Autodesk Civil 3D started out to establish a change in the civil engineering paradigm. First get the model and, most importantly, the data behind that model right. For practical purposes that word right means - suitable. From that suitable model we may automatically publish what we need to deliver in many forms.
It…
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Posted by
Tench Tilghman
Oct 01, 2026
Tags Civil 3D, Description Key, Description Key Set, figure, figure db, survey figure, survey db, points, survey point, COGO points, video
The Point is one of the most overused words in Autodesk Civil 3D. Are we talking about COGO points? Survey Points? Point Groups? Point data in a Surface? Points of Intersection in our horizontal, vertical, and cross section control?
This list of different and/or separate meanings for the word Point seems to be a never-ending story.
The mastery of…
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Posted by
Tench Tilghman
Feb 12, 2026
Tags Description Key, Description Key Set, point, Point Style, Point Label Style, expressions, Expression Set, Property Set, point group, figure, survey db
Autodesk Civil 3D is a feature rich production environment for surveyors and civil engineers. We all discover that Civil 3D requires customization to be usable in real world projects. The cost of this Civil 3D Template, Civil 3D Style, and other mission-critical resource development may quickly become greater than the cost of the software itself.…
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Posted by
Tench Tilghman
Feb 15, 2022
Tags point, figure, Survey Query, figure prefix db, Description Key Set, iPOD, Civil 3D 2022, Civil 3D 2021, Civil 3D 2020, video, Jump Kit
The Framework for Civil 3D is all about the reduction of the many manhours spent to get Civil 3D to function as advertised in production Civil 3D project environments. The Autodesk Civil 3D software we employ every day is only as capable as the content tools we have and then must maintain. Now that’s a bit crazy.
The Framework for Civil 3D is all about the…
Freedom… Read more
Posted by
Tench Tilghman
Jun 23, 2020
Tags Civil 3D 2020, Civil 3D 2019, AddOn, Jump Kit, Description Key Set, figure db, spreadsheet, XML, customization, Update, Upgrade
If you use Autodesk Civil 3D in any release, the odds are that you employ LandXML (and some of the other supported ASCII text formats) inside your civil engineering and survey projects. If you don’t at least employ LandXML to backup and protect externally Civil 3D Features like Surfaces, Parcels, Alignments…
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Posted by
Tench Tilghman
Apr 30, 2020
Tags Civil 3D 2021, Civil 3D 2020, Civil 3D 2019, landxml, alignment, profile, Quick Profile, surface, DREF, video, Description Key Set, figure prefix db