Best bang for the buck...CAD

What do you guys recommend?  I am planning on upgrading from R14 and Softdesk to something newer, but don't know what.  I want something similar, but nowhere near the cost of what R14/Softdesk was back when I got it (I know I'm in the Dark Ages).  I have checked out Intellicad and some add ons such as this one http://cogosoftware.com/ and they seem pretty good.  Total cost of Intellicad plus this cogo sys. is around $500.  Anyone else use this stuff or anything similar?  That's about the limit of my budget right now on the stuff.  I would need 4 copies of it, and 2500 or so is all I can afford right now.

V

You should look at Simplicity Systems (www.simplicitycogo.com).  It also includes IntelliCAD, and the same version also works with AutoCAD and MicroStation.  Produced by Carlson Software, it contains: IntelliCAD; COGO; contour/DTM with breaklines, inclusion and exclusion areas, and volumes between surfaces; Carlson edit/process raw data; Carlson field-to-finish; Carlson and C&G data collector communications; legal descriptions; and Carlson SurvNET network least squares (usually $500 just by itself).

I like the Carlson stand alone products but I think that your proposed cost of $2,500 for four seats is a little unrealistic for any CAD program.

I like Carlson or Micro Survey.  I know a few who like Traverse PC.  They are all either a little above or a little below $2000.  If you are used to R14 and the softdesk/DCA/whatever that went with it, you will be disappointed in any $500 software you are able to find.

Happiness in today's economy is not an option right now.  We are having major difficulties printing due to R14 issues with Vista. I'm currently having to run on an old laptop with Windows XP on it, and print from that.  The laptop is incredibly slow though, as it almost 6 years old.  Have 2 PC's that got rebuilt with Vista and 2 new one's that came with Vista on them.  500 to 750 per suite is all I could pay right now.  I could do with as little as 2 seats if I absolutely had to.

V

Check out PC Survey -- I've been using it for 5 years and I like it a lot. It's less pricey (tho likely lacking some bells and whistles) but it does everything I need it to with negligible bugs, responsive support, and a good learning curve. (Actually its home page says it IS "the best bang for the buck.")

Mr. Floan has it right. Simplicity Systems will do it all and then some. Long time very satisfied customer here. Tech Support is the best of ANY product I've ever purchased. I've used this product for at least 16 years and have never had a moments regret. Good luck.

Is there a way to get the menus inside of CAD?  It seems very bulky.

V

for a software that calls itself simplicity systems, it is definitely not simple.
everything is sold as a separate product. as a long time surveyor, i know that
i need all of those softwares in 1 job or another.
adding all those separate modules is similar to getting an Autocad system
both in pricing and complexity.

vader:
Is there a way to get the menus inside of CAD?  It seems very bulky.

V

In order to have a single product that can interface with IntelliCAD, AutoCAD (2002-2011), and MicroStation (v8.02 & higher), the program operates along-side the CAD instead of inside the CAD.  You can really tighten the IntelliCAD integration by following the instructions contained here:  http://simplicitycogo.com/support/ss2009/ss43.htm

Those instructions help you re-arrange the screen slightly for optimal use, and they also add Simplicity's 2-letter commands into IntelliCAD so you can use them from the command line. 

By now you've probably noticed the two-letter commands shown on all the Simplicity menus.  These commands can be entered in almost any field to change routines.  After following the above instructions, you can also enter them from the IntelliCAD command line.  You can get a copy of the two-letter command here: http://simplicitycogo.com/files/ss2009/SS2009%20Commands.pdf

You might also want to look in the on-line help, section 13, for some tutorials on using the software.

Don't struggle though, if you need help our tech support is free.  Just call me at 828-712-3386.
Mark

benc:
for a software that calls itself simplicity systems, it is definitely not simple.
everything is sold as a separate product. as a long time surveyor, i know that
i need all of those softwares in 1 job or another.
adding all those separate modules is similar to getting an Autocad system
both in pricing and complexity.

Prior to 1997, in the DOS days, everything was sold in modules.  Since 1997, the products (COGO, Contouring, Legal Descriptions, and Communications) were sold EITHER as individual products, OR as a bundled system; whatever the user preferred.  Our latest product (www.simplicitycogo.com) consists of a single program containing: COGO; contouring/DTM with volumes between surfaces; Carlson's legal descriptions; Carlson and C&G data collector communications; Carlson's process/edit/re-process raw data; Carlson's field-to-finish data processing; and Carlson's SurvNET (network least squares).  You cannot buy the program in modules anymore, it's a single package.

i was referring to this site 
http://www.carlsonsw.com/allproducts.html#cgandsimplicityproducts

not sure why the simplicity website is being directed to the carlson website but take a look at all the separate modules available for the survey section.
just add up all the cost of the individual modules and it will be more expensive that autocad survey or civil.

Benc have you thought of keeping the software you like and running it through vista on a virtual machine like VMWare or VirtualPC?  Basically these programs set aside an area on your hard drive to act as a separate, unformatted machine that you can then install whatever OS (like Win XP) you want onto it.  Performance might be an issue since your graphics card would be virtual, but I would think that an older piece of software like r14 would not tax the guest OS too badly.  

NKH

Can you still get cogo/survey drafting software to run inside a CAD program?  If so, who does it, the only one I can find is http://cogosoftware.com/ .  Has anyone used this software before.  I don't want a big learning curve when switching, I've been a Softdesk guy for life, and that's what I know, is there any software out there that doesn't take Fort Knox to buy that's similar to Softdesk?

PC Survey...can't beat the price and learning curve......

hlb2:
Can you still get cogo/survey drafting software to run inside a CAD program? <snip> I don't want a big learning curve when switching, I've been a Softdesk guy for life, and that's what I know, is there any software out there that doesn't take Fort Knox to buy that's similar to Softdesk?

