Yes We Can

I've noticed there has been a significant uptick in firms looking for engineers with rail design experience. I've been involved with a few projects with rail design elements though none with specifically new rail track, rail track realignment or rail track modification.

Of course, I know that Bentley has developed it's InRail Suite and MXRail Suite, and now somewhat combined them to produce its Rail Track product. Well since I know InRoads it makes sense that add some rail design familiarity in this new climate.

I've had this copy of InRail and InRail Suite on my machine for some time and used it on and off to the point that I know the basic tips and tricks bit its still not second nature the way that InRoads is so it couldn't hurt to recap, watch some instructional video and samples and then have a go at applying Caltrain Design Standards to both InRail and Civil 3D.

Revision - Microstation

The Software Foundation for Infrastructure Design
MicroStation V8i is used by engineers, architects, GIS professionals, constructors, and owner operators to design, model, visualize, document, map, and sustain infrastructure projects.

MicroStation is their preferred software foundation, because it delivers an integrated and proven suite of intuitive, interactive, and highly interoperable capabilities to the desktop.


Time for a little practice to cement my familiarity with V8 and XM.

Reminder: Have to track down some kind of trial version of V8i.

I have hundreds of hours of instructional demonstration video of Microstation and Microstation Vertical Products, all I need to do is watch them, practice a little more the exercises and recover the skills I had before my little absence.

And when I say hundreds of hours, I mean h u n d r e d s of hours.

Map 3D: COGO, Survey and Topology

Map 3D: Raster Files, Objects and Annotations

Map 3D: Source Drawing, Import, Export and Save-Back

The database functions are never fun if the program simply declares "no". No you cannot connect to the database, here is an icon, in the bottom right hand side is a superimposed red x, it means no.

Map3D: Interface, Drawing Cleanup Attributes and Coordinate Systems

No real changes to how I remember the drawing cleanup wizard, and that makes sense since it works pretty damn well, in fact often too well.

Actually I don't really see any additional features in this area of the software at least since 2007. I guess it wasn't broke.

Map 3D 2010

Being unemployed does have one advantage, you do get to try new stuff.

I'm pretty comfortable with using AutoCAD Map at least up to 2007, and I know that the software is improving as the user base is expanding, and of course ArcGIS is still outside the budget of all but the professional planners offices. I'm probably not about to be employed as a planner any time soon, so, the people I'm likely to be working with and competing against are likely to have a passing familiarity with Map.

Therefore all I need to be is better and cheaper than them.

So my latest challenge, learn AutoCAD Map better than anybody else I know.