Quote of the Week

“We have a GIS database with 200 layers of data for the Gulf of Maine, and by the end of the year we will know where that test bed is going to be.”

Habib Dagher, a professor at the University of Maine, on using GIS to find five test sites for deep water wind energy solutions. Gov. John Baldacci signed a bill in June that directs the state to identify up to five test areas by December 15. The bill also streamlines the permitting process for companies that want to set up renewable energy test projects in the Gulf of Maine. There’s also talk of locating the National Center for Deepwater Offshore Wind Research in Maine.

- The Working Waterfront

Comparing ROI for AutoCAD to that of AutoCAD Map

Cadalyst is hosting an article titled “Road Map to Cost Savings: Calculate ROI to determine the real financial benefits of switching from AutoCAD to Map 3D.”

Before plunging in, do note that the author, Marcia Carrillo, “is a researcher and adjunct professor of spatial and visualization information systems at Claremont Graduate University (Claremont, California)” who also does consulting. It’s also worth noting that she was US Sales Development Manager Geospatial at Autodesk.

After discussing some “typical” costs and estimated benefits, the article concludes:

With a modest gain of 5-10% on each task performed [data input, data management, data analysis, and deliverables publication] in Map 3D, you will realize a little bit more than two person-years (3,800 hours) at the end of a five-year period. If the average cost is $70 per hour, you will save $266,000 over five years if you move from AutoCAD to Map 3D.

Now, there’s no indication in the article that there is a gain of 5-10% in each task, but many of the features of AutoCAD Map are highlighted.

If memory serves, back in the day both Autodesk and Bentley claimed that about 1/3 of their uses of core CAD (AutoCAD or MicroStation) were doing some kind of mapping. Articles like this suggest that a great many are still on those platforms and not yet using CAD-based (or other) GIS solutions.