Debrief

Those of you that follow me on twitter probably picked up that I've been on the road the past few weeks.

You may have also spotted me in some of Jack's photographs of Manchester. The ideas always get flowing when this troop gets together. In addition to workflow and technical breakthroughs, I also came up with the concept of a Civil 3D reality show where we swap technical specialists from one geography to another. For example, Jack takes over Jerry's midwest territory, while Jerry hits the road in the UK. I can only imagine the reaction to Jack's left hand drive demonstrations in the great plains, and I see Jerry rambling along in an ancient truck and dapper hat making rounds James Herriott style. Nobody else seemed to think this was a great idea, though.

After a week in Manchester digging into a special project, I visited AEC Systems in Sydney. We sat down with two of their clients, and held a lunch where we talked about what BIM means for the Civil Engineering market. The guys also talked me into doing the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb with them, which was truly life changing.

 

I must say when Sean originally told me about it, I was scared. My worries were unfounded- and it was amazing. While I don't think my fear of heights was totally cured, I will say that I am less likely to avoid opportunities just because they are scary. It was a lot like adopting Civil 3D and an intelligent modeling process- but I will save that analogy for a longer post later this week.

Next, I traveled to Brisbane to speak with KarelCAD and their customers about BIM, and touch base with their Civil team. I only saw Brisbane briefly, but it looked like a place I'd like to get to know better. Tons of sunshine, palm trees and a funky coastal town energy.

Before leaving Australia, I stopped in Melbourne for a breakfast session with some local firm project managers and owners. The event was put on by CADApps and Civil Survey Solutions. (You might know from Advanced Road Design and Stringer.)

I then spent Thursday and Friday in Auckland with teamblue22 at Civil 3D University, New Zealand. What an impressive event! Robert, Shane and the crew hosted nearly 100 users, and put on 14 unique Civil 3D and related product classes. The users in New Zealand are phenomenal, and I was great putting faces to names I recognize from Autodesk University and the discussion groups, as well as seeing old friends like David Growcott.

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I have pages of notes to go through today- on pipes, stormwater, BIM, Navisworks, QTO, Revit-Civil 3D interop, and more- so stay tuned. I am looking forward to getting back in the blogging swing after six weeks of being too busy to sit still.

My few free hours in Australia, I spent climbing the bridge and examining structural engineering, but I did manage to explore Auckland a bit on Saturday and took some pictures of drainage and curbing. The thing that struck me the most is that much of the curbing in made of volcanic rock.

 

From an urban planning perspective, Auckland has an interesting park where sheep and cattle roam freely amongst the joggers and picnickers.

If you are interested, I've posted some pictures to my flickr album. Auckland Parks and Drainage, Civil 3D University NZ.