Case Studies - AutoCAD Map 3D

Map 3D Case Study 1 - ESB International Property Mapping

Map 3D Case Study 2 - AutoCAD Map 3D Shows Natura the Way

Established over ten years ago, Natura (Environmental Consultants) Ltd., is based at The Murrough in Co. Wicklow, and has an extensive track record in applied research. Employing a team of full-time ecologists and environmental managers, the company is an acknowledged leader in Environmental Impact Assessment and provides private and public sector organisations with bespoke ecological site surveys.

Maps form an important element of Natura’s service to its clients, and with many projects requiring accurate surveys for the monitoring of flora and fauna, water quality assessments, wind energy assessments, habitat or fisheries management and ornithological surveys, accurate digital mapping forms the basis of most – if not all of the projects the company undertakes.

Frank Burke, a Senior Project Manager at Natura takes up the story;

“We had originally adopted MapInfo as our mapping software of choice, but in most cases this was not compatible with systems used by our clients. As Tab files were translated as dwg/dxf files and emailed - they then received hardcopy maps printed from our MapInfo workspace and had to re-colour and cross-hatch those tab files to replicate the hardcopy maps.

“There were further calls on our resources as clients with no experience of MapInfo often required repetitive explanations of the limitations of its compatibility with AutoCAD - even with translations etc. At the other end of the scale, some clients would send lots of digital files of (for example) road schemes - each dwg file translated generated huge numbers of files and it was often difficult to wade through all this data to identify what was required.”

How did Frank hear about AutoCAD Map? “Gearoid O'Riain of Compass Informatics pointed me in the right direction and provided the relevant contact at Amicus Technology. Our requirements were not esoteric, so I highlighted our specific requirements regarding much-needed compatibility with AutoCAD based clients, and a requirement for GIS capability. The real attraction of the package was the ease with which you could view aerial photos for an area without having to geo-reference every image or request tab files for each aerial photo. The resulting ease in map production, compared to what had gone before was quite marked, but the ‘killer’ feature was the ability to set up feature classes for polygons that require specific colouring and cross-hatching. This saved a lot of mapping time, as similar habitat types are digitized repeatedly and it also lead to consistency of habitat map production. ”

“Mapping has to be both accurate and accessible, and in each project it is a key element of the job. Many of our major clients have already sourced high resolution digital mapping for their projects and designs. We take this mapping and use it as the basis for our research. Returning updated files in the same readable format saves time for everyone. This is one of the primary benefits we found with AutoCAD, with so much information being exchanged between ourselves and the client. Under the old scheme the client required hardcopies of our habitat maps, in order to interpret our digital data and then reproduce a similar map using their software package. Now that we’ve switched, we find the bulk of our clients use AutoCAD so we’re in good company.”

Was there a steep learning curve for Natura’s staff? Frank continued; “Not really. I had two intensive training days geared specifically towards Natura’s needs and requirements. After two months of working through what I learned and some phone calls to Amicus for guidance, most issues were resolved. We organised a final intensive training day last September to deal with specific queries related to our industry, and that was it. Our methodology has evolved since then, and everything is working to our – and our clients’ – satisfaction. In retrospect, I wouldn’t say the learning curve was a steep one. The help and support we received in the initial stages made it a very simple transition, we’ve been using Autocad Map 2004 since July last year, and it has met nearly every challenge we have thrown at it. It would be preferable if one could rearrange the feature classes in Autodesk Map 2004, once created.

“In terms of consistency (due mainly to the ‘feature classes’ tool) we have increased the speed of production, and at a stroke – eased the receipt, transfer and tracking of mapping to and from our clients. Our maps can be printed off easily using standard layout templates, so we no longer need to spend time explaining to our clients how to work with our mapping.

“I have to give Mark Green at Amicus Technology top marks for keeping us on the right track. If there’s a question he doesn’t know the answer to, I haven’t found it yet – but good support is critical to the success of any package, and we just cannot fault the service we have received.”