I'd suggest getting a 30-day Evaluation of Carlson Survey. Aside from offering conversion support for Softdesk/LDT nodes (the Carlson Survey program can even be configured to use the Land Desktop POINTS.MDB file), you can structure Carlson to use/emulate the LDT project folder structure and import the LDT Description Keys. The product can also be purchased with a Network License Manager option that permits license sharing/balancing so you don't have to outfit each user with their own license. The network license manager option also permits home and field usage via the license check-in/check-out feature. The included IntelliCAD engine can save back to R14 should you wish to utilize an older version of AutoCAD for a particular reason.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to contact us.

--
Ladd Nelson

Are you in the business of making money or saving money? You do get what you pay for!

Why not buy something that most tech schools and colleges are teaching and most firms are using?

Why not something that can automate your process? Do you ever need to share you work with the contractor for staking? Machine guilded operations?

Do you ever have to work with Lidar data? How about a billion or two worth of points?

If you are coming from R14 and Softdesk then I don't care what you get into it will be a huge learning curve? You are talking about 15 year old software! Its hard to find a 15 year old car still being used let along 15 year old software.... the andvances just in Autocad are going to blow you away!


Isn't being able to share dwgs with others important? Or getting dwgs from others important? I have no idea how you are getting by now?



Civil 3D!



Good luck finding anything for 2k and for 4 users?

Try AutoCAD Civil 3D for $7,500 - it has a full complement of Survey tools, has object technology and BIM capabilities. Because it is used extensively throughout the engineering firms this has become the largest selling survey solution, since it is built into Civil 3D. Training is extra or learn it on your own! - EB

I have been using CogoSoftware http://cogosoftware.com/ since it came out, close to 15 years now, and it works great.  In fact, it works like I think, so it was easy to learn.  I am able to create surfaces, contours, cut sections anywhere I want, and I have no problem sharing drawings with other firms.  I use it in IntelliCad but it also runs in Autodesk.  I have a copy on my laptop that I take into the field to do survey calcs on when I am staking a property.  I would say try the free download.

Hi, this is Steve from Foresoft. You can trial CDS for 60 days free - goto www.foresoft.com . It contains everything you should need. It sells for $700 a seat, but we can do 2 for $1000 complete. It is standalone software and does not need autocad, intellicad etc. It will however produce dwg files if needed. We then direct our users to draftsight as you really can't beat free stuff.

civilguy:
Are you in the business of making money or saving money? You do get what you pay for!

Why not buy something that most tech schools and colleges are teaching and most firms are using?

Why not something that can automate your process? Do you ever need to share you work with the contractor for staking? Machine guilded operations?

Do you ever have to work with Lidar data? How about a billion or two worth of points?

If you are coming from R14 and Softdesk then I don't care what you get into it will be a huge learning curve? You are talking about 15 year old software! Its hard to find a 15 year old car still being used let along 15 year old software.... the andvances just in Autocad are going to blow you away!


Isn't being able to share dwgs with others important? Or getting dwgs from others important? I have no idea how you are getting by now?



Civil 3D!



Good luck finding anything for 2k and for 4 users?

Wow, I can buy this software and all of a sudden I'm going get to do better than "getting by"????  Good advice, I always wondered when I saw a 15 year old car going down the highway how that guy "just got by".  I'm doing just fine, and if it wasn't for the fact of Windows upgrading, I wouldn't need anything new, so you can pound sand as far as I'm concerned with your opinion, esp. since you decided to give it looking down your nose.  I'm VERY productive with what I have now, and all my clients are satisfied by my deliverables, so why do I need the "new" flashy software if my 15 year old "beater" still gets it done?  Never understood this logic...smh...

hlb:

I have been researching low cost COGO and CAD software and I would like to offer a possible solution to your software search.

1. DesignCAD  Version 21 for drawing - a professional land surveyor has developed macros and menus especially for surveying and mapping functions.

2. Copan Lite - a FREE Survey and COGO package.

You can Google the above for further information and costs. Copan Pro offers upgrades at reasonable costs on their new software.

If you need further information drop me a line.


Hank_Berg@hotmail.com

Jumping from R14 to Civil3d 2012 is a huge difference.  While c3d is powerful, it is also vastly complex, incredibly frustrating, with a huge learning curve, and it's not exactly 'survey centric'.  Making that leap will probably cost you 4 to six months learning curve to get back to where you are today.  And will not advance you much beyond that point unless you are willing to devote large amounts of time customizing and learning to program in dotNet.  And don't forget the annual subscription cost - kinda critical since every annual relese of c3d lacks compatability with every prior release.

Responding to an earlier comment..... there are several $500+/-  CAD packages that are compatible with the current Windows OS, and beat  R14 in functionality.  Ares from Graebert Systems and BricsCad from Bricsys are strong and very capable packages, and along with DoubleCAD and Intellicad, are atuocad work-a-likes using the dwg file format.    You can get a permanent free license for Draftsight, which is usable for any purpose, will run on your new hardware, and relatively snappy in performance compared to Acad 2012.  (Draftsight is a rebranded version of Ares, and lacks the LISP and other programming interfaces, so would not work with any add-on packages - good though for finishing up or tweaking drawings.  It's possible (though I will not guarantee it) that your  Softdesk System 7 would run with Bricsys or Ares -- might be worthwhile exploring.

As to add-on survey-specific tools for either of those, you'll need to check on their websites. Brisys is cultivating a developer community, so I would expect that many functions found in R14/Sdsk are available already at low cost.

Absolutley without a dout CARLSON SURVEY with intellicad is The BIGEST BANG FOR THE BUCK CAD platform on the market... hands down takes the cake