Pros and cons of switching to NCS standards?

[jeff_rivers]

We are considering overhauling our CAD standards and switching away from the old and unsupported APWA standards and switching to the new v6 NCS standards.  

I believe we are a holdout and are one of the few remaining agencies still using APWA standards.  'We' are Snohomish County, Washington, the third-largest county, by population, in Washington state.  

So I have some questions - How many of you are still using the APWA layer standards?  If so, why?  

For the NCS standards, what are the pros and cons of switching?  

I can see a big workflow impact, as we have projects that run out over several years, so we'll have a mix of standards in use for a while.  

But I see an efficiency in that we hire consultants for survey and design work, and if most of the industry has switched to NCS, then we are holding our consultants back and requiring them to maintain an older standard just for us.  If we fall in line with the rest of the industry our consultants possibly won't have to maintain an older standard just for us.  

What are some other pros and cons of NCS vs APWA?  

[Joe-Bouza]

I guess that depends on the depth you go. I have no issue with the layer convention but take personal liberties. 

but stick to <discipline>-<major/minor>-<descriptor>-<blank or N>

[AllenJessup]

The biggest reason for our switch was to stop fighting Civil 3D. I know everything is customizable.  But letting the program have it's head on layer creation has worked better for us. Other layers still need to be created following the standard.

There is a hit on old projects. I'm working on one from 1995 right now. Once you establish a workflow in the first one. The rest will come easier. If you wish to automate it. Probably the best way is to create a script or Lisp using the
-Rename command.

Nice area. Any damage from the storms that hit the sound?

[Anonymous]

You are not the only company or city that is going NCS.

The City of Austin, Texas changes just last year for all CIP projects and is looking to change all site and civil plans to be in NCS to ease reviews and assist with GIS mapping for the city.

And now where i work - two senior designers (one an eit) and two PE's are about to embark on the NCS road and rework the whole company.

Whole lot of hard decisions and documentation to write and backup.

Look for several more new autodesk accounts . . . . 

best of luck and yes, i come here daily to learn more about Civil 3D and solutions.

and Happy & safe holidays to all.

thank you for sharing your knowledge, it makes the world a better place.

nonbeard13

[jeff_rivers]

---

@AllenJessup wrote:

Nice area. Any damage from the storms that hit the sound?

---

Thanks!  No immediate damage I've heard of, although our power here at work briefly went out a little after Noon.  I expect to see more downed tree branches in my neighborhood when I get home tonight.  NWS Seattle tweeted out a list of the highest wind speeds measured by some of their remote weather stations, and some of the higher ones were 65 mph to 111 mph up at higher elevations.  Most urban areas reported 45 mph to 65 mph.  

[AllenJessup]

Yeah. My wife's sister lives on Bainbridge Island so we got some reports. Not much damage there.