You are browsing the archive for How To.

Learn How AutoCAD Civil 3D Can Help Extend The Value Of Your Model Video

December 17, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Business, Business Practices, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Land Surveying Videos, Members, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

Learn How AutoCAD Civil 3D Can Help Extend The Value Of Your Model Video

Learn How AutoCAD Civil 3D Can Help Extend The Value Of Your Model Video

Watch the video and learn how AutoCAD Civil 3D civil engineering software can help extend the value of your model. (2:42 min.)

Read the rest of this entry →

Create Alignment From Objects in AutoCAD Civil 3D Video

June 15, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Land Surveying Videos, Members, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

Create Alignment From Objects in AutoCAD Civil 3D Video

Create Alignment From Objects in AutoCAD Civil 3D Video

Create Alignment From Objects in AutoCAD Civil 3D Video

This AutoCAD Civil 3D for Land Surveyors Video shows you how to create an Alignment from Objects in AutoCAD Civil 3D.

Watch the Create Alignment From Objects in AutoCAD Civil 3D Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Manual Point Creation Video

June 2, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Land Surveying Videos, Members, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Manual Point Creation Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Manual Point Creation Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Manual Point Creation Video

This AutoCAD Civil 3D for Land Surveyors Video shows you how to do Manual Point Creation.

Watch the AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Manual Point Creation Video

Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Add Viewport Scales Video

May 23, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Members, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Add Viewport Scales Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Add Viewport Scales Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Add Viewport Scales Video

This AutoCAD Civil 3D for Land Surveyors Video shows you how to Add Viewport Scales in Paperspace.

Creating custom Viewport Scales is easy, once you know how.

Watch the AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Add Viewport Scales Video

Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D Filedia Command Video

May 22, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Members, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

AutoCAD Civil 3D Filedia Command Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D Filedia Command Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D Filedia Command Video

This AutoCAD Civil 3D for Land Surveyors Video shows you how to use the FILEDIA command. I believe this command works for all flavors of AutoCAD.

The FILEDIA command controls the file dialog boxes, turning them either on or off, like those used when opening and saving drawings. Sometimes, when the program crashes, this command gets reset to “0″ from “1″.

Watch the AutoCAD Civil 3D Filedia Command Video

Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Paste Surfaces Using The Ribbon Video

May 12, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Land Surveying Videos, Members, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Paste Surfaces Using The Ribbon Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Paste Surfaces Using The Ribbon Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Paste Surfaces Using The Ribbon Video

This AutoCAD Civil 3D for Land Surveyors Video is an update to my last video (AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Paste Surfaces Video – see link below), in which, I forgot to show you how to paste surfaces using the Ribbon in AutoCAD Civil 3D.

You can use this technique to merge design and/or as-built surfaces into your original existing conditions surface. Once you paste the surfaces into the first surface, you will then have one surface that blends all the surfaces together.

Watch the AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Paste Surfaces Using The Ribbon Video

Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Paste Surfaces Video

May 11, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Land Surveying Videos, Members, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Paste Surfaces Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Paste Surfaces Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Paste Surfaces Video

In this AutoCAD Civil 3D for Land Surveyors Video, I show you how to paste surfaces in AutoCAD Civil 3D.

You can use this technique to merge design and/or as-built surfaces into your original existing conditions surface. Once you paste the surfaces into the first surface, you will then have one surface that blends all the surfaces together.

Watch the AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Paste Surfaces Video

Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Survey Hotfix Video

April 24, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics, Business, Business Videos, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Land Surveying Videos, Members, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos, Vlog

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Survey Hotfix Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Survey Hotfix Video

Get It While It’s Hot, New AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Survey Hotfix!

Well, it didn’t take long for a software bug and an AutoCAD Civil 3D survey hotfix.

“This hotfix resolves an issue with the Survey Figures Property Dialog. In the lower section of the panel you can now see the vertex properties for chain type figures.

  1. Download the file appropriate for your operating system (32- or 64-bit AeccUiSurvey.arx)
  2. Right Click on the AeccUiSurvey.arx file.
  3. Browse to the installation location of AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 on your machine (ie:  C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013)
  4. Right click, select paste and the option to replace the existing AeccUiSurvey.arx file in this directory.

Relaunch AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 and confirm your issue is resolved.

Professional Land Surveyor Source: Autodesk”

Watch the AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Survey Hotfix Video

Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Guts Google Earth

April 11, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Members, News, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos, Vlog

AutoCAD Civil 3D Guts Google Earth!

AutoCAD Civil 3D Guts Google Earth!

