I would love to have all of the Revit tools AND all of the Civil3D tools available for site design, in the same model. In practice, this would probably mean adding all the Civil3D functionality to the Revit engine, though that wouldn't have to be the case.
I want to have massing and objects that exist everywhere (not just in corridors) where I can set quantities, get real earthwork around pipe trenches, and break out soils based on different types of soils (clays, sand backfill, subgrades, bases, etc.) I would love to have EVERY object