The Benefits of using Autodesk Civil 3D

Designed by Autodesk and commissioned to an independent consultant this study looks at direct comparisons of the time, effort, and accuracy of each specific task using Autodesk® Civil 3D® versus the same tasks using base Autodesk® AutoCAD®.

This study found the same tasks were completed 95% faster when using Civil 3D, a direct time savings of 43 hours, 40 minutes through the course of the project. An increase in accuracy and precision were also seen in most tasks, reducing the potential for errors and rework. It is impossible to quantify possible rework amounts, but where typical errors could be avoided these were captured in the study details.

There were several tasks that the AutoCAD process was technically faster. In these cases, the Civil 3D process will, in the long-term, end up being more efficient due to the dynamic updating ability of the Civil 3D object data. Finally, there were also several tasks that were simply not realistic to perform using AutoCAD – these are noted in this study and the steps to perform these tasks using Civil 3D outlined.