The value of paper maps

My good friend Gordon posted about a paper map saving his day: https://mapguide.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/a-paper-map-saved-my-day/.

How refreshing! I had a similar experience this summer as well. We did a two week vacation to visit family in CA. Our trip meandered through CO, NM, AZ, UT, NV and lots of CA. A week before we left I went to WalMart and bought a map of the Western US. Not to knock anyone, but none of the workers had any idea where to find a map in the store, also got a few strange looks at the words "paper map"! Alas, they were tucked away with the magazines, a good selection of maps as well. My kids were intrigued by my purchase. I highlighted our route and everyone was hooked. I think the ability to see the scope of our trip really got them going and the tangibility of the map hooked them!

Along the way everyone wanted to help find the next turn or determine how many miles until the next bathroom, but it was my 11 year old who really lived the map, he navigated the bulk of our trip!

As a side, we only pulled out the trusty Google twice along the way.

Jeremiah

Using Block Attributes to Automatically Label AUD Features

This post describes how to set up and use attributes to automatically label AUD features. For example when you place a transformer in AUD it is automatically labeled with the kVa rating: 

The process is very simple and uses standard AutoCAD block attributes. In this post we will add and attribute for NAME_NUMBER  to the standard AUD Pole block.

Open AUD

Open the standard AUD pole block from C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\AutoCAD Utility Design 2014\R19.1\enu\Configurations\RUS\Style\.

Select the pole.dwg drawing.

Zoom into the pole and type ATTDEF at the command line, this will open the attribute definition dialog box. A block attribute is a text value that can be part of a block, visible or hidden, and can be driven by user input or existing values in a drawing.

In the Attribute Definition dialog box populate the Tag, Prompt and Justification values as seen here.

Click OK and you will be prompted to place the text, place it anywhere on the screen for now.

Once placed select the attribute to activate the grips, select the grip in the middle of the attribute (this is like the MOVE command).

Move the Attribute to the center of the Pole. This will show the pole name in the middle of the pole, you can set this anywhere to suit your annotation needs.

The finished drawing will look like this:

“Save as” a pole_att.dwg in the same folder and close the drawing.

Start a new AUD drawing (preferably the AUD template you use).

In the Configuration tab open the Industry Model dialog:

Select the Pole feature class and switch to the Styles tab:

Double-click the Default style to open the Style Editor dialog box:

In the Block field click the browse button, this opens the block selection window:

Click the green Add icon and browse to and open the pole_att.dwg file you just created:

Double-click the pole_att icon in the selection box to set it as the block to use:

In the Style Editor the Block field now says pole_att and just above that we see the NAME_NUMBER has been added:

Drop down the NAME_NUMBER value box and you will see the list of available AUD Pole attributes appear. Select “Name Number” from the list. This pushes the AUD Name Number value into the NAME_NUMBER attribute in the drawing.

Click OK and you will see the Default Style icon has been updated to show the attribute. Click Apply and OK to accept the changes.

Now place a new pole using the AUD Place Pole command from the ribbon.

Once the pole is placed select it and view its Feature Info (or Quick Info). In the Name Number field type in the pole name and press the Enter key.

The data is refreshed and the pole block now contains the Name Number as a label.

There are an infinite number of possibilities for labeling in AUD. Using attributes on objects automates the process. You can add as many attributes as you need to any block and they can use a combination of AUD driven values and user updated values. The AutoCAD help file has details on using Attributes. AUD Callouts (Industry Model Callout tab) work in the same way, they just do not have a graphical component like the circle for the pole. You can create custom callouts by starting with the LIN-CALL.dwg and STR-CALL.dwg found in:

C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\AutoCAD Utility Design 2014\R19.1\enu\Configurations\RUS\Annotations.

Jeremiah 

DWConnector for AutoCAD® Utility Design

DWConnector will make your life easier!

Here is a new video on DWConnector, a tool built by Spatial Business Systems (www.spatialbiz.com) for AutoCAD Utility Design.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E4MGyASkpk

DWConnector connects AutoCAD Utility Design to your finance and work order management systems. This allows your designers and engineers to do two tasks that typically are done in two other software's!

1. Manage their piece of the work order process in their native design environment.
2. Automatically generate material lists as they design with the current finance information and submit the final material list to the warehouse system for ordering.

This tool eliminates a lot of extra clicks and screens while removing the need to duplicate information.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Jeremiah

SBS DWConnector - SEDC for AUD

SBS DWConnector allows you to get real time costing and Work Order data from you financial system in AUD! Watch my video to see how it works.

Callout's in AUD 2014!

Have you had a chance to look at AUD 2014? The Callout feature is really nice, very simple, works… and has leaders… and automatic update's!

It is simply a block with attributes, you can then define the attribute fields with AUD fields in the editor:

The only limitation out-of-the-box that I see is it cannot grab data from the material list, so we cannot see the cost or minor materials through the label. Hopefully I am just missing something! I will let you know if I find it.

Jeremiah

Finding RUS Specifications and Drawings

I am posting this in hopes that it will help someone spend less time in a day finding the latest RUS standards for design!

RUS Electirc Bulletins page:

http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/RDU_Bulletins_Electric.html


A few of the documents I use on a regular basis:

Specifications and Drawings for 24.9/14.4 kV Line Construction (12/15/98):
http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/SupportDocuments/UEP_Bulletin_1728F-803.pdf

Specifications and Drawings for 12.5/7.2 kV Line Construction (4/21/05):
http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/SupportDocuments/UEP_Bulletin_1728F-804.pdf

Specifications and Drawings for Underground Electric Distribution (6/2/00):
http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/SupportDocuments/1728f-806.pdf


To my knowledge the Bulletins page contains the most current documents, so watch for updates!

Jeremiah