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Message 1 of 9
Banderson86
6855 Views, 8 Replies

Canadian CAD Standards

I am working for a Canadian Company and have been asked to find the following standards,

 

Architectural

Structural

Utilites

Siting

Civil

 

I was just wondering if anyone could help me with the above standards. I have been asked to

compare what we have . What makes it even harder is im from Australia and I am still trying to

adjust to the CAD standard symbols that North America uses.

 

Cheers

 

8 REPLIES 8
Message 2 of 9
lsimms1
in reply to: Banderson86

Where in Canada do you need standards for?

Each city or township has their own standards that are used with the provincial standards.

Message 3 of 9
Banderson86
in reply to: Banderson86

im in New Brunswick, but the tough thing is we work for a company that has offices nationwide.

 

Its wierd that there isnt just one standard that all provinces work off.

Message 4 of 9
OMCUSNR
in reply to: Banderson86

Not really that wierd.  Here in the US, there is the NCS, but it's more a guideline than a requiement.  For the most part, each municipality has their own "standards", usually cribed from some larder agency.  Here (Oregon), in Civil, the APWA is about the most "universal", but it combined with ODOT a few years back.  Some places have higher standards, some less.

 

About the only hard "national" standard is MIL Spec if you're dealing with the military.  It seeems like each industry has a "standard" that is more or less followed depending on client wishes.

 

Reid

 

PS - Civil 3D now comes with templates that layout preliminary NCS layering structures.

Homebuilt box: I5-2500k, MSI P67A-GD65, 12gig DDR3 1600 ram, ASUS ENGTX460 Video card, WD Velociraptor WD4500HLHX HD, Win 7 64 pro.
Message 5 of 9
Banderson86
in reply to: OMCUSNR

Thanks for clearing that up mate, I understand it a bit more now 😄

Message 6 of 9
longleyje
in reply to: Banderson86

One possible starting point for a "Canadian" standard may be that of Public Works and Government Services Canada.

See PWGSC National CADD Standard

 

If you explore enough here you will find even a download menu add-in for AutoCAD that supports their standard .

 

 

Again, only a start point

 

Jim L

Message 7 of 9
LeafRiders
in reply to: longleyje

Another very well put together AutoCAD and Civil 3D Standard would be the one issued by the MMCD of BC. It's actually based on the NCS. There are provincial standards where ever you look. The real challenge is to get the MoT, consultant, County, RM, provincial, and national all on the same page.

 

Personally, all the government body's out there need to appreciate the NCS and build their standards from that. It's not just standards that are important. The entire industry would benefit from 1 standard. Why create multiple standards when you don't "NEED" to? Then, you will not only spend time getting this up to speed each year for the version change, but then you have to deal with the definition and re-definition of your own standards vs. adopting the NCS (National CAD Standards - US).

 

MMCD Link - http://www.mmcd.net/

Message 8 of 9
AllenJessup
in reply to: LeafRiders


@LeafRiders wrote:

 

> Personally, all the government body's out there need to appreciate the NCS and build their standards from that. <> Why create multiple standards when you don't "NEED" to? <

 


Not that I don't agree with you. But who decides what IS Needed? Im my case it's our Engineers. What they have decided they need is:

1. Which of 16+ possible sheet sets the layer may need to appear on.

2. The source of the data on the layer; Drafting, Existing, Proposed, Theoretical, V [Survey points]. After each of these comes the source date (03222012).

4. What's on the layer; Pipes, Structures, EP, HCL, etc.

5. Additional info on contends; Pipes RCP, Pipes HDPP, Stuct MH, Stuct CB. You might have more than one additional descriptor.

6. Separate layers based on the above for Text and Dims. Not together on ANNO. Previously the scale that the text would be plotted at.

 

The whole thing boils down to this formula:

 

C S{I}) Fj {Fn …} {T (Scale)}  {} indicates Optional field.

(sheet Control) (Source[Iteration]) (Feature, Major) (Feature, Minor …) (Text [Scale])

 

ex.

G E CURB CONC LT - Existing Concrete Curb Left side on the General Plans

H P 04282001 ROAD STA OFST - Roadways:  station offset labels (Horizontal Alignment)

 

This did not evolve out of any true logic. No one (or at least the ones who could exercise control) wanted to learn to use Layer Filters. They wanted to be able to sort the layers and tell immediately what was on them without a lot of work on their part. I can't tell you how many times they flip-flopped on whether Sheet Control or Major Feature would be the first item!

 

I can't hold to an industry standard if my bosses don't want to. You know that government decisions are made by committees headed by people who don't do the day to day work. So none of the decisions come from their personal expertise.

 

Sorry this is a bit of a rant. But trying to get governments to do something logical is not a sport to be taken on lightly.

 

Allen Jessup



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 9 of 9

Sorry I didn't see this sooner, funny how things on the internet work. I noticed you were looking for Canadian CAD Standards....Many options here. First, if you are working for a large organization, they may already have a standard, which you should use. If not, if you are doing work for a local government (such as New Brunswick, Nova Scotia or other, you should contact them as they already have a "set" standard. And yes, PWGSC (Public Works Group Services Canada) has their own standards. And to make matters worse, the Atlantic group of PWGSC uses a different standard than Ontario or the Pacific and so on....Then, still at the Federal level, there is also the DND CAD Standards as well.....In fact, we even created a Revit to DWG conversion tool for PWGSC and DND. On top of that, we were also involved in created the Civil 3d Standards - portion of the DND CAD Standards and most of the library objects/families for the DND CAD Standards as well. And yep, we are located in New Brunswick as well!!  www.atlantic-cad.com   We are the largest, independent Autodesk Developer in Eastern Canada and as such, we have develop multiple custom CAD standards for Federal, Provincial and local governments as well as many local engineering firms.

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