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This week I caught a whiff of an arresting, interesting, and at times smokin’ exchange on Twitter about the future of AutoCAD Civil 3D and BIM.

One side of the conversation was about the fact that Autodesk could solve problems inside of C3D in a more BIM like fashion, but apparently won’t. Indeed. Structures like curbs that know they are curbs and recognize internal parts like handicap ramps with rules would be a productive Godsend. Yes. I used the term “curb” loosely. This defines part of the problem.

If you use Civil 3D, you can think of a good number of these without much effort at all. These often good and rational ideas have flavored the wish list like the varieties of chili pepper. There are lots of them. Some of them are really hot. Had my share here. Autodesk don’t. If we consider the days, I believe it’s safe to predict they won’t.

Money or Monet?

The context matters. This is particularly true this time of year.

Autodesk publically much champions Infraworks 360 these days. Sometimes publically Autodesk seems to want AutoCAD based apps like Civil 3D to go away. Publicity people inside forget to mention each of the related apps by name and so speculations abound. We need to recognize that most of this public bias is about stock analysts and share price not about product function or use. The PR folks have a respectable and an important job.

What they DO may have nothing to do with YOU and what YOU do.

I put it this way:

Players don’t watch the score board while the pitcher is in his windup.

That has a Yogi like flavor to it.

Users have a right to whine when they feel ignored. There’s a lot going out there as the rights of spring approach: Changes to licensing, the cloud, extended workflows, and more.

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2016 is coming

I’d guess a lot of civil and survey people will try to read the tea leaves and figure out what’s happening and maybe what to do. So? Are we…

Caught Between Models?