Topic: Map - overlooked and underutilized?

[sinc]

We got a job platting a 280-lot subdivision.  It's the first time I've worked on something that large.  Asking around about how to go about this, I've gotten "Use LDD Parcel Manager" as the response.  Some people would start to tell me about the "Break Lines" command, and how useful it was.  I even tried asking the "best expert" of a couple of other companies, and got the same answers.  I figured there MUST be a better way.

So, I decided to try starting up Map for the first time.  I probably spent about three days trying to figure it out.  Using queries was an entierely different way of working with Autocad, and it took a while to get through the mechanics of it all.  It didn't help any that the Map tutorials seem to pretty much suck.

In the end, though, I figured out how to use centroids and polygon topographies, drawing cleanup, object data, and map annotations.  In the end, I was able to calculate and label the lot number and area of all 290 lots all at once.  It was a good thing I figured this out, too, because just as I finished, the client decided they wanted more "medium-sized" lots in the subdivision, and changed over half of it.  I figured the best thing to do was start over.

The second time, since I now had an idea of how to do things, I was able to cleanup the linework and get all lots labeled with lot number and area in three hours.  Keep in mind that I'm a Map newbie, so this was probably pretty slow.  (I suspect I could do it again in an hour.)  If I had used Parcel Manager, I figure it would have taken me at LEAST three days, and in the end I wouldn't be entirely sure there were no errors.

But then here's the real kicker:  the client then wanted to make a minor change that involved moving the lines of 10 lots by a foot toward the south.  I discovered that, by editing the topology, all I had to do was pick the 10 lines and specify which direction to move the lines.  All lot areas were automatically recalculated for me, even though one edge of the lots was on a curve.  All I had to do was update the annotations.  This simple edit would have taken me an hour to do with Parcel Manager, and instead it took me five minutes.

Just thought I'd mention this, in case anyone else out there has been ignoring Map.  I've barely scratched the surface, and I can already save days over LDD's way of doing at least this one task...

Unfortunately, it still takes a long time to get all those lines and curves labeled with bearings/distances/deltas/radii etc....

[Dinosaur]

When our IT installed Land Desktop for us he aparently decided we had no use for MAP and removed all of the shoprtcuts from the desktops.  We eventually found we had it, but don't know how to use it yet.  from what Iv'e seen on AUGI, the program does many marvelous things as you have apparently discovered, but the tutorials are absurd and so far no luck finding a book.

[Dent Cermak]

Both of ya'll REALLY need to go to this site and get your company to get these training goodies.

http://www.agtcad.com/

Map is good and there is a set of cd's that will give you all of the insight that you need.
But Sinc, if you used the parcel manager like they show on the LDD cd's, the clients requested changes would have taken no time at all. I haven't watched the cd's in great detail yet, but, I think that there is a way that when you label the lot numbers you also reference the acreage and other data. List the lot number and you have all of the info on the lot in the listed data.
Either way these cd's give you all of the info on the programs and you have them at hand for instant review. You can watch them as much as you like and everybody can use them.

[sinc]

But Sinc, if you used the parcel manager like they show on the LDD cd's, the clients requested changes would have taken no time at all. I haven't watched the cd's in great detail yet, but, I think that there is a way that when you label the lot numbers you also reference the acreage and other data. List the lot number and you have all of the info on the lot in the listed data.

That isn't the issue.  Sure, Parcel Manager pops labels on pretty easily.  The problem is DEFINING the parcels.  That's a real pain.  You have to do each one individually - there is no way to select a lotline layer, and have parcel manager analyze the linework and automatically generate parcels for every lot on the layer.

That's essentially what Map does.  You select the layer with the linework, the layer with the lot numbers, define a topology and annotation, and BAM!

Plus, in order to change the lots in parcel manager, I would have had to delete the old parcels and define new parcels.  That's a real pain, and easy to make errors during.

[Dent Cermak]

If you get the cd's I listed, they will show you how to do just what you want in LDD.

[sinc]

How about you try to do it?  If you can manage it, then tell me how.  I've used Parcel Manager a lot.  I'm pretty sure it's impossible, and getting those CDs won't change that fact.  If I'm wrong, I'd love to know.

[Dent Cermak]

I guess you are right. I do not use that part of LDD. My company does not design subdivisions. But on CD #4 of the training disks they do show how, after you have your exterior property lines and interior road row's that you can tell it "Give me the maximum number of X acre lots" and it does just that. Then you go in and edit the lots you don't like. Acreage changes, tell it to do it again. Maybe my blood sugar was too high when I watched the cd and I didn't see that. Won't be the first time. Can't check it out here at home, my cd player is belly up.

[sinc]

I'm not quite sure what you're talking about...  I can't think of any command in LDD that does what you're saying.  Maybe you can check the CD?  If there's an LDD command I don't know about, I'd like to know what it is.

I think you might be talking about the Parcel Creation utilities like "Slide Bearing" and "Swing On Line".  Those are useful commands, to be sure, but they don't do what you're saying, or what I was talking about.

I got a subdivision from an engineer, already designed, with lot numbers placed how he wanted the lots numbered.  Naturally, he had very sloppy linework, with lots of tiny gaps or overshoots in the lots.  Of course, it is impossible to figure areas with linework like this; it needs to be cleaned up.

The Map commands let you simply select the layer with the lots on it, and it cleans up all the linework (assuming you get the cleanup parameters  right).  No need to do any manual trimming/extending.  No need to zoom in at every intersection and make sure the linework doesn't have a .01 gap or overshoot.

Then I was able to simply select this layer, and create a polygon topology.  This is like a set of dynamic parcels.  I then created an annotation, selected the layer with the lot numbers, and got nice, custom-formatted labels (inserted as a single block, not multiple lines of single-line text, like you get from Parcel Manager).

Note how little I had to do - select the layer with the linework, and select the layer with the lot numbers.  Well, actually, it was a bit more complicated than that - I glossed over some details with the drawing cleanup, and I needed to convert the lot numbers to object data, which meant creating an object data table.  But it was quite simple, once I figured out some of the basics of using queries.

[Dinosaur]

Thanks for the tip on the CDs Dent.  It looks like anything I do will be on my own nickle(s).  I was looking at around $350 or better plus whatever travel expense to join on a class somewhere for some private training.