: Boundaries, Breaklines, Contour, DEM Files, Drawing Objects, Edits, Point Files, and Point Groups
  - Boundaries - 2 Types, 1-Outer is good for project limits and 2-Inner is good for building pads. Use Non-Distructive Boundary if you just want the hide or mask the view of the TIN, use Destructive Boundary if you don't want the TIN to expand beyond the boundary. Tip - don't recommend using the property line as the boundary, but offset it 10'-20' to give the TIN some room to work.
  - Drawing Objects - examples are points which have elevations, 3D Blocks, can manually add these to the surface. Typically used when dealing with Land Development Desktop.
- Grid Surface Definitions: Boundaries, DEM Files, and Edits
- Grid Volume Surface
- TIN Volume Surface
Step 4: Assign a surface style
- Option a - in the Prospector Toolspace, right click the Civil 3D Surface (not the Surface collection) and choose Surface Properties...
- Option b - in the model space display area, select the the Civil 3D Surface (should be in edit mode by seeing the object grips) then right click on a grip and choose Surface Properties...
- Option c - from the Command line: EditSurfaceProperties

TIN Surface - Breaklines

Breaklines represent distinctive breaks in the terrain, examples include road crowns, top of an embankment, bottom of an embankment, ditch edges, stream edges, gutter lines and retaining walls. (See Module06-Surfaces-InstructorsNotes.pdf p. 3)
Important that triangulation lines run along breaklines
Triangulation lines can not cross over breaklines
"Breaklines force surface triangulation along the breakline preventing triangulation across the breakline" (civil_ug.pdf p. 709)
Triangulation uses a nearest neighbor algorthim, so given 4 points, 2 triangles will be created, the two closest points will be the boundary of the 2 triangles.
Civil 3D does not have specific tools for creating breaklines. This operation is accomplished by defining 2 dimensional proximity breaklines with the pline command of AutoCAD, and three-dimensional standard breaklines with the 3dPoly (command alias 3p) command of AutoCAD (see Autodesk Education Curriculum for Civil 3D 2007, Module 3: Surfaces and Civil Design, p. 3-26)
Two types of breaklines
- Standard - 3D lines, grading feature lines, and 3D polylines
- Proximity - 2D line where the Z coordinate at the vertices are determined from the surface
Can import breaklines from ASCII .flt files

Masks

Similar to an Xclip, mask out the area of interest. Used to speed up the computer when working with large datasets. Similar to a definition query in ArcMap, makes a subset of the data.

Additional References on Surfaces

Under the Surface: Creating Accurate Surfaces in Civil 3D, Autodesk Unversity 2006, CV13-2 (pdf, CV13-2.doc, CV13-2_UndertheSurface2006.ppt, CV13-2DataSet.zip and ScreenCast)

Civil 3D Surface Edits

Swap Edges
- "Use edge swapping to change the direction of two triangle faces in the surface model so that, for example, the triangle edges match ridges or swales." (civil_ug.pdf p. 751)
- Step 1: from Prospector Toolspace, right click on the Surface Definition -> Edits -> Swap Edges
- Step 2: Ensure the Surface style your using shows the TIN (triangles). Then zoom into the surface and find four points where you want to flip the edge (i.e. line connecting points 10314 and 10318).
- Step 3: select the edge. Then Civil 3D will automatically flip, or move the TIN edge. Should look something like this (i.e. line now connects points 10313 and 10317)

Civil 3D Surface Contour Labels

Contour Label Line

Line drawn on existing contours. Elevation Label is placed at the intersection of Label Line and the contour. Note, cannot label a TIN edge, so ensure the surface style is Contours
To open the Create Contour Labels toolbar, use the Surfaces Menu Toolbar.
Label Line is drawn on the drawing layer listed in the Create Contour Labels toolbar, not the Current Layer shown in the Layer Manager. To change the drawing layer, click on the Layer icon. This brings up a layer dialog box.
Recommend freezing or turning off the Contour Label Line drawing layer so the line/polyline is not plotted. Note, contour labels are not placed on this drawing layer, only the actual Contour Label Line is drawn on the drawing layer.
The default layer for contour label lines can be set in the Settings Toolspace, expand Surface -> Commands -> right click CreateSurfCntrLabelLine
To create contour labels from an existing line or polyline, use the Label from Objects option
To adjust placement of contour label, select the Contour Label Line, then adjust grips to move/resize
Reference Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 User's Guide, page 821 and Chapter 56 - Surfaces Dialog Boxes.

Civil 3D Surface Labels

Surface label types: 1) spot elevations and 2) slope
To add a surface label
Step 1: from the Menu Toolbar: Surfaces -> Labels -> Add Surface Labels... or AddLabels from the Command Line
Step 2: Use Feature - Surface, specify Label Type - Slope, Slope label style - Percent Slope and the Choose Add
Step 3: Two Point Slope Label or Single Point Slope A negative value represents a decreasing slope and the direction of the slope is represented by a direction arrow component defined in the slope label style.
- One Point - slope of the TIN face
- Two Point - first point is the origin of the vector and the second point determines the direction and slope of the surface vector
Step 4:

Customize Surface Label Styles

Spot Elevations
- Purpose, create a spot elevation label style similar to this. Notice the cursor tip shows the Surface1 has a Z elevation of 655.700 feet, but the Spot Elevation label encloses the elevation in parenteis ( ), truncates the 600, add a leader line, and lastly adds the name of the tag, EG for existing ground.
- Expression for {Surface Elevation}/100, add the expression as the first segment of text, but set the precision to 0.01, truncate the rounding, and only output the value right of the decimal. Next, manually type in your decimal point into the label style. Last part of the label is your actual surface elevation, formatted {Surface Elevation} and only output the value right of the decimal with the precision set to 0.01
- Discussion - Spot Elevation Labels and Spot elevation labels in xx.xx format
- Because you can only drag one label style at a time into another drawing, it is more efficient to set up your commonly used label styles in a DWT file that you can use for each new drawing you create (see Autodesk Civil 3D User's Guide 2007 > Labels and Tags > Understanding Labels in Autodesk Civil 3D > Overview of Label Styles > Using Label Styles From Other Drawings)

Civil 3D Surface Labels

How to change the contour interval of a surface style
Step 1 - Using the Settings Toolspace, right click on the Surface Style and choose Edit.
Step 2 - Select the Contours tab and expand the Contour Intervals Properties and change the Minor Interval and Major Interval values
Step 3 - Select the Display tab and ensure the Major Contour and Minor Contour layers are visble

Civil 3D Alignments

Alignments

Alignments are used to represent street centerlines, travel lanes, roadway shoulders, right-of-ways, or construction baselines
Changes in an alignment are reflected in any profiles or cross sections which reference it
If an alignment exists in the same site as a parcel, the alignment divides the parcels it intersects and can change areas and perimeters. To prevent an alignment from changing a parcel, the two objects should be in different Site Collection.
Stored in the Sites Collection on the Prospector Toolspace. Sites collection manages objects which share topology, which is the Parcels, Alignments and Grading objects. Common topology implies if you resize one parcel, another parcel is effected. Examples of objects which overlay each other such as Parcel and a map of soil conditions do not share topology, that is if you change the Parcel size, it doesn't have an effect on the underlying soil map.
Alignments can only be stored in one Site Collection and only interact with Parcel and Grading objects in that Site.
Alignments are one of the major object types, along with Point, Parcel, Grading, ... Objects in Autodesk Civil 3D
Within the Prospector Toolspace, an individual Alignment may contain Profiles, Profile Views, and Sample Line Groups.
To Delete an Alignment, right-click on the Alignment name in the Prospector Toolspace and select Delete...
Right-click Alignment name to 1) view and edit alignment properties, 2) move or copy an alignment to another site, 3) zoom or pan to an alignment, 4) Delete the alignment object, and 5) export the alignment to LandXML
Alignment Labels
- How to create Perpendicular and Centered Major Station Alignment Label in Civil 3D 2007

How to Create Alignments

From existing Polyline Objects
- Can be created from polylines (Menu: Alignments -> Create from Polyline or from the Command Prompt: CreateAlignmentEntities)
- Step 1 - draw the polyline then convert to a Civil 3D Alignment Object using CreateAlignmentEntities command
- Step 2 - specify a Site Collection which will contain the Alignment
- Step 3 - specify alignment description, alignment style, object layer settings, alignment label style and any conversion settings.
- "When you create an alignment, you can control the direction of the alignment, regardless of the direction the polyline was actually drawn. If you create an alignment using the Create from Polyline command, the alignment direction starts from the nearest endpoint you click on the polyline. If you create an alignment using the Create from Layout command, the alignment direction is determined by the direction in which you draw the alignment. If you should need to change the direction of the alignment, you can use the Reverse Alignment Direction command." (Civil 3D Users Guide p. 1105) Command Line ReverseAlignDirection
From Alignment Layout Tools
- Used to both Create and Edit Alignments
- Step 1: Menu Toolbar: Alignments -> Create By Layout or from Command Line CreateAlignmentLayout
- Step 2: fill out the Create Alignment - Layout Dialog box
- Step 3: Then the Alignment Layout Tools toolbar is displayed. Select a command icon (e.g. Tan-Tan (no curves)) to begin the process of drawing the alignment. Note, the station labels begin at the first point used to create the alignment and increase incrementally to the end point of the alignment. So care must be taken when drawing the alignment.
  - The Tangent-Tangent method (Tan-Tan (no curves)) is similar to the AutoCAD LINE command. You select a series of end-to-end points to draw a fixed alignment. Also can use the Transparent Commands (e.g. 'PN) when prompted to specify direction, radius, length or station offsets to specify any points. (Civil 3D Users Guide p. 1015)
- Lack of Consistency when creating Civil 3D Objects in Prospector Toolspace
  - Right-click New can be done with
    - Grading Objects
    - Sites
    - Surface
    - Point Groups
    - Pipe Networks - Networks and Interference Checks
  - Right-click New cannot be done with
    - Alignments
    - Parcels
From Importing LandXML files
From Pipe Network Parts

Editing Alignments

Use the Alignment Layout Tools toolbar to create, delete and edit an alignment geometry
- Menu Toolbar, Alignments -> Edit Alignment Geometry...
- Command Line: EditAlignment
- Right-click an alignment in the drawing, Click Edit Alignment
When creating an Alignment, if you make a mistake, to Undo the point enter either type U on the keyboard or click the Undo button on the Alignment Layout Tools Toolbar
How do you move the starting point of the entire alignment to a stationing on another alignment?
1. Select the Alignment
2. use AutoCAD MOVE command
3. specify the base point has the starting point of the entire alignment
4. Use the Transparent Command 'SO Station Offset
5. Specify the stationing on the another alignment
6. Specify the offset as 0
7. Done. The alignment is now moved onto another alignment. This is helpful if you just need to alter the beginning point of an alignment

References

A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets 2004. American Association of State Highway and Transporation Officials. ISBN: 1-56051-263-6. See page 151 for Sharpest Curve without Superelevation - Speed of 30 mph and e = -2.0% then need a radius, R = 333 ft.