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise … Autodesk Guts Google Earth From AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013

In working with the newly released AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013, it surprised me to find out that Autodesk gutted Google Earth functionality from this latest C3D version. After not finding the formerly available Google Earth commands in the Import Panel on the Ribbon Insert Tab, I searched on Google for an explanation (ironic, isn’t it?).

What I found was the following Autodesk forum post by an AutoCAD Civil 3D Senior Product Manager:

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Guts Google Earth

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Guts Google Earth

While I’m not thrilled by getting an explanation that Google Earth utilities are not included in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013, and I’m happy to know that Autodesk will post any potential announcements (if any) on “various channels including Autodesk Labs, Facebook, Blogs and the Civil 3D Discussion Group”, it’s not as effective and open as an explanation clearly posted on the Autodesk, AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Product Page!

Watch the AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Guts Google Earth Video

Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Unwrapped Video

April 5, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Members, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Unwrapped Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Unwrapped Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Unwrapped Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D2013 Unwrapped video shows you a few new features of AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013.

Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D Drape Images Over A Surface Video

March 26, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Land Surveying Videos, Orthophotos, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Remote Sensing, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

AutoCAD Civil 3D Drape Images Over A Surface Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D Drape Images Over A Surface Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D Drape Images Over A Surface Video

This AutoCAD Civil 3D for Land Surveyors Video shows you how to drape Images over a Surface.

Read the rest of this entry →

How To Create a Standout Professional Land Surveyor Company Marketing Strategy

March 24, 2012 in Associate Membership, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Marketing, Premium Membership, Professional Land Surveyor Practice

How To Create a Standout Professional Land Surveyor Company Marketing Plan

How Do You Stand Out In The Crowd?

One thing I’ve noticed in talking with professional land surveyors is a real ingrained sense of competency. Sometimes, this sense of surveying competency borders on boastful (luckily, not often). Most of the time, however, you’ll discover these feelings of self-competency only after getting them to open up about how they conduct surveys and the work of the other professional land surveyors in their area.

Want to get right to the point? Then just show them a survey plan prepared by another professional land surveyor, and you’re likely to get an earful about that survey and plan quality, along with a lesson on how the survey should have been conducted!

The other thing I’ve noticed in talking with these professionals land surveyors is that many of them are, indeed, very competent. And, I think this is the very problem we have in marketing our professional land surveying services.

How Can You Stand Out As A Professional Land Surveyor: Are You A Black Zebra With White Stripes Or A White Zebra With Black Stripes?

If you’ve ever watched the movie Madagascar, there’s a telling scene where the main character, Alex the lion, can’t distinguish his zebra friend, Marty, from within a herd of zebras. When Alex is finally able to pick out Marty from the herd of zebras, he explains that he was able to do so (although not entirely true) because Marty is a white zebra with black stripes, while the others are black zebras with white stripes (I might have that backwards, but you get the idea).

This is the crux of the professional land surveyors’ marketing problem: To most customers, professional land surveyors look the same, like a herd of zebras; so you need to figure out how you can stand out like one white zebra with black stripes in a crowd of black zebras with white stripes.

In this Premium post, we will look at marketing challenges to transform your professional land surveying firm into a standout, go to, land surveying company for your clients.

Read the rest of this entry →

Professional Land Surveyor Weekly Roundup March 11, 2012

March 11, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Land Surveying Videos, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

Drill Hole in Side of Stone Bound Next to Iron Pipe

Drill Hole in Side of Stone Bound Next to Iron Pipe

Professional Land Surveyor Weekly Roundup:

Professional Land Surveyor Archive – Last 3 weeks:

AutoCAD Civil 3D How To Trim Image to a Surface Border Video

March 9, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Land Surveying, Land Surveying Videos, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

AutoCAD Civil 3D How To Trim Image to a Surface Border Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D How To Trim Image to a Surface Border Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D How To Trim Image to a Surface Border

This AutoCAD Civil 3D for Land Surveyors Video shows you how to trim an image, like a geo-referenced aerial photograph or orthophoto, to a Civil 3D Border.

Read the rest of this entry →

Professional Land Surveyor Weekly Roundup March 4, 2012

March 4, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, GNSS, GPS, Land Surveying, Land Surveying Equipment, Land Surveying Videos, Leica, Links, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

Granite Bound Reset

Granite Bound Reset

Professional Land Surveyor Weekly Roundup:

Weekly Spotlight

Premium Group Weekly Spotlight

Premium Member Shoutout!

