Map-making has come a long way since Lewis and Clark set off on their cross-country trek to the Pacific Northwest more than 200 years ago. By offering views from above and below, today’s detailed geospatial data lets first responders and public safety officials respond to emergencies quickly and collaborate across agency boundaries.

The City of Roseville Environmental Utilities Department Streamlines CAD & GIS Workflow Processes While Getting a Grip on Rapid Growth. Located a few miles to the north east of Sacramento, CA, the City of Roseville, California, began as a sleepy railroad town. Recent years have seen the city grow outward in all directions with an expansive industrial zone that is headquarters to many large corporations. With just four full time employees, the City of Roseville’s Environmental Utilities Department (REUD) needed to scale quickly and efficiently to handle the challenges of managing and maintaining its extensive utilities infrastructure, without increasing head count.

[acronym] magazine talked to Jon Hansen, as assistant fire chief in Oklahoma City during the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building, Jon saw technology used in ways that, at the time, were somewhat novel for first responders – using CAD drawings for search, rescue and recovery efforts. Since then, Jon has seen technology, including GIS and CAD, be put to better use.

In this article, Pete Kelsey, K-TEK Solutions’ founder and Autodesk Certified Instructor, shares his proven three-step process to help government entities manage change and maximize CAD and GIS technology ROI through standardization, implementation and education.

The AEC industry has some big challenges on its plate. Challenges like budget shortfalls, increased energy consumption mandates, and the task of integrating GIS data into digital designs, just to name a few.

My prior posting discussed imagery (either satellite or LIDAR) as a standalone solution in the AEC world.  Today we’re going to dig a bit deeper into the integration of imagery into some of today’s most powerful AEC software tools.  Once you’ve gone through the time and expense of identifying an area of interest (AOI), procuring the imagery and reviewing it for accuracy – why not integrate it into your design softw