Civil 3D Points

Introduction to Points and Boundaries

Preliminary stages of the civil design process require
- Legal description of the site boundary - typically found on the Plat or Land Deeds/Title
- Any encumbrances on the land - for example access or drainage easements
- Point Data

How to create a plat from coordinate point data

Creating A Plat In Civil 3D by Ricky Rivera, Autodesk University Online, Civil Engineering and Geospatial Session CV22-2 (AU07-CV22-2-CreatingAPlatInCivil3D.pdf or Video ScreenCast)

Points

Point Groups
- Method to organized points
- Typically point groups are based on the point description
- Can create a surface based on a point group
- basically just a query or subset of the points database
- When a point group definition is created, Civil 3D populates the poing group with points as they are imported or created ( Civil 3D 2007 Curriculum see p. 2-7)
- Civil 3D automatically creates a default point group called _All Points
- New Point Groups will use the Description Keys to automatically populate the Raw Desc Matching tab. Note this tab label is just for Description Keys - cannot edit values in the Point Group, must use Settings Toolspace -> Point -> Description Keys to edit. Recommend using the Exclude or Include Tab instead.
- View in Civil 3D 2007 using the Toolspace, Prospector Tab
Description Keys

Used to assign a point style, layer and symbol to a Civil 3D point at IMPORT ONLY. Cannot use description keys to modify existing points.
Used to translate surveyor abbreviations (e.g. IP) to full descriptions (e.g. Iron Pipe)
Need to create a standard description list and ensure the surveyors follow these abbreviations
To create a new Description Key
- Step 1: Create a Blank Description Key Set by navigate to the Settings Toolspace -> Point -> Description Key Sets, then right click on Description Key Sets and choose New...
- Then provide a name for the description key, such as DEFAULT
- Step 2: Assign parameters to the Description Key Sets by editing it. Just right click on the Description Key in the Settings Toolspace and choose Edit Keys...
  - Within the Description Key Editor, enter a Code (e.g. IPP*) to assign a Point Style and Point Label Style
  - Code
  - Point Style
  - Point Label Style
  - Format
  - Layer
Clark County Area Uniform Standard Drawings - Abbreviations

Point File Formats

Text File
- Comma Delimited
- Space Delimited
Spreadsheet
LandXML

How to Import Points in Civil 3D 2007

Must use the Create Points toolbar
Option 1: Land Development Desktop
- Can import points from Land Development Desktop (LDD) project
- Can import points from a LandXML file
Option 2: Points Menu
- Menu: Points -> Create Points: Import Points
Option 3: Prospector ToolSpace
- Right click on Points -> Create Points
- Then click the Import Points Icon From create points toolbar
Option 4: Commandline CreatePoints

Create Points

Manual Option
- Use mouse to set the point (x,y values) then just type in the point name
- If using the Transparent Command 'NE to enter the point values from the keyboard, remember to enter Y (Northing) values first, then X (Easting) values
- Note - the newly created point is added to the Points collection and All Points - Point Groups. Export the Points collection to a Points text file if you want to keep it updated with the drawing.

Delete Points

Actually Delete the Point Group, not the Points in the Prospector Toolspace
Can use the AutoCAD ERASE command to delete points
Can select the point in the drawing area and hit the Delete key on the keyboard

Display Points

Point Style - controls the appearance of the point's symbol/marker
Point Label Style - controls the appearance of the point's label/text
Use Prospector Toolspace and the Point Group ALL to display all points
How do you control the appearance of a point in a drawing?
- Option 1: Point Style Display Settings (discouraged)
  - Controls whether the point symbol (marker) and/or point label (text) is drawn for any point that is displayed using the point style.
  - Display tab in the Point Style Properties dialog box, the Visible column controls the visibility of point symbols and point labels.
  - To edit the Point Style, right mouse click the Style name on the Settings Toolspace
  - Click Display tab on the Point Style Dialog Box, then turn on/off the Visible option of the Component display
- Option 2: Point Layer (suggested method)
  - If you turn off or freeze an individual point's layer or point group's layer, the individual point is not displayed
  - A point is not required to reference a layer
- Option 3: Point Group Layer
  - If you turn off or freeze a point group's layer, all the points in the point group are not displayer
  - If both the layers are on or thawed, the point displays
  - The point resides on the layer of the point group to which it belongs
View Points in 3D
- Need to change the point style to 3D
- Settings Toolspace -> Points -> Point Styles, right-click Edit. Display tab and under View Direction change 2D to 3D. Lastly turn on the Visible settings for the Marker and Label components.

Creating Blocks from COGO Points

Use to convert Civil 3D points to AutoCAD Blocks. Helpful if transferring dwg to someone who doesn't own Civil 3D.
Points menu -> Utilities -> Create Blocks From COGO Points
Need an AutoCAD block already created with block attribute definitions named - ELEV, POINT and DESC to transfer the Civil 3D fields into block attributes

How to Export Points in Civil 3D 2008

Step 1 - Export Points
- Option A - Command Line: ExportPoints
- Option B - Prospector Toolspace: right click on Points collection and choose Export...
- Option c - Points Menu -> Import/Export Points -> Export Points
Step 2 - specify a point file format. Can use the ones supplied with Civil 3D or create your own formats using the New Format button
Step 3 - specify a point file format. Can use the ones supplied with Civil 3D (e.g. PNEZD) or create your own formats.

Civil 3D Parcels

Parcels

Basically just closed polylines with a label at the center/centroid
Just a series of nodes (points), lines, and curves
Parcel topology is controlled through the use of Sites
Civil 3D Prospector Toolspace shows Parcels are contained in a Parcels Collection which in turn is contained in a Site Collection
One Parcel cannot be contained in multiple Site collections
Parcels can be either unattached or touching, but never overlap. The overlap region will just become another parcel (also known as a sliver polygon)
Alignments which crosses a parcel will cause the parcel to divide into two parcels.
If you require overlapping parcels, just separate the parcels in different sites. Multiple sites can overlay one another because their topologies are independent.
How do you delete Parcels?
- Option 1: select the parcel and type ERASE from the command line (or just hit delete key, not backspace on keyboard)
- Option 2: from the Menu toolbar: Parcels -> Edit, then click the Delete Sub-Entity icon
How do you merge Parcels?
- Option 1: from the Menu toolbar: Parcels -> Edit, to bring up the Parcel Layout Tools Dialog Box, then click the Delete Sub-Entity icon. Then click the parcel boundary to be erased. The parcels are then combined/merged.
How do you Preview a single Parcel in the Prospector Toolspace?
- Step 1: Toggle on the Item Preview (button in the Prospector Toolspace)
- Step 2: Must Toggle on the Show Preview option (Right-click the Parcels object in the Prospector Toolspace)
- Step 3: highlight/click an individual parcel record to view a thumbnail of it

Parcel Database Fields

Civil 3D Parcels have the following predefined fields for all parcels: Name, Number, Description, Area, Perimeter, Style, Area Label Style, Address, and Tax ID. Cannot edit the Name, Area and Perimeter fields.
Name Field
- By default, Parcel names are based on the parcel style name template. Can manually rename a parcel later.
- Is the concatenation of two fields: Style and Number. For example is the Style name for the Parcel is Property and the Number is 100 then the Name field is PROPERTY: 100. Field is grayed out, which means the value cannot be edited in the Prospector Toolspace Panorama Window/View/Vista.
Number Field
- Parcels are numbered automatically when you create them. Can manually renumber the parcels later.
- Defined on the Prospector Toolspace, under the Sites Collection, Right-click on a Site name and select Properties...
  - On the Site Properties dialog box, click the Numbering tab to change the default start value when creating parcels.
Description Field
- Must edit Description field in each individual parcel to assign a value. Edit using the Prospector Toolspace Panorama Window/View/Vista.
Area Field
- based on the geometry of the object in the display area. Field is grayed out, which means the value cannot be edited in the Prospector Toolspace Panorama View/Window/Vista. Change in the parcel geometry will automatically update the Area field.
Perimeter Field
- Field is grayed out, which means the value cannot be edited in the Prospector Toolspace Panorama Window/View/Vista.
Style Field
- name which contains the Parcel Style. Can edit this field to assign a different Parcel Style. The Parcels object must be selected in the Prospector Toolspace to be able to view the Panorama Window/View/Vista. Can only edit one record at a time.
Area Label Style Field
- Field name which contains the Parcel Style. Can edit this field to assign a different Parcel Style. The Parcels object must be selected in the Prospector Toolspace to be able to view the Panorama Window/View/Vista. Can only edit one record at a time.
Address Field
- string field. Can edit this field to assign a different address or string of text. The Parcels object must be selected in the Prospector Toolspace to be able to view the Panorama Window/View/Vista. Can only edit one record at a time.
Tax ID Field
- - numeric field. Can edit this field to assign a different number. The Parcels object must be selected in the Prospector Toolspace to be able to view the Panorama Window/View/Vista. Can only edit one record at a time.
User-Defined Property Fields
- Civil 3D bug new Parcel field doesn't appear in the Panorama Window, so unable to edit values. Note, work around is to open and close the drawing, this can be done easily in the Prospector Toolspace by using the Switch to option by right clicking a drawing in the Prospector Toolspace Master View and switch back and forth between a drawing. This should in essense refresh the database fields and then be able to see any User-Defined Property Fields.
- How do I create a User-Defined property for the Parcel Database? First need to define a Property Classification Collection. Second, within that Property Classification folder, right-click and select New.
  - On the Settings Toolspace, expand the Parcel Tree and right-click on the User-Defined Property Classifications collection.
  - After defining the Property Classification Collection, right-click on a User-defined Property Classification and select New. Fill out the New User-Defined Property dialog box.
- Property Field Types
  - Angle, Area, Azimuth, Boolean, Coordinate, Dimension, Direction, Distance, Double, Elevation, Enumeration, Grade/Slope, Integer, Latitude, Longitude, Percent, Station, String, or Volume

How do you Create Parcels?

