Government design projects have unique needs and requirements that may not need to be considered in other AEC projects. Since they’re being conducted on behalf of the taxpayer, there’s a demand to create designs that are not only functional, but can be built efficiently and at the least cost to the taxpayer.
Design programs like Civil 3D and AutoCAD can help government users do just that. However, keeping up on the latest versions of these solutions can be daunting – even for the most studious of government employees. Luckily, Topcon Solutions Store is offering a free Webinar series for people that make things for the government that is designed to help users get up to date on what the latest editions of the programs have to offer and their new features.
To get a better sense of why Civil 3D particularly is such a useful tool for government design professionals and what attendees can expect to learn from the upcoming Webinar series, we sat down with Janine Lule, a marketing specialist at Topcon Solutions Store. This is what she had to share:
GovDesignHub (GDH): Tell our readers a little bit about Topcon Solutions Store. What solutions can your company offer state and local governments?
Janine Lule: Topcon Solutions Store is a collaboration of successful independent Topcon dealers, united to supply our customers with the best construction, survey, aerial mapping and software solutions. With our combined resources and experience, we are the ideal solution for your business’ needs. We are the only positioning professionals in the industry who provide the total solution! Whether it’s geopositioning, construction or agriculture needs, our full line of Topcon and Autodesk products is the complete solution.
We proudly offer Autodesk and Bluebeam public classes, custom on-site classes, remote consulting, on-site consulting, Civil 3D and Revit template creation, and tech support.
GDH: The two webinars you have coming up focus on the 2020 updates to Civil 3D and AutoCAD. What is Civil 3D? What different organizations and agencies within the government utilize it? What do they use it for?
Janine Lule: Autodesk Civil 3D software is a design and documentation solution for civil engineering that supports building information modeling (BIM) workflows. By learning to use Autodesk Civil 3D, you can improve project performance, maintain consistent data, follow standard processes, and respond faster to change. Many different organizations within government utilize Civil 3D, depending on their specific needs.
GDH: How do the tools and capabilities built into Civil 3D make it easier for people who design and build things for the government? How were these tasks accomplished before Civil 3D?
Janine Lule: The advantage of using Civil 3D is the ability to standardize and more efficiently execute your design process throughout the life of your project. Civil 3D features support a variety of civil infrastructure projects including rail, roads and highways, land development, airports, drainage, storm and sanitary, and civil structures.
Prior to Civil 3D, these designs were created in AutoCAD or done by hand. The introduction of Civil 3D and its development over the last decade has sped up the design process immensely with automated tools and smart assemblies.
GDH: Why should state and local government users be specifically interested in the 2020 versions of Civil 3D? What new features will they find most useful in their day-to-day?
Janine Lule: State and local government users should be particularly interested in the Civil 3D 2020 versions because the platform continues to deliver unprecedented value to subscribers via streamlined offerings, new features, and award-winning web and mobile apps. Users can seamlessly collaborate and make anything, anywhere utilizing Autodesk’s cloud capabilities and its new AutoCAD partnerships.
In their day-to-day work, I think state and local users would get a lot of new value from the host of design efficiency, production efficiency and collaboration and data exchange updates. For example, you can now use Autodesk Dynamo in Civil 3D to begin automating some production tasks and workflows.
To register for the July 25 Civil 3D 2020 webinar, click here. To register for the July 26 AutoCAD 2020 webinar, click here.
