I went to AU, and all I got was this caricature

Back to work today after several days at Autodesk University. I always find it time well spent – and yes, I did get a caricature done by an artist from TradeshowDraw.com – he was doing the sketches on a tablet PC using Autodesk’s SketchBook Pro as a way to demonstrate that product. I’m not sure about his capture of my cheeks, but he did say he was going to have some fun with it…

My caricature?

In reality, though, this year’s Autodesk University was, as I expected, a very productive use of my time. I was able to connect with some old friends and professional contacts, meet some new ones, and put faces with some of those folks I’ve only had phone or email (facebook, linkedin, etc) contact with.

I attended some really good workshops as well. A couple of highlights were seeing the SDSFIE model updates and tools for AutoCAD Map – these are essentially GIS standards adopted by the DOD for a common model (they call it Common Installation Picture) across the services. It is from an outgrowth of the old Tri-Services CADD group (now the CADBIM Technology Center) - I was involved in the Tri-Services standardization efforts was back in the 80s before there was a Tri-Services.  Back then working with CAD and GIS standards was like the Lewis and Clark expedition. The SDSFIE standards are pretty interesting, and to my mind would be a good model for municipalities as well. More on that later.

One of the other labs I enjoyed most gave me the chance to sit and work with the new AutoCAD Map Subscription Advantage Pack tools for working with point cloud data. Point Clouds are the result from LIDAR surveys that send out light waves in multiple directions and measure the time for the light to return from whatever is in its path. It’s kind of like a laser range finder in every direction. Point clouds are becoming more common as a way to survey existing information. At a utility company I used to work for, I was peripherally involved (working on related GIS data models) in a project using LIDAR to collect vegetation and electrical transmission data to identify potential interference. Not real exciting stuff on the surface, but when you look at how we did that work just a few years ago, it’s pretty amazing. I’ll add some details early next week on the new tools.

1 Comment

• 

  By R Jayamangal, April 30, 2010 @ 4:29 am

  Hi,

  Thanks for the description. It was lot of help. Will you please tell me how to use the ‘Include adjacent sheet links’ option in the Sheet Template page of the Create Map Book dialog box, while creating the MAP BOOK?

  Thank you
  R Jayamangal

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