Create from existing Polylines
Manually Create the Parcel
- using the Parcel Layout Tools toolbar
Automatically Created
- Right-of-Way (ROW) parcels are automatically generated along Civil 3D Alignments. Note two ROW parcels will be created, one on each side of the alignment (these can be combined using the Parcel Union tool).
  - Must have a parcel and alignment defined
  - Menu Toolbar select Parcels -> Create ROW
  - Command Line: CreateParcelROW
    - Create Right of Way Dialog Box
    - Note: to select a parcel select the parcel label, not the parcel boundary
- Semi-Automatically divide an existing Parcel based on desired acreage and minimum frontage.
Import
- Land Desktop Data
- LandXML data

Creating Parcels From Objects

Objects which can be used to convert parcels include: polygons, closed polylines, and other closed sequences of lines or arcs, revcloud. The following objects cannot be converted to parcels: circle, ellipse, donut(?), boundary(?)
Menu toolbar: Parcels -> Create From Objects
Command Line: CreateParcelFromObjects
Two Parcels, One Lot Line - Parcels with Common Boundary Edges should only be defined with one line, not two overlaping lines.

Creating Parcels by Layout

A series of tools used to Size the Parcel based on the parameters of parcel area and parcel frontage.
Slide Angle - Create
- Angle at Frontage - is defined as 0 degrees toward the endpoint, 90 degrees perpendicular to the frontage, and 180 degrees toward the start point.
Automatic Layout
- Automatic Mode:
- Civil 3D will create automatically create the parcels based on the given constraints (e.g. area and/or frontage) by adjusting the angle at frontage
- Define the parcel frontage by selecting one end of the frontage parcel, tracing along the frontage with the mouse so a thick white line (a.k.a. Jiggy) appears where you dragged the mouse, finally select the other endpoint of the frontage parcel.
- Remainder Distribution:
  - Place remainder in last parcel:
  - Create parcel from remainder:
  - Redistribute remainder:

Parcel Area Labels - Create a New Style

Label which is applied to the center a parcel object
To Create a New Area Label Style
- Settings Toolspace, expand the Parcel collection, expand Label Styles, expand the Area label styles. It is easiest to copy an existing style and then modify it.
- Label Style Composer Dialog Box, Layout tab has the Text Component Editor which allows one to create and edit label components (example label components include Text, block, line, tick, and direction arrow)

Parcel Area Labels - Change the style

Following will show how to change the parcel area label style for an object
- Step 1: Select the Parcel Area Label object so you can see the grip. Then right click on the object and select Parcel Properties... from the context menu
- - Do not select the parcel boundary to see the grips, the Parcel Properties... isn't available on the right-click menu because the Parcel isn't selected (see from image below, the Parcel Area Label isn't select even though the parcel boundary is selected and the grips are showing)
  - Also, if the Parcel Area Label Style is turned off, that is set to NONE, will not be able to select the Parcel Civil 3D object from the drawing/display/model space window. Will need to use the Prospector Toolspace instead.
- Step 2: From the Parcel Properties Dialog Box, Composition tab, select a different parcel area label style

Parcel Tables

Tabular Text Display used to consolidate information about the parcel area and the parcel segments
Cross-referenced by small labels known as tags
References: Civil 3D 2007 Users Guide p. 1027

Parcel Segment Labels

Parcel Setback Lines/Buildable Area

No fancy command exists to buffer the inside of a parcel with the setback distances, for example 20 foot building setback in the front yard from the right of way, a 5 foot building setback along the side yards, and lastly a 40 foot building setback for the backyard. As of Civil 3D 2007, this must be done manually.
Must use AutoCAD OFFSET command along with TRIM to create the Buildable Area polygon
If you need the area of the Buildable Area, recommend defining as a Parcel but in a different Site Collection.

Sites

Has an associated site parcel boundary which is similar to a universal polygon in ArcInfo. It is the outermost extent of a site, containing all alignments, gradings, and parcels.
Site objects consist of Parcels, horizontal alignments and grading objects.
Objects in a site share common topology and have a dynamic relationship with each other.
If you create Parcel/Horizontal Alignment/Grading Object before explicitly creating a site, Civil 3D will automatically create a site with the name "Site 1".
Access all site-related functionality by right-clicking the Sites collection and the named site topology collection in the Prospector tree.
Sites can only be deleted after all objects have been deleted from the site
How do you define a Site?
- In Toolspace, on the Prospector tab, right-click the Sites collection and click New (command line CreateSite)

Parcel 3D Object - Parcel, Label and Table Styles and Commands

Styles control the appearance of the object. A dynamic link exists between the style and the object, a change in the object will also update the display of that object. Updating the object's style results in automatic changes to the appearance of the object in AutoCAD.
All Style settings are controlled by the Settings Toolspace
Parcel Style
- Controls how the parcel appears, what it displays and on which layers
Label Style
- Two different types of labels - parcel labels and segment labels
- Controls what annotation appears
Table Style
- Controls how tables involving the parcel object appears and which layers
Commands
- Preestablished settings for the details of building annotation and tables, such as units and precisions.
- Set default styles when creating Parcel objects
How do you define a Parcel Style?
- In Toolspace, on the Settings tab, right-click the Parcel Styles under the Parcel collection and click New
- - Parcel Style - Information tab
  - Parcel Style - Design tab
    - Toggle on Observe fill distance to set the width of the fill applied along the interior of the parcel perimeter.
    - The Fill distance is used to add some aesthetics of parcel drafting. For example to place a hatch pattern around the edge of the parcels. If the Fill distance = 3 ft, then the hatching pattern will extend only 3 ft within the parcel interior.
  - Parcel Style - Display tab
    - To change the color from BYLAYER to an object color, just select the color field under the component layer, then the Select Color dialog box appears.
  - Parcel Style - Summary tab
    - Provides a single location to review and set all of the settings at once. This is a great destination for experts. [Ward 06 p. 177]
How do you define Label Styles for Area/Line/Curve?
- Area Label style - is the annotation applied to the center of the parcel after the parcel is created.
- Label Styles control what annotation appears and how it looks for the components of the parcel; in other words, the area and the rectilinear and curvilinear linework. [Ward 06 p. 175]
- In Toolspace, on the Settings tab, expand Parcel - Label Styles - Area tree. Right-click on Area and click New...

Civil 3D Parcels - Reference Materials

Autodesk University 2006, CV21-2 Subdivide and Conquer: Tips and Tricks for Working with Parcels in Civil 3D 2007, handout PDF
Autodesk University 2006, CV12-3 Controlling Civil 3D Labels, handout PDF

Clark County Area Uniform Standard Drawings (CCAUSD) Right of Way

CCAUSD 201 - Minimum Back of Curb Radius
CCAUSD 202 - Street Sections to provide sidewalk widths
CCAUSD 207 - Private Street - 48 ft ROW
CCAUSD 216 - L-curb to provide sidewalk widths
CCAUSD 211.1 - Knuckle - Type 1

Civil 3D Grading

Grading Objects

The Grading Design is represented by Grading objects
Grading Objects normally consist of the footprint, daylight line, the projection lines, and the face.
Configure Settings - Grading Site
- Gradings are created within a Site collection on the Prospector Toolspace
Configure Settings - Grading Group
Establish Criteria - Grading Footprints
- Grading objects are projected toward their target from a selected footprint. These footprints can be feature lines or parcel lot lines or open/closed figures.
Establish Criteria - Grading Targets
- Grading objects require a target (i.e. surface, distance, elevation or relative elevation)

Grading Labels

Feature Line Labels do not have there own style, need to use the General collection in the Settings Toolspace

Surfaces created from Feature Lines or 3D Point Data

3D Point Data (a.k.a. 3D spot shots)
- Typically used to create Existing Ground (EG) surfaces in combination with Breaklines (type of Feature Line)
- To create Future/Finished Grade (FG) surface, point data is limited because it does not effectively define the terrain breaks.
- Used as Thinking Points when establishing the TIN. "Thinking points are set to locate critical locations in 3D. If you are wondering whether you can establish a drain inlet 200 feet away if you slope the ground at a -2% grade, you may set a thinking point at that location using those exact criteria. Once you see the elevation of the point, you can decide whether to use those criteria. If you do use them, you then have a 3D location from which you can traverse to other locations on the site. If you decide not to use them, you can easily erase them and try an alternative criteria set." [Ward 06, p. 288]
Feature Lines - Breaklines
- Any object from which you may want to grade from/to.
- A feature line is a special kind of object that the grading commands can recognize and use as a base line or target.
- Represent the 3D aspects of the proposed site design
- Usually, feature lines have multiple vertices that mark important "grade breaks" in the drawing, such as a ridgeline, building grading footprint, or flowline at the bottom of a ditch/swale.
- Feature Line Examples
  - Right of way lines and elevations
  - Grading for lot fronts, sides and backs
  - Drainage swales
  - Break line elements in a subdivision grading design
  - Grading targets, which are also known as daylight lines, are also represented as feature lines.

Grading - Feature Lines

Base objects for grading design are feature lines
Feature lines are Autodesk Civil 3D objects used to represent 3D design locations
Feature Lines Toolbar - contains tools used to work with feature line objects
- Toolbar is available from Grading Menu -> Edit Feature Lines
- Right-click on blank area of any toolbar, select Civil -> Feature Lines to toggle on/off the toolbar

Grading Creation Tools

Grading Groups - used to organize grading into named collections for surface creation and volume computations
- Command Line: CreateGradingGroup
- Prospector Tab: Right-click Grading Groups collection and select New
- Create Grading Group Dialog Box

Edit Feature Lines Tools

Quickly Editing Feature Line Elevations
- From Menu: Grading -> Edit Feature Lines -> Quick Elevation Edit (Command Line: QuickEditFeatureElevs)
- Triangles are displayed when you hover the mouse over vertex or intersection point geometry. Elevation is displayed in the tooltip.
- Circles are displayed when you hover the mouse over an elevation point geometry. Elevation is displayed in the tooltip.
- Arrows are displayed when you hover the mouse over a segment geometry. The grade is displayed in a tooltip.
- To edit - click the geometry with the mouse and enter the new elevation or grade at the command line.
- Reference: Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 Users Guide p. 879

Grading Elevation Editor in the Panorama Toolspace

Graphically select the feature line or parcel, using the right click menu, select Elevation Editor...