Professional Land Surveyor Archive – Last 3 weeks:

AutoCAD Civil 3D How To Insert Geo-Referenced Images Video

February 29, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, GIS, Land Surveying, Land Surveying Videos, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

AutoCAD Civil 3D How To Insert Geo-Referenced Images Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D How To Insert Geo-Referenced Images Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D How To Insert Geo-Referenced Images

This AutoCAD Civil 3D for Land Surveyors Video shows you how to insert geo-referenced images, like aerial photographs or orthophotos.

AutoCAD Civil 3D, being built on Map 3D, allows you to easily use Geographic Information System (GIS) data into your land surveying, design and engineering projects.

All you need is a geo-referenced image with a corresponding World File. The World File contains coordinate values identifying the location, scale, and rotation of the geo-reference image.

Read the rest of this entry →

Professional Land Surveyor Weekly Roundup February 26, 2012

February 26, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Carlson, Continuing Education, Geomatics, GNSS, GPS, Hemisphere GPS, Land Surveying, Land Surveying 911, Land Surveying Equipment, Land Surveying Videos, Links, News, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Topcon, Videos

AutoCAD Civil 3D How To Convert A 3D Polyline To A 2D Polyline Video

AutoCAD Civil 3D How To Convert A 3D Polyline To A 2D Polyline Video

Professional Land Surveyor Weekly Roundup:

Professional Land Surveyor Archive – Last 3 weeks:

4 Ingredients for a Successful Professional Land Surveyor Business Web Presence

December 27, 2011 in Associate Membership, Business, Business Practices, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Marketing, Premium Membership, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Social Media Networking

4 Ingredients for a Successful Professional Land Surveyor Business Web Presence

Premium Membership Button

Premium Membership Post

I was speaking with a fellow professional land surveyor about a property survey he is conducting for land next to a property I recently surveyed, when he said, “Later, I’ve got to ask you what is your secret?”

Are you struggling to build a successful web presence for your professional land surveying business?

The “secret” he wanted to know, was how I’ve developed such a large web presence. What he really wanted to know is my “secret” for getting such successful search results for my land surveying business and personal brand. At first, I was a little taken aback, as I really didn’t want to divulge any “trade secrets” (such as they are) but in reality, there are four basic ingredients a Successful Professional Land Surveyor Business Web Presence.

In this Professional Land Surveyor Premium Post (signup here) I’ll share my “secret” 4 Ingredients for a Successful Professional Land Surveyor Business Web Presence.

Read the rest of this entry →

Knowing Your Numbers-How to Develop Project Metrics for Your Land Surveying Company

November 12, 2011 in Associate Membership, Business, Business Practices, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Premium Membership, Professional Land Surveyor Practice

Knowing Your Numbers-Project Metrics for Your Land Surveying Company

Knowing Your Numbers-Project Metrics for Your Land Surveying Company

If you’ve followed the last few Premium Posts, then you know that I’ve been working through the “Knowing Your Numbers” series of posts, describing how to use Metrics in your professional land surveying business.

To date, I’ve written Knowing Your Numbers-Business Metrics for Your Land Surveying Company, an article on which business metrics you can use to run your land surveying business, Knowing Your Numbers-How To Measure Your Success, an article on the importance of developing your own set of metrics and benchmarks to accurately measure your success, and Knowing Your Numbers-Project Metrics for Your Land Surveying Company, an article on how to use Project Metrics for your land surveying company.

In this Premium Membership post I share: How to Develop Project Metrics for Your Land Surveying Company.

How to Develop Project Metrics for Your Land Surveying Company Read the rest of this entry →

Knowing Your Numbers-Project Metrics for Your Land Surveying Company

October 9, 2011 in Associate Membership, Business, Business Practices, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Premium Membership, Professional Land Surveyor Practice

Knowing Your Numbers-Project Metrics for Your Land Surveying Company

Knowing Your Numbers-Project Metrics for Your Land Surveying Company

In earlier Premium Posts, I wrote Knowing Your Numbers-Business Metrics for Your Land Surveying Company, an article on which business metrics you can use to run your land surveying business, and Knowing Your Numbers-How To Measure Your Success, an article on the importance of developing your own set of metrics and benchmarks to accurately measure your success.

In this Premium Membership post I expand on that theme; specifically how to use Project Metrics for your land surveying company.

Your land surveying business, no doubt, collects at least two business and project metrics, being: Time and Employee. Every week you have a the metrics of your employees hours worked, what projects they’ve worked on, or time spent on non-project specific hours worked. Because this is the least data required to collect to pay your employees, this is often where project metrics collection ends in many land surveying firms.

With this minimal amount of collected project data, you simply do not know and understand enough about your land surveying projects and business to run your business.

Project Metrics for Your Land Surveying Company Read the rest of this entry →

s2Member®