What are the most common complaints of a CAD draftsman? What prompts a DOT to switch to Autodesk?

These and other stories are featured in this week’s CAD News & Tips for Govies -  a weekly feature on Acronym that scans thousands of industry articles to present you with a regular source of CAD and GIS news, tips, events, and ideas that impact the public sector:

Common Workplace Complaints of a Draftsman (and solutions to fix them)

CAD News for Govies is a weekly feature on Acronym that scans thousands of industry articles to present you with a regular source of CAD and GIS news, information and ideas that impact the public sector. Here’s the latest round-up:

3 Tips to Make More Accurate Project Cost Estimates

This blog entry was submitted by Nancy Mann Jackson. Nancy Mann Jackson is a freelance journalist who writes regularly about local government and sustainability issues. Learn more about her at www.nancyjackson.com. As local and state governments grapple with changing environmental stormwater regulations, some face lawsuits over their stormwater policies. But others, approaching stormwater control from an economic development angle, are finding MS4 solutions that do more than just meet EPA regulations; they also help build stronger communities.

Back in December, our good friend Dave Lingebach over at CADD Centers of Florida wrote about Riviera Beach, Florida and how they improved their infrastructure on a budget. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Dave discuss the case study as a speaker in the upcoming CE News Webcast Series for “A Case Study on Road Reconstruction” this Thursday, January 20th at 1 p.m. EST. Take a moment to register - I’m sure if you have a scheduling conflict they will be in contact with the archive information afterwards. Here’s the blurb from their website on the event if you still need convincing: In March 2010, the Department of Community Development of the city of Riviera Beach, Fla., began work on a $640,000 road reconstruction project of 1,340 linear feet. The project called for the replacement of all water lines, fire hydrants, sub grade, base rock, pavement, curbsides, and sidewalks in the area. This webcast will showcase how Riviera Beach city engineers, with the help of Autodesk Partner CADD Centers of Florida, used AutoCAD® Civil 3D® to simplify the design process — easily resolving conflicts between water, sanitary, and storm sewer lines before releasing construction documents, and expediting the permit process. Join us and learn how the city completed construction and bid plans 60 days ahead of schedule and saved $30,000 in design fees.

If you didn’t get a chance to attend the Autodesk See the Advantage Virtual Event back on October 5th – don’t worry! All of the webcasts and documents were archived on the Website for you to view on demand. You can access the archive here: www.dlt.com/seetheadvantage . The archived event is a little hard to find, but your best bet is to navigate straight to the Auditorium in the virtual event hub where you’ll find the webcast archives. If you’re looking for a good read, go to the Exhibit Hall and click on your professional track (Buildings, Utilities, Civil Engineering, etc.) Each “booth” has its own resource section including white papers and videos. I found the Buildings booth to have the most – but all provided some useful resources.

Earlier this year Autodesk declared it was turning the lights out on AutoCAD® Land Desktop with its 2009 version release. This news was not so surprising since Autodesk has been evangelizing the benefits of migrating users to AutoCAD® Civil 3D for some time. However, while Civil 3D is regarded as the creme-de-la-creme of civil design software, it has also been perceived as somewhat too heavy-handed for the needs of certain users. Cognizant of this, Autodesk has taken the step of looking beyond LDT to introduce technology solutions that better fits the needs of civil engineering organizations. We explore AutoCAD® Civil and explain the key differences between it and AutoCAD Civil 3D to help you make the right choice for your civil engineering needs.

How do you train and support 1,500 designers on new civil engineering CAD design software without breaking the budget? The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service found the solution they needed with a scalable knowledge management and delivery system.

Making the transition from 2D to 3D to support engineering modeling and emergency preparedness, the City of Coppell, Texas, gained numerous cost savings and community benefits. The engineering department at the City of Coppell, Texas, is among the engineering departments in cities across North America discovering the benefits of 3D modeling. Under the guidance of Scott Latta, Engineering Technician, and with the help of Avatech Solutions, they made the transition from 2D AutoCAD® to engineering modeling using AutoCAD® Civil 3D®. Latta and the team of engineers undertake several projects per year. Designs are sent out to general bids to construction companies to build and complete projects.