Creating Feature Lines from Objects or Drawing

From the Grading Menu, click Create Feature Lines From Objects (command line: createfeaturelines)
Create fom polylines, lines, or arcs
Feature line retains the elevations of the objects from which it was made
Cannot create a feature line from a Parcel Segment

How to Assign Elevations from a Surface to a Feature Line/Parcel Line/Survey Figure/3D Polylines

Using the Feature Lines toolbar (right-click an existing Civil toolbar and select Feature Lines to open the toolbar), click the Elevations from Surface icon
- Command Line: FeatureElevsFromSurf
- Menu Toolbar: Grading -> Edit Feature Lines -> Elevations From Surface
- Feature Lines Toolbar:
Click the Elevations From Surface icon to create a feature-line elevations from a surface

Creating a Surface from a Grading Group

Benefits: a dynamically link is created between the grading group and the surface, changes to the grading automatically update the surface.
Bring up the Grading Group Properties Dialog Box by right-clicking the grading group name in the Prospector Toolspace (command line: GradingGroupProps). To create the surface, specify the Automatic Surface Creation checkbox setting when you create the grading group. This will bring up the Create Surface dialog box.

Add Parcel Segment Data as Breaklines to Existing Surface

Civil 3D Volumes

Cut-and-Fill Analysis

Cut is a negative value, that is removing material from the site. Also known as Net Loss, Loss, Excavation
Fill is a positive value, that is bringing/adding material to the site. Also known as Net Gain, Gain, and Embankment.
Must account for losses (i.e. Shrinkage, swell, loss during transport, and subsidence). Typically the soils report will provide these values. Rule of thumb is 15% loss. Lindeburg recommends 5-15% (Civil Engineering Reference Manual for the PE Exam, 8th Edition).
Note, when purchasing Fill material, the dirt is loaded into the dump truck, but not compacted. So when it is delivered and compacted onsite, will notice the shrinkage. For example, a 10 cubic yard dump truck delivered material to the site. Once the material was compacted on site, the volume shrunk to 8.5 cubic yards. The missing 1.5 cubic yards (shrinkage) was just air voids in the material. This is a major reason why earth material is sold by weight instead of volume.
Cut + (1.15 x Fill) = 0 then the site is balanced between the existing/natural grade and the final/proposed/developed grad.
Economic Fudge Factor, better to have extra cut material which can be sold to another site as fill.
Long Haul Calculations, typically required for distances greater than 2000 feet.
Civil 3D definitions
- base surface is the existing topo
- comparison surface is the finish grade topo

How to Calculate Volumes between Two Surfaces

From the Menu Toolbar, select Surfaces -> Utilities -> Volumes... (from Command Line: ReportSurfaceVolume)

Civil 3D Profiles

"A profile is nothing more than a series of data pairs in a station, elevation format." [Probert 07, p. 263]
Creating a Profile - 3 Options or Ways
Profile and Profile View Grid

Profile View Grid

Grid that the profiles are drawn on. Y-axis represents elevation and the X-axis represents the stationing, or distance along the horizontal alignment.
Used to display one or more profiles for a horizontal alignment
Used to display data bands (stations, elevations, or horizontal geometry)
Can superimpose profile of one alignment (such as a road) with another alignment (such as a culvert). Thus analyze the culvert elevations in relation to the same alignment stations used for the road surfaces
Profile object is the child of a horizontal alignment.
To create a Profile View Grid
- Select Profile -> Create View... from the toolbar menu. Unforunately, cannot just right-click on the Profile Views collection in the Prospector Toolspace and choose New, which is the typical method to create Civil 3D Objects.
- Create Profile View dialog box will appear
To edit Profile View Properties: Right-click on name of Profile View in the Prospector Toolspace and select Properties...
- Data Bands - annotate the profiles along the X-axis with stationing, elevation, horizontal geometry, and other data that assists engineering analysis
Profile View Style - control the display and spacing of the profile grid, profile title and horizontal and vertical axis annotaiton for stations and elevations.
Profile View Label Styles - control the display of text and annotation on the profile view
As Profile Views are created, they are displayed as objects under the Profile Views collection.
Right-click a profile view's name to:
- Review or change properties of the profile view
- Delete the profile view
- Zoom to the profile view
- Pan to the profile view
- Refresh the display of the profile view in the Prospector Toolspace

Profile objects

Used to visually show surface elevations (i.e. terrain) along a horizontal alignment (i.e. proposed road)
Surface Profile - Existing ground (EG) profile - is extracted from a surface.
Layout Profile - designed object that shows he proposed elevation changes to be constructed. The layout profile is often called a design profile or finished grade (FG) profile
Superimposed Profile - profile of an alignment superimposed onto profile views of different alignments.
Corridor Profile - created from a corridor feature line, such as an edge of pavement.

Surface Profile (Option 1 of 3)

To create, select Profile -> Create from Surface... from the Menu toolbar
- Create Profile from Surface dialog box
  - Draw In Profile View - click button if you want to draw the profile in a profile view
  - OK - click button to save the profile. If the alignment has one or more profile views associated with it, the profiles you crated are added to the views.

Creating Layout Profiles (Proposed Vertical Alignment)- Option 2 of 3

Typically draw a layout profile by hand, enter points of vertical intersection (PVI), or draw only the tangents and their PVIs on the grid of a profile view. Add vertical curves later.
Option A: CREATEPROFILELAYOUT from the Command line
Option B: Select Profiles -> Create Profile by Layout... from the Menu toolbar
Step 2: select the Profile View
Step 3: select the Draw Tangents without Curves tool from the Profile Layout Toolbar
Step 4: draw the proposed profile (e.g. street) on the Profile View

Create Profile from File (Option 3 of 3)

Command Line: CreateProfileFromFile
Menu Toolbar: Profiles -> Create Profile From File...
Problem - all profiles needs to have an Alignment as a parent. When creating a profile from a file, get the option to select an alignment, but any changes to this alignment doesn't update the profile information.
Profile From File is a space delimited text file with the following fields
- Station
- Elevation
- Curve length (optional)
Notes
- space delimited file, not comma or tab delimited
- First and last lines must not contain curve information
- First line must provide the station and elevation for the first station
- Stations must be in ascending order
- No leading blank lines or headers
- No blank lines; a blank line is read as the end of the file
- No blank spaces at the beginning of any line
- The last item must be the elevation for the last station

Create a Profile in Civil 3D 2008

Step 1: Create the Profile Grid
Option A: CREATEPROFILEVIEW from the Command Prompt
Option B: Profiles -> Create Profile view... from the Menu toolbar
Step 2: Create a profile from the surface and add it to the Profile Grid
Option A: CREATEPROFILEFROMSURFACE from the Command Prompt
Option B: Profiles -> Create Profile from Surface...

Edit a Profile

Necessary to add vertical curves, add/delete PVI
Step 1 - open the Profile Layout Tools toolbar (if not already open)
Option A: Profiles -> Edit Profile Geometry... from the Menu toolbar
Option B: EDITPROFILELAYOUT from the Command prompt
Option C: select the profile so the grips are showing then right click and choose Edit Profile Geometry...
Step 2 - to add a PVI, click the Insert PVI tool, then click where you want the PVI on the Profile View. Any existing tangents in that location is broken to create two tangents that meet at the new PVI
Step 3 - to delete a PVI, click the Delete PVI tool, then click near a PVI on the Profile View to remove the PVI which is then replaced by a single tangent
Step 4 Option A - to edit the location of a PVI (if PVI Based is selected on the Profiles Layout Toolbar) , either select the profile and move the grips or turn on the Profile Grid View to edit the PVIs in a tabular format (Panaorama Vista)
Step 4 Option B - to edit the PVIs in a tabular format using the Profile Layout Parameters Dialog Box. Note, to populate the dialog box with PVIs to edit, must select a PVI from the Profile Grid View

Add a Vertical Curve to a Profile

Free Vertical Parabolic (PVI Based) - prompts you to add a curve to a PVI by specifying a curve length, pass-through point, or K value

AASHTO Vertical Curves

Crest Vertical Curves
- Crest curve lengths, L are generally determined based on stopping sight distance, S [Lindeburg 01, p. 79-12]
- "...minimum crest curve lengths of 100 to 300 ft prescribed by most states. [Lindeburg 01, p. 79-14]
- "To recognize the distinction in design speed and to approximate the range of current practice, minimum lengths of vertical curves are...about three times the design speed in mph, Lmin = 3V where velocity, V is in miles per hour (mph) and L is in feet." (AASHTO-Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, 5th Ed, p. 269 and 276)
- "Curve lengths calculated...for S > L often do not represent desirable design practice and are replaced by estimated values of three times the design speed." [Lindeburg 01, p. 79-14] S is the Stopping Sight Distance and L is the Curve Length. In Design, S should always be less than L.
Sag Vertical Curves
- Sag curve lengths, L are generally determined by headlight sight distance and rider comfort. [Lindeburg 01, p. 79-12]
Additional references
- [Lindeburg 01] Civil Engineering Reference Manual for the PE Exam, 8th Edition, by Michael R. Lindeburg, PE. Chapter 79 - Horizontal, Compound, Vertical, and Spiral Curves
- AASHTO Design Guide - Sag and Crest Vertical Curves

Example Plan and Profiles (Offsite Improvement Plans) by local Civil Engineering Firms

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Taney Engineering: Permit# 06-10291.pdf, Permit# 06-14746.pdf, Permit# 06-27432.pdf, Permit# 06-31842.pdf and Permit# 06-8229.pdf
Thomson Civl Engineering: Permit# 06-18974.pdf, Permit# 06-35529.pdf, Permit# 06-5910.pdf and Permit# 06-7796.pdf
Tetra Tech: Permit# 05-307.pdf, Permit# 05-308.pdf and Permit# 05-310.pdf
TRC: Permit# 07-38406.pdf
Triton: Permit# 06-43485.pdf and Permit# 06-9681.pdf
VTN: Permit# 06-10814.pdf, Permit# 06-1132.pdf, Permit# 06-13529.pdf, Permit# 06-13784.pdf, Permit# 06-16211.pdf, Permit# 06-23374.pdf, Permit# 06-30978.pdf, Permit# 06-47271.pdf, Permit# 06-7432.pdf and Permit# 06-7564.pdf
Walker Engineering: Permit# 06-14432.pdf, Permit# 06-17129.pdf, Permit# 06-29194.pdf, Permit# 06-40674.pdf and Permit# 06-43348.pdf
Wood Rodgers: Permit# .pdf
WRG: Permit# 06-15331.pdf, Permit# 06-21126.pdf, Permit# 06-22555.pdf, Permit# 06-32499.pdf, Permit# 06-7100.pdf and Permit# 06-9047.pdf
Wright Engineers: Permit# 06-28766.pdf, Permit# 06-41887.pdf and Permit# 06-6356.pdf
Zone Engineering: Permit# 06-27532.pdf, Permit# 06-42051.pdf and Permit# 07-36128.pdf

Civil 3D Corridor Modeling

Corridor Overview

The Corridor dynamically links the Surface, Alignment, Profile and Assembly together to model your design (Digging Into Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 by Rick Ellis, p. 301)

Assemblies

Represent a typical section for the Corridor Model
Assemblies are constructed from subassemblies
Modify assemblies in the Prospector Toolspace under the Assemblies tree
Commonly used assemblies can be WBLOCKed out of the drawing to be inserted into other drawings or blocked and added to a tool palette (don't do this from a working drawing) (see Autodesk University 2006 - Essentials of Road Design with Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 (CV41-2) by Jody Reynolds, p. 16)
To bring up the Subassembly tool palette window, use the General Menu and select Tool Palettes Window

Corridor Modeling Catalogs

Catalogs represent libraries of subassemblies which are used to create finished design assembly
Menu Toolbar: Corridors -> Subassembly Catalog

Create a Corridor

If corridors based on a single alignment and profile, recommend using Create Simple Corridor
"Before you can create a corridor, you must create the underlying data, such as surfaces, alignments, profiles, subassemblies, and assemblies." (see civil_ug.pdf p. 1424)
Step 0: Menu Toolbar: Corridors -> Create Simple Corridor... (from Command Line: CreateSimpleCorridor
Step 1: Provide a name for the Corridor (will be displayed in the Prospector Toolspace under the Corridors collection)
Step 2: Select an horizontal alignment in the drawing or press Enter to select alignment(s) from a dialog box
Step 3: Select a vertical profile in the drawing or press Enter to select profile(s) from a dialog box
Step 4: Select an assembly (typical section of a corridor) in the drawing or press Enter to select an assembly from a dialog box
Step 5: Select a surface

Edit a Corridor Cross Section

Step 1: Menu Toolbar: Corridors -> View/Edit Corridor Section
Step 2: use the Edit corridor Dialog Box
Step 3: After making the changes, click the Apply to Station Range on the View/Edit Corridor Section Tools toolbar to show the Apply to a Range of Stations dialog.

What to do with a corridor

Extract a surface from the corridor model
Extract feature lines (e.g. polylines, alignments, profiles,and grading feature lines)
Extract volume (quantity takeoff) data

Autodesk Civil 3D Cross Sections

Used to quantities
Requires an Alignment and Surface to exist

Section View

Sample Lines

Sample Line Groups - consists of sample lines and labels
To Create Sample Line Groups
- Section Menu -> Create Sample Lines
- Need to select an alignment
- Create Sample Line Group dialog box
- Sample Line Tools toolbar

Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 Survey

Survey Database

Use the Survey Toolspace to create local survey databases (stored under C:\Civil 3D Projects\)
Stores angle values in Radians, distance values in Meters
Survey data is transformed according to the database units for the purposes of display and input
Autodesk Civil 3D drawing units can be independent of the survey database units
Drawing objects can be imported from the survey database. If Autodesk Civil 3D drawing units and coordinate zone differ, the objects are transformed.
Can create Civil 3D points from the survey database
Can define surface breaklines from survey figures
Cannot Rename or Delete a Survey database from the Civil 3D toolspace
- Must browse to the folder where the survey database exists and edit or delete it there. The intention was to make it difficult so the unseasoned user wouldn't delete a survey database by mistake. ( Brian Kling with Autodesk)

Survey Toolspace

Another tab on the Toolspace (Prospector Tab, Settings Tab, Toolbox, Raster Design, and Survey Tab)
How do you display the Survey Tab on the Toolspace?
- To open, From Menu Toolbar: Survey -> Open Survey Toolspace (from command line OST)
- To close, From Menu Toolbar: Survey -> Close Survey Toolspace (from command line CST)
Survey Tree - provides access to survey data and settings
- Survey Databases Collection
  - How To Create a Survey Database
    - Step 1: right mouse click on the Survey Databases collection to bring up the context menu, select "New local survey database..."
      - Provide a name for the Survey Network. Note, its unclear how to delete or remove a Survey Network from Civil 3D Toolspace.
    - Step 2:
  - Networks - collection of control points, non-control points, known directions, observations, setups and traverse definitions
    - How to Create a Survey Network
      - Step 0: Must have already created a Survey Database
      - Step 1: From the Survey Toolspace, right click on the Networks collection and choose New...
    - Series of interconnected lines which represent observed instrument setups or sessions
    - Must create a survey network before importing field book files or create survey data
    - After importing or creating data in a survey network, can then insert into Civil 3D drawing as a network object
    - Network object is a read-only object which cannot be edited in the drawing. Must be edited in the Survey Database.
  - Figures - represent the base plan line work
    - Figure object can be edited in the drawing (depending on how the figure is defined)
  - Survey Points - points created in the survey database
- Equipment Databases
  - Equipment definitions which specify the values associated with specific survey equipment
  - Example - standard deviation associated with the equipment's measuring capabilities
  - Used for traverse adjustments
- Figure Prefix Databases
  - Contains information to determine the layer which a figure is drawn on, how the figure is stylized, and whether figures are created as breaklines and lot lines.
- Survey User Settings - specific to a Windows user login account and affect only the survey features, not project or drawing data

Survey Styles and Display

Control the way survey features are displayed in a drawing
Manage/Create/Edit/Copy/Delete Survey Styles using the Settings tab in Toolspace
Network Styles - display control for network components, control points, sideshot lines, direction lines, and error ellipses
Figure Styles - display control for figure components, lines, markers, and 3D display

Field Book Files

Field Book files (.fbk) contain observed point data and figure definitions
How to import a Field Book File (.fbk)
- Step 0: create a Survey Database and Survey Network
- Step 1: From the Survey Toolspace, expand the Networks collection and right-click on the desired Network and click Import Field Book.
  - Navigate to an existing Field Book (.fbk) to import
Use a text editor such as NotePad to edit the ASCII Field Book File (.fbk)

Additional Reference Materials

The Civil Side: Lost Survey Commands - April 2007

AutoCAD Map 3D 2007

AutoCAD Map Limitations

Doesn't support ESRI Geodatabases (.mdb)
Cannot read projection info from ESRI Shapefiles, must manually define the projection parameters when importing or attaching to
How do you label Geospatial Features? TS1056097

Drawing Objects vs Geospatial Features (a.k.a. Feature Data, Geospatial Data)

Drawing Objects
- AutoCAD objects stored within a map or retrieved from attached drawings using queries. Save changes to drawing objects in the current map or back to the attached source drawing depending on the source of each object (see AutoCAD Map 2007 user's Guide p. 436)
- CAD objects, that is any AutoCAD object in a DWG file, such as a line, circle or closed polyline
- Can create and store objects in the current map
- Can attach a DWG file to the current map and query in objects from that file
- Old school
Feature Data
- GIS objects sotored in external files and databases. Display and edit them in your map and then save the changes back to the original source (see AutoCAD Map 2007 user's Guide p. 436)
- Feature is a spatial description of real-world entity such as a road or utility pole
- Features are stored in spatial database such as Shapefiles (.shp)
- GIS objects stored in external files and databases
- Display and edit them in the map, save changes back to the original source
- To edit Oracle and ArcSDE features you must check them out (see AutoCAD Map 2007 user's Guide p. 442). I don't think this applies to Shapefiles.
  - Command Line: MAPCHECKOUT
- Spatial database is referred as a feature source
- New School method to view GIS data
- To Access Spatial Data (example using a Shapefile)
  - Define the coordinate system
    - Option 1 - Menu Toolbar: Map -> Tools -gt; Assign Global Coordinate System...
    - Option 2 - Command Line: ADESETCRDSYS
  - Task Pane: Display Manager (command line MAPWSPACE and change Task to Display Manager)
  - Click Data -> Add Data (command line MAPCONNECT)
  - Data Connect window, select a feature source. Enter name for connection (e.g. SHP_1), navigate to the source file or folder of the Shapefile, then click Connect
  - Still with the Data Connect Window open, Under Schema, in Add Data To Map section, check the checkbox for the feature classes to include in the map. Specify a coordinate system for incoming data. Then click the Add To Map button.
  - The Feature Source Query window opens. Can define conditions to retrieve/find features from the feature source. Just use the default and click OK (can always edit the query defintion layer in the Task Pane, Task Display Manager, then right click on the feature to bring up the context menu, select Edit Query...)
  - The features should now be displayed in the drawing area
  - close the Data Connect Window
  - More info see Map Users Guide p. 224
- To work with features, connect to the database or file and then select the types of features to include in the drawing.
- Each type of feature is called a feature class
- Use the Style Editor Window to alter the display of Features
FDO connection to ArcSDE
- Need to copy the 3 dlls (pe91.dll, sde91.dll and sg91.dll) from ArcSDE into the FDO location
- Add Database Connection to SDE. Database Connections -> Add Spatial Database Connection. Server: ccgis2, Service: port:5151, Database: gismo, User Name: public1, password: public1. These steps should only have to been for the initial setup.

Task Pane

Provides centralized access to the tasks and tools needed to create, manage, display, and publish maps
MAPWSPACE - command to hide or show the Task Pane (View -> Task Pane)
Task: Map Explorer
Task: Display Manager
Task: Map Book

GIS Shapefiles

Import Shapefiles from Menu toolbar: Map -> Tools -> Import.. (command line MAPIMPORT)

Importing ESRI ArcInfo Export (E00) files

Think of an .e00 file as a zipped ArcInfo Coverage. Remember a coverage is a directory of files.

