EasySite 2.0.(Cad Easy's EasySite 2.0)(Software Review)(Evaluation)

Easy integration of CAD-based building models with map-based terrain models

One of the great frustrations in computer technology for architects, urban planners, contractors, and builders is the difficulty of combining computer descriptions of buildings with information about the site and terrain that those buildings occupy. To facilitate this process, Cad Easy Corp. has developed EasySite, a $495 plug-in for Autodesk's AutoCAD program that quickly and automatically contours 2D AutoCAD drawings, scanned paper maps, or USGS DEM files and arcs into 3D surface models.

EasySite fills an important niche in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) applications. Typically, buildings are drawn and modeled in vector-based CAD software, in which lines, surfaces, and volumes are defined by mathematical descriptions. In AEC, the most widely used CAD program for designing and describing buildings is AutoCAD.

Landforms and property boundaries, on the other hand, typically are recorded on maps, often with associated data points (spot elevations) or topographic information (contour lines). Map images usually are raster-based, which creates a conflict with vector-based CAD building models. Therefore, anyone wanting to visualize and study a building in relation to its site first needs to convert topographic maps or surveyed elevation data into a CAD-compatible 3D mesh that accurately models the terrain.

Matching a building to its site requires more than just an accurate terrain model, however; it also requires the ability to adjust and modify the terrain in order to properly set the building and its appurtenances--the surrounding roads, drives, walks, parking, fencing, signage, lighting, plant materials, and so forth.

As if all that weren't enough of a chore, the manipulation of landforms in the computer also must obey real-world rules and constraints for factors such as the maximum slope or grade of roads and ramps, or the greatest permissible pitch of unsupported soils of varying compositions. Surface drainage patterns must be accounted for, in both planted and paved areas, and inlets to subsurface drainage systems must be identified and accommodated. Paving profiles and the ways they intersect also must be realistic and rules-based (for example, two crossing streets of different widths, each with their own crown heights, gutters, curbing, and so forth).

A number of software products on the market address these needs, including Autodesk's Land Development Desktop, EaglePoint's LandCADD, and Nemetschek NA's VectorWorks LandMark. But, for many users who are primarily in the building design business, as opposed to full-time land development, most such products have comprehensive features they might not need, resulting in unnecessary cost or learning time for the narrowly defined task at hand.