Eric D. Colburn, PLS

For the next week I’m offering a Special Reduced Price 20% OFF the regular price if you purchase the Traverse Control Sheet before the end of the day, Midnight, Friday, May 21, 2010!

You can also learn more about this professional land surveyor productivity tool digital download at this link:

Get My Traverse Control Sheet Professional Land Surveyor Productivity Tool

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Buy Now! Traverse Control Sheet

Traverse Control Sheet Professional Land Surveyor Productivity Tool

Today I’m excited to announce the first publication of my Professional Land Surveyor Tools series I’ve been working on, called the Traverse Control Sheet.

To kick things off, I’m also having a promotional price which is 60% off of the regular price if you purchase the Traverse Control Sheet before the end of the day, Midnight, Friday, March 26, 2010.

After Friday, the promotional 60% off price of only $1.99 will go back up to the regular price of $4.99. I am offering this promotion because I want all of you to benefit from using it like I have over the years.

This Digital Download is one of the many self-made forms and tools I’ve created and used over the years in my own professional land surveying business solving my day to day problems and frustrations.

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Select Edit Survey Database Settings

This is the second of five AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks expanding upon a previous article I wrote outlining the 5 AutoCAD Civil 3D Settings Professional Land Surveyors Need To Know.

The second of the five AutoCAD Civil 3D settings Professional Land Surveyors need to know was, “Survey Database Units and Zone Settings“, which is explained in today’s AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks.

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AutoCAD Civil 3D Bright Ideas

It’s frustrating as heck trying to learn how to setup and use AutoCAD Civil 3D and also get projects completed. You’re not a professional student; you’re a Professional Land Surveyor, Engineer, Designer, etc.

Whatever you are, you’re trying to get the job done right and earn a living!

Depending on what’s in your AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing, there can be hundreds of settings, if not more. Many of  these settings may only control how something looks and is eventually plotted, but several are really important settings controlling important elements of your work. You must ensure that your data, the input and output, is handled appropriately with the software for land surveying uses.

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This video shows you how to Import Field Books in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 Drawings & Survey Databases. This is one of the most often asked questions I get from professional land surveyors just starting out with AutoCAD Civil 3D.

If this is you, you have probably already figured out that using AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010, or any version for that matter, is not always an intuitive process. So there you are, with your electronic Field Book containing all of your survey measurements and readings at the ready, and you can’t figure out how to get that data into your Survey Database and Drawing. This video shows you how to get your surveying data into your Survey Database and Drawing.

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AutoCAD Civil 3D

In the Beginning

This is the beginning of a series of posts about setting up and using AutoCAD Civil 3D in your land surveying work. I know from the many conversations I’ve had with other professional land surveyors and mapping professionals that there is some confusion, and certainly a lot of frustration, with setting up and using AutoCAD Civil 3D.

Setting up and learning to use AutoCAD Civil 3D can be a daunting task, but it is well worth it once you’ve configured it to your company standards and learn to use, at the very least, some of the basics. I speak from experience and I know full well that you have a lot (A LOT) of setup ahead of you. I also went through this rocky experience, so I hope to make this a less painful experience for you.

Learning to use AutoCAD Civil 3D has not been as simple or as trouble free as I would have liked. However, I think it is unfair to lump all of the blame on AutoCAD Civil 3D. In all honesty, part of the problem with setting up and using AutoCAD Civil 3D is that it does require a lot of initial setup which is dependent upon your professional land surveying practice having standards in place.

A Brave New World

So,  you can look at this initial setup of AutoCAD Civil 3D as a negative or you can take a positive approach and use the setup of standards as a holistic overhaul of your surveying standards and procedures. And, this is where I shall start.

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