Coordinate System

How to import Street Centerline shapefile

Download Street Centerline shapefiles from GISMO website (download from UNLV crscl-shp.zip)
Assign a global coordinate system to the Current Drawing
- Necessary to take advantage of the AutoCAD Map coordinate transformation capabilities when importing.
- Menu Toolbar: Map -> Tools -> Assign Global Coordinate System... (commandline ADESETCRDSYS)
- Task Pane: Map Explorer, right-click Current Drawing -> Coordinate System
Assign a global coordinate system to the Source (Attached) Drawing
- Problem - AutoCAD 3D doesn't read the projection info of the shapefile (.prj). Must enter these attributes manually.
Import Shapefile
- entities in the shapefile are converted to drawing objects
Attach drawings as source drawings - no objects are transferred to the current drawing. Use Quick View to show objects in the source drawing. (see Map Users Guide p. 54)
Query in features
- To copy objects you want from the soruce drawing into the current drawing, need to run a query
- I 15 (STRNAME = 15)
- US 95 (STRNAME = 95)

Images

AutoCAD IMAGE command (IMAGE)
- Does not recognize the world file (.tfw) associated with aerial photos.
AutoCAD External Reference command (XREF)
- Use to Attach/Import (not embed) DWG, Image, and DWF files
- To Embed an image such as a company logo, into the title block of a drawing template (.dwt), use PASTESPEC or INSERTOBJ
- Use Detach to completely remove the image reference from the .dwg. Note, ERASE the image only removes the image from the drawing area, the reference still exists
- According to Raster files in drawings Autodesk Knowledge Base, cannot store Raster files such as JPEG or TIFF inside an AutoCAD drawing.
Map Image Insert command (MAPIINSERT)
- Cannot embed an aerial photo (that is, TIFF with World File, .tfw) into AutoCAD. When inserting an image, will get prompted to specify origin, the world file is not read. The MAPIINSERT command will read the world file (.tfw) but does not provide the option to embed the image.

Correlating a Raster Image During Insertion

If modify the correlation settings, these are saved with the .dwg, not the image file (.tif) or the correlation source file
Insertion Point is the lower left corner of the image, the lower left corner of the pixel.
Image Correlation dialog box is part of the MAPIINSERT command and the Modify Correlation checkbox is checked.

GeoTIFF images

A normal TIFF images with embedded TIFF tags which provide the projection parameters
Benefits - just need one file, no longer require to use a world file (.tfw). Simply load the image in ArcMap or AutoCAD Map and the software will automatically read the projection strings, scale, control points and cartographic definitions, thus placing the image in the correct location (i.e. georeferenced image).
How do I convert a TIFF image world file (.tfw) to a GeoTIFF? (see GeoTIFF FAQ)
Projection Info
- OGP absorb the defunct European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG). The EPSG Geodetic Parameter Dataset provides a uniform coordinate reference system definition database for the entire world. EPSG Code 2820 = NAD83(HARN) / Nevada East
- LandXML.org uses the EPSG projection definitions for its CoordinateSystem tags
- Problem - EPSG Code 2820 is based on Units of Meters, but the GIS data for Clark County Nevada is based on Units of US Feet.
AutoCAD Map Projections, stored C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\GIS\CoordSys\11e\mapping.txt
Example record: "Nevada 2701, Eastern Zone (1983, US Survey feet)" = "NV83-EF"
Example record: "NAD_1983_StatePlane_Nevada_East_FIPS_2701_Feet" = "NV83-EF"
These codes do not correspond to the EPSG code.
Projections in a Nutshell
- ESRI uses its own projection standard
- LandXML uses the EPSG Geodetic Parameter dataset
- Oracle Spatial Data Cartridge uses its own projection standard
- AutoCAD Map uses its own projection standard
  - Code: NVHP-EF, Units: Foot, Description: HARN (HPGN) Nevada State Planes, East Zone, US Foot
  - Projection: Transverse Mercator, False Origin Northing: 26246666.5570 Easting: 656166.6670
  - Projection Parameters Origin latitude: 34d45'0.000000", Scale reduction: 0.9999, Central meridian: -115d35'0.000000"
ESRI ArcGIS - How it uses GeoTIFF
- ArcCatalog can edit GeoTIFF metadata. Writes the spatial reference/projection info in two locations; the .aux file and the TIFF tags within the .tif header file.
- .aux stores all the statistics for the raster and the spatial reference info
- .tif spatial reference info is written in the tiff tags of the tiff header
- .tif.xml is the metadata and has nothing to do with the coordinate systems
- Only the GeoTIFF (.tif) is required to georeference the raster, that is you can delete the .aux and .tif.xml and the .tif will still be georeferenced correctly.
Autodesk AutoCAD Map - How it uses GeoTIFF
- Map uses the projection codes from the Mento Software codes

Map3D and Web Map Service (WMS)

Information on using WMS with Map3D

Web Map Service (WMS) is an open standard developed by the OpenGIS Consortium (OGC) to public raster image data.
WMS can be used to provide background layers for your map
With WMS data, you take the data as it is, you cannot reproject it
Just like Xrefs and Features, this is only a connection to the data, not the actual Object Data itself. Maybe think of watching a streaming audio or video file on the internet, do not get an actual copy of the media.
Example WMS sources (see Map 3D Users Guide p. 263)
- http://terraservice.net/ogccapabilities.ashx contains USGS orthographic and topographic maps
- http://globe.digitalearth.gov/viz-bin/wmt.cgi contains all types of data for the globe - soils, temperature, land cover, boundaries, etc.

How to Add an Image from a WMS

Step 0: ensure the Task Pane is open (use MAPWSPACE to toggle on/off) and the Display Manager tab is selected
Step 0.5: ensure you set the projection information for the current drawing using the Settings Toolspace -> Edit Drawing Settings... -> Set Units and Zone tab
Step 1: click the Data icon and choose Connect to Data...
Step 2: click Add WMS Connection and fill in the dialog box with a connection name label and a URL to the WMS server
Step 3: choose a WMS schema (layer) and click Add to Map
Step 4: zoom into an area of interest, then from the Display Manager on the Task Pane, right click the WMS image and Resample Raster to improve the resolution of the image

Visualization in Civil 3D

Convert 2D object to 3D using Press/Pull

Command Line: PRESSPULL
Hover the mouse over a 2D object, press the and keys
Extrude
3DMove
3DRotate
Elevation and Thickness

Reference

Getting to Know the New Visualization Features in Civil 3D 2007 (pdf, download pdf from UNLV)by Natan Elsberg (email: natan@rdvsystems.com), RDV Systems. Presentent at Autodesk University 2006.

Harmony of Civil 3D Creationism

AutoCAD Objects being Created	Create	Import	Edit
Civil 3D Points	First, open the Create Points Dialog Box using any of the following methods Option 1 - Menu: Points -> Create Points... Option 2 - Prospector Toolspace: right-click the Points collection -> Create... Option 3 - Command Line: CreatePoints	Menu Toolbar: Points -> Create Points, then click Import Points icon Prospector ToolSpace: right click on Points and select Create...
Civil 3D Point Groups	First, open the Create Point Group Properties Dialog Box using any of the following methods Option 1 - Menu: Points -> Create Point Group... Option 2 - Prospector Toolspace: right-click the Point Groups collection -> New... Option 3 - Command Line: CreatePointGroup	Point Group Properties Dialog Box
Civil 3D Points: Description Keys	Settings ToolSpace: Point -> Description Key Sets, right click New...
Civil 3D Corridor	First, open the Create Simple Corridor using any of the following methods Option 1 - Menu: Corridors -> Create Simple Corridor... Option 2 - Prospector Toolspace: none, option is not available Option 3 - Command Line: CreateSimpleCorridor
Civil 3D Surface (Types: TIN Surface, TIN Volume Surface, Grid Surface, and Grid Volume Surface)	Step 1 - Option A: Prospector Toolspace -> right click the Surfaces collection and choose New...	Step 1 - Option A: Prospector Toolspace -> right click the Surfaces collection and choose Import TIN...
	Step 1 - Option B: Menu Toolbar: Surfaces -> Create Surface...	Step 1 - Option B: Menu Toolbar: Surfaces -> Import TIN...
	Step 1 - Option C: Command Line: CreateSurface	Step 1 - Option C: Command Line: ImportSurface
	Step 2: Create Surface Dialog Box	Step 2: need to navigate to the .tin file. Note must also have the corresponding .pnt file. Not sure how to add the breakline (.flt) file. Also, I don't know how to create a .tin or .pnt file, see no option to Export a TIN surface into .tin, only see how to export to LandXML.
	Step 3: Assign Data/Definitions. Note, "a surface definition is a collection of a surface's build, data, and edit properties, as well as a list of the operations that have been performed on the surface. The type of definition data items that a surface can have depends on the surface type." (civil_ug.pdf p. 700)
Civil 3D Sites	First, open the Site Properties Dialog Box using any of the following methods Option 1 - Menu: none, cannot create a site from the Menu toolbar Option 2 - Prospector Toolspace: right-click the Sites collection -> New... Option 3 - Command Line: CreateSite
Civil 3D Parcels	Step 0: Create a Site Step 1: open the Create Parcel Layout Tools Dialog Box using any of the following methods Option 1a - Menu: Parcels -> Create From Objects Option 1b - Menu: Parcels -> Create By Layout... Option 2 - Prospector Toolspace: none Option 3a - Command Line: CreateParcelFromObjects Option 3b - Command Line: CreateParcelByLayout
Civil 3D Alignments	Step 0: Must assign an Alignment to an Existing Site or the Create Alignment - Layout command will automatically create a Site if one doesn't exist (or you can specify a New Site within the dialog box)		Step 0 - To edit an alignment, must already have an existing alignment
	Step 1 - Option A: Create by Layout. From the Menu Toolbar, select Alignments -> Create By Layout		Step 1 - Option A: From the Menu Toolbar, select Alignments -> Edit Alignment Geometry...
	Step 1 - Option B: Create by Layout. From the Command Line: CreateAlignmentLayout		Step 1 - Option B: From the Command Line: EditAlignment
	Step 1 - Option C: Note - Prospector Toolspace does NOT support a right click on Alignment and choose New		Step 1 - Option C: In Model Space, select the Alignment Object (Grips should be visable) then right click on the Alignment Object and choose Edit Alignment Geometry...
	Step 2 - Assign Alignment Properties (i.e. Name and Description of Alignment, Starting Station, Associated Site, Alignment Style and Label Style)		Step 2 - From the Alignment Layout Toolbar,
	Step 3 - Alignment Layout Tools
Civil 3D Survey Database	Step 1 - Create the Survey Database
	Step 2 - Create the Survey Network
	Step 3 - Import Survey Data
Civil 3D Profiles	Step 0: Create a Site Step 1: open the Create Profile from Surface Dialog Box using any of the following methods Option 1a - Menu: Profiles -> Create From Surface Option 1b - Menu: Profiles -> Create From File Option 2 - Prospector Toolspace: none Option 3a - Command Line: CreateProfileFromSurface Option 3b - Command Line: CreateProfileFromFile Step 2: select an alignment Step 3: select a surface		Menu Toolbar: Corridors -> View/Edit Corridor Section

Steps to Civilize Land

Developer
- Project Feasibility Study
- Realtor - Land Sale
Planning Stage
- Land Use Permit
- Zoning
Civil Design Stage
- Drainage Study
- Traffic Study
- Offsite Improvements
- Survey - Final Map, Parcel Map, Subdivision Map/Plat
Site Design Stage
- Geotechnical Report
- Architect
- Structural Engineer
Construction of Project
- Contractor
- Inspections - Offsites and Building
Project Completion
- Certificate of Occupancy
- Bond Release
- Realtor - selling home or leasing building

Civil Design Process

Client (a.k.a. Developer)- interest to develop a site or modify existing site for some purpose (e.g. make money)
- Provide a product such as homes in a subdivision to fulfill a need in the housing market. If no need, then no project.
- Design a detention basin to fulfill a need to provide flood protection to the public, to protect life, property, and the public interest.
- Design a road to fulfill a need to move people and goods from point A to B.
Project Goals - what are the constraints
- Time - how long will the project take to complete
- Money - cost of the project. Is it more economical to do another project? Engineering Economics.
Feasibility Study - preliminary design evaluation
- Research public records that affect the site
- Previous plats of survey and land title of ownership
- Zoning - does the project use match the plan? Can I build this Coal Power Plant in this residential neighborhood? Remember your neighbor affects the price of your property, if they have a nice home, it makes your home more valuable.
- Environmental Concerns - was the site used as a dump/land fill?
Land Survey - don't build on someone else's land
- Boundary survey
- Research legal descriptions
- Does the Land Title report (proof of ownership) match the field survey?
Civil Design
Permitting Process - Planscheck
Project Bid - hire a contractor
Inspections
Record Drawings - As Builts
Sell the homes, Lease the office space, or open (ribbon cutting ceremony) the road

Module 1: Contract Documentation

(reference: Autodesk Curriculum for Civil 3D Instructor Guide p. 1-6)

Documents required for construction
Engineering Plans (e.g. Grading Plan, Utility Plan, Survey Control, Plan and Profile, ...)
- Details how to Build ones Vision. Without plans, all the workers would have to query the person with the Vision, would cause extreme delays and the Vision person would constantly be repeating themself, describing the samething over and over again.
Bid Document
- The Engineer's estimate to construct the project
- Plans/Blueprints on what is to be built
- Specifications on how to build it (a.k.a. method specs) or performance based incentives/measures (don't care how its built has long as the end result meets/passes the quality test)
- Used by the Contractor to forecast the fees he will need to charge the Client/Developer to construct the project. Note if the fees/bids vary significantly between competing contractors, then its a sign the Bid Document is vague.

Module 1: 2D design vs. 3D design

(reference: Autodesk Curriculum for Civil 3D Instructor Guide p. 1-8)

2D Design
- Reference a TIN or GRID surface using contours (lines of equal elevation, closer the contour the steeper the surface)
- Orthographic Plan View - map directly overhead (bird's eye view) the project, drawn at a scale such as 1"=40'
- Profile View - elevations along the length of a linear feature, e.g. street centerline, drawn at a scale such as 1"=4'
- Cross Section View - elevations along the right and left of a single point on the linear feature of the Profile View.
- Most plans in the Contract Documents are 2D.
3D Design
- Design visualization of the 3D model
- Change is 3D model changes all the views to that model

Module 1: Basic AutoCAD Graphic Components

(reference: Autodesk Curriculum for Civil 3D Instructor Guide p. 1-11)

Graphic editor space - drawing area, either model space (one) or paper space (many)
Command Prompt
- Toggle On/Off use Ctrl+9 shortcut keystroke
- Toggle On/Off from command prompt, type COMMANDLINEHIDE or COMMANDLINE (alias is cli)
- Use On-Screen Cursor, also known as Cursor-Focused Commandline when dynamic input (DYN) is on in the status bar
  - Toggle On/Off Dynamic Input from the command prompt: DYNMODE = 0 (off), 1-3 (on)
Text area (a.k.a. Command Prompt Area) - F2 shortcut keystroke, basically the results/history/responses from the command line
Civil 3D Toolspace see below
Civil 3D Menus - contain commands that create, edit and annotate a specific type of object
Tool Palettes - used for Corridor Modeling with subassemblies. The tool palettes provide a variety of preconfigured subassemblies, such as travel lanes, curbs, shoulders, and ditches. Subassemblies originate in catalogs and can be transferred to customized tool palettes. Subassemblies are used to create assemblies (i.e. typical cross sections). Assemblies are stored in the drawing and can be modified from the Project Toolspace under the Assemblies tree.
- Toggle On/Off using Ctrl+3 shortcut keystorke
- Toggle On/Off from the Menu toolbar: General -> Tool Palettes Window
- Corridors -> Subassembly Tool Palettes
- Toggle On/Off using TOOLPALETTES command
- Command: CreateSubAssemblyTool creates a subassembly from a tool palette
- To create a subassembly from a tool palette
  - 1. Click the desired subassembly on the Tool Palette window
  - 2. To add the subassembly to an assembly, select a marker point on an assembly in the drawing
  - or 2. To add the subassembly to the drawing, and not associate it with an assembly, press Enter then click to a location in the drawing (see Civil 3D 2007 Users Guide p. 1499)
- Help - right-click on a subassembly in a tool palette then click Help.
Tool Catalog - list of subassemblies to use for corridor design. Available through the Content Browser.
- Autodesk Civil 3D subassembly tool catalog (.atc) files are installed to c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\ Application Data\Autodesk\C3D 2007\enu\Tool Catalogs\Road Catalog
Menus - depend upon WORKSPACE settings
Toolbars
- Control with the WORKSPACE command
- use the Customize User Interface (CUI) command
- Reveal all toolbars: -toolbar All Show
- Reveal all toolbars: -toolbar All Hide
- Need to compare the following
  - AutoCAD Workspace - save the arrangement of windows, toolbars, menus and settings. How do you copy the workspace settings from home, work, and school?
  - Profile
  - Template
  - CUI - Customize User Interface

Civil 3D Design Objects

Major design object types in Autodesk Civil 3D
1. Point
2. Point Group
3. Surface
4. Parcel
5. Grading
6. Alignment
7. Profile
8. Profile View
9. Sample Line
10. Section
11. Section View
12. Pipe Network
13. Pipe
14. Structure
15. Pipe Intererence Check
16. Corridor
17. Assembly
18. Subassembly
19. Survey Network
20. Survey Figure
Use the Toolspace (namely Prospector and Settings tabs) to access these major objects
Used to automate the design process - changes in one object can be passed on automatically to associated objects. This is done by a system of dynamic links, which are predefined by Civil 3D, to establish a connection between the design objects
- If you Edit - Points Objects will Update - Surfaces Objects
- If you Edit - Surfaces will Update - Grading and Profiles Objects
- If you Edit - Parcels will Update - Grading and Corridor Objects
- If you Edit - Alignments will Update - Grading, Corridor, Profiles, and Sections Objects
- If you Edit - Grading will Update - Surfaces and Corridor Objects
- If you Edit - Subassembly will Update - Assembly and Corridor Objects
- If you Edit - Assembly will Update - Corridor Objects
Styles (Toolspace -> Settings tab) are used to control the display (object appearance), design characteristics and labeling of these 3D design objects
- Changing a style definition will automatically apply these changes to all 3D design objects which use it
- Groups of styles can be collected and saved as a drawing template (.dwt). All drawings created from a specific .dwt will share the same styles.
- To create an object style - goto the Toolspace -> Settings tab, click the + symbol next to one of the Civil 3D Design objects (e.g. Point, Surface, Parcel, and so on) to reveal object style collection/folder. Right mouse click on the style collection to bring up the context menu, select New...
- To edit an existing style - right mouse click on the style name in the Toolspace -> Settings tab and select either Edit..., Copy..., Delete... (note cannot delete a style being used)
- All Styles have the following in common
  - Information tab
  - Display tab
  - Summary tab
  - all other tabs a specific to the 3D Design Object (e.g. Point, Surface, Parcel, and so on)
Layers
- Base Layer - stores the 3D Design Object within the .dwg
  - Objects are physically created on the base layer
  - defined in the Drawing Settings (Toolspace -> Settings tab, right mouse DrawingName.dwg and select Edit Drawing Settings... or at creation time
- Component Layer - control the display of 3D Design Object components, such as surface triangles for the Surface Object
  - defined by the 3D Design Object styles (e.g. Point, Surface, Parcel, and so on)
  - If Layer is set to 0, then the Base Layer is used for that component
  - If set to ByLayer then can use the AutoCAD Layer command instead of the Object Styles, to change the color, lineweight, linetype, or plot style of an object component.

Research Recorded Documents

Clark County Assessors
- Recorded Maps - Book/File/Page Number
- Parcel Maps
  - Parcel Maps, also known as Minor Subdivision Maps (MSM) by Clark County Development Services (e.g. PM 107-83 which is located at the northeast corner of Swenson St and Flamingo Rd). Note the Parcel Map (PM) numbers can be found on the Assessor Maps (e.g. Assessor Parcel Number 162-15-803-004, use Assessor's Parcel Maps Inquiry or if you know the Book (value between 001 and 300), Section (value between 1 and 36), and Page Number (value between 1 and 8), can figure out the link directly www.co.clark.nv.us/assr_maps/map162158.pdf)
  - Fill out the right frame with the following:
    - Map Type: PM-Parcel Maps
    - Map File: 107
    - Map Page: 83
  - Using In House KoVIS System
  - Assessor Parcel Map (PM) = Clark County Development Services Minor Subdivision Map (MSM). Used when dividing land into 4 lots or less for both commercial and residential uses.
- Plat Book (PB), also known as a Final Map (FM) or New Final Map (NFM) by Clark County Development Services.
  - Assessor Plat Book (PB) = Clark County KoVIS Imaging Plat (PL) = Clark County Development Services Final Map (FM) = Clark County Development Services New Final Map (NFM)
  - Used when dividing land into residential lots of 5 or more, or with commercial lots of 1 or more.
  - Final Map NRS 278.0145
    - "The survey, setting of monuments and FINAL MAP must be made by a professional land surveyor licensed in the State of Nevada" NRS 278.371
  - To determine the plat book for a subdivision, use the Assessor Maps
    - Step 1 - determine the Book, Section and Page of the subdivision you are looking for. Example Book 176, Section 24, Page 3
    - Step 2 - http://www.co.clark.nv.us/assr_maps/map176243.pdf
    - Step 3 - search the map for any annotation/text starting with PB, example PB 135-59. Note the figure below, the Plat book and Parcel Map annotation have been highlighted to assist you in finding it, but this is not the custom of Assessor Parcel Maps.
Clark County Recorders
Clark County Development Services Records Office
- Option 1: On-Line Services - Document Image Search
- Option 2: CCDS Records Office - Community Computer - Use the KoVIS Document Management Application
- Drainage Studies
  - Select Application type: Drainage Studies
  - Application Number (e.g. 03-26050 this is the application number for Vegas Grand project at the northeast corner of Swenson St and Flamingo Rd)
  - Project Status: APPLANS - Approved Plans, select link which has 44 pages
  - Document Type
    - LTR = Letter. In date order, latest first. Includes District Concurrence, CCDS approval letter, Comment letters from Consultant (i.e. Willdan/PB), HTE# Screen Shots, and 11x17 easement layer plot (looks similar to Assessor Maps)
    - CDS = Conceptual Drainage Study
    - CDSMAPS = Conceptual Drainage Study Maps
    - TDS = Technical Drainage Study, Initial Submittal
    - TDSMAPS = Technical Drainage Study Maps. Figures/Maps included in the Drainage Study Report. Does not include the grading plans (these are stored under PLANS document type)
    - ADD1 - ADD10 = Technical Drainage Study Addendums 1 thru 10, the number of addendums submitted by the Engineer for approval varies by project. Typically takes 2-3 addendums for County approval. Any supplementals to the drainage study are imaged with the corresponding Addendum.
    - UP = Update to the Approved Technical Drainage Study. Updates have a new HTE# number, that is different from the approved drainage study.
    - UPMAPS = Update Maps to the Approved Technical Drainage Study.
    - UPADD1 - UPADD10 = Update Addendums to the Approved Technical Drainage Study
    - UPADDMAP1 - UPADDMAP10 = Update Addendum Maps to the Approved Technical Drainage Study
    - PLANS = Grading Plan Redlines from all the drainage study submittals (TDS thru ADD10, not including the final approved grading plan)
    - APPLANS = Final Approved Grading Plan from the TDS or Update TDS
    - LOMR, LOMRMAP, CLOMR, CLOMRMAP - includes CLOMR and LOMR. Typically just the first submittal to FEMA when the Engineer requires Community Acknowledgement. Doesn't include any comments and revisions required by the FEMA review. Will also include the FEMA approval letter. Only done if the TDS is in a flood zone.
- Traffic Studies
  - 1. Open DS Traffic Study Application
    2. Enter HTE# (Permit Application Number) can use a wildcard for multiple queries,
    3. Select HTE# of interest,
    4. View actual plans
- Offsites (also known as Improvement Plans or Planscheck)
  - Select Application type: Offsite Improvement Plans
  - Application Number: 04-19123
  - Project Status: OPEN, select link with 28 pages
    - EARLY GRADING
    - OPEN
    - REVISION - changes to the plan, replaces sheets in the OPEN
    - CLOSED - project is completed, bonds are released
  - Latest Date Imaged is the Latest Plan set to use
- Mapping Team - Formerly with Current Planning
  - HTE# ??-000??? = Design Review (DR), Certificate of Land Division (LD), Plan Check (PC), Street Name (SN), Street Name Change (SC), Use Permit (UC), Vacation or Abandonment (VS), Variance (VC), Waiver of Title 28 (WT), or Zone Change (ZC)
  - HTE# ??-400??? = Extension of Time (ET) or Waiver of Conditions (WC)
  - HTE# ??-500??? = Final Map (FM), Reversionary Map (RM), or Tentative Map (TM)
  - HTE# ??-600??? = Boundary Line Adjustment (BLA), Parcel Map (PM), Reversionary Land Division (RL), or Reversionary Parcel Map (RP)
  - HTE# ??-900??? = Administrative Variance (AV) or Adult Use Permit (AU)
  - NF or NFM = New Final Map and has an HTE# (i.e. Application Number) starting with 500 (e.g. 06-500126). Note, once the NFM is approved by the Recorder, it is renamed to Plat Book (PL or PB). The NFM HTE# will be written on the Recorders Plat Book in the lower right corner.
    - Document Type - PLAN
  - TM = Tentative Map and has an HTE# (a.k.a. Application Number) starting with 500 (e.g. 06-500064)
    - Tentative Map means a map made to show the design of a proposed subdivision and the existing conditions in and around it. NRS 278.019
    - Document Type - PLAN
  - Electronic Submittal of CADD drawings (see Title 30.28.110)
- Building Division
  - KoVIS Retrieval -> CCBD Records -> Permit No.
  - Permit Type
    - FFEC = Finished Floor Elevation Certificate. Problem the form doesn't state the actual finish floor elevation, just "The lowest habitable finished floor elevation is in compliance with the approved plans."
- HTE Dump of Civil Engineering Studies CivilApps.mdb
- Problems
  - Inconsistency of Engineering Field, for example the same Engineering Company will have several names
    - WRIGHT, WRIGHT Civil, WRIGHT CIVIL EN. S.CREVOISERAT, WRIGHT CIVIL ENG, WRIGHT CIVIL ENGINEER, WRIGHT CIVIL ENGINEERS, WRIGHT CIVIL ENGINEERS, INC., WRIGHT ENG, WRIGHT ENGINEERING, WRIGHT ENGINEERS, WRIGHT ENGINEERS S.CREVOISERAT, and WRIGHT STRUCTURAL ENG
  - Project Type = HPD (Historical Drainage Plans) which shows the old storm drains cannot be searched to cross streets or location. Also the correct Project Type is HDP not HPD.
  - Project Type = L&M (License and Maintenance Agreements) Where are these stored?
- Development Services Contacts
  - Lisa Mohit (Bilyeu), Development Services Records Supervisor, Voice: 455-2746, email: mohit@co.clark.nv.us
  - Sandy Linehan, Senior Building Records Technician, Voice: 702-455-4605 or 3551, email: sandy@co.clark.nv.us

Clark County Public Works - Survey Department

BLM Patent Easements

Zoning

Clark County Department of Comprehensive Planning - Title 30
- Lot density and area for R-1 zoning
City of Las Vegas Department of Planning and Development - Title 19
- Single-Family Residential District Development Standards Min. lot width and size for Zones U, R-A, R-E, R-D, R-1, R-CL, R-MH, and R-MHP
- Commercial and Industrial District Development Standards Min. lot width
- Guest house/casita requirements
  - Allowed in U, R-A, R-E, R-D, and R-1
  - Guest house can only be located on a parcel with a width of 80 feet or more
  - Height of guest house shall not exceed the height of the principal dwelling
  - Kitchens are not permitted in a guest house
  - Only one occupant room and bathroom is allowed
  - A guest house may be located in a rear yard if it meets the required setbacks and if detached from the principal dwelling, it shall have a minimum separation of ten (10) feet from the principal dwelling and a minimum setback of five (5) feet from side and rear property lines.
  - Residential District Development Standards 19.08.040.B
    - Size and Coverage. A single, detached accessory structure shall not exceed the floor area of the principal dwelling unit constructed on the same lot. In addition, the main aggregate total of the ground floor areas of all accessory buildings shall not cover more than 50% of the rear year; and further, in the zoning districts where lot coverage provisions exist, the aggregate total of the ground floor areas of all structures and dwellings shall not exceed the percentage of lot coverage permitted in that zoning district.

Septic Tank Design

Require to connect to public sewer system if both conditions are satisfied
- Public or community sewerage systems are available within 400 feet of the nearest property line Section IV Permission to Construct - Permit Applications/A>
- Can access the public sewerage system with a gravity flow line (ibid)
Percolation Test Procedures
Southern Nevada Health District - Residential Septic Tank Permit Requirements
Clark County Water Reclaimation District, Engineering Department: voice 702-434-6601. Engineer - Cal Starman.
When connecting to an existing sewerage system is enforced
- Septic Tank Fails
- Building Permit - requires connection to sewerage system if within 400 ft and gravity flow line
- Using a VA or FHA federal loan to purchase the home.
ASTM Standards
- D5921-96(2003)e1 Standard Practice for Subsurface Site Characterization of Test Pits for On-Site Septic Systems
- Practice D2488-06 Standard Practice for Description and Identification of Soils (Visual-Manual Procedure). construction engineering interpretations of soil properites
- Practice D5925-96e1 (withdrawn standard 2005) Standard Practice for Preliminary Sizing and Delineation of Soil Absorption Field Areas for On-Site Septic Systems. Used to determine septic tank effluent application rates to the soil
- Practice D5879-95(2003) Standard Practice for Surface Site Characterization for On-Site Septic Systems. Used to determine recommended field area for an on-site septic system

Sewer Lines

Clark County Water Reclamination District
City of Las Vegas
City of Henderson
City of North Las Vegas - Utilities Department, Engineering Services Division
- Xiaohui Yu, Email: xiaohuiy@ci.north-las-vegas.nv.us, Voice: 702-633-1347, Fax: 702-649-9784, Office hours Tues-Friday
- Shapefile: CNLVsewer.shp, CNLVsewer.shx CNLVsewer.dbf and CNLVsewer.prj

Autodesk University 2006

Civil 3D
- CV12-4 Handout: One Point, Two Point, Red Point, Blue Point by Melanie Santer
- CV13-4 Handout: Survey Tools in Civil 3D 2007 by Jody Reynolds
- CV35-1L Handout: Traverses and Adjustments by Phillip Zimmerman
Surfaces
- Under the Surface: Creating Accurate Surfaces in Civil 3D, Autodesk Unversity 2006, CV13-2 (pdf, CV13-2.doc, CV13-2_UndertheSurface2006.ppt, CV13-2DataSet.zip and ScreenCast)
Map 3D
- CV22-3 Handout: Using Geospatial Data in the Design Process by Michael Carris
- CV12-2 Handout: Autodesk Map 3D for Civil Engineers and Surveyors by Rick Ellis
- GS13-3 Handout: Stop Drawing and Start Mapping: Overview of Autodesk Map 3D 2007 by Kevin Whitlockd
- GS22-3 Handout: Map for the Civil 3D user by Mark Christian

Last Modified on Saturday, 05-Jan-2008 07:38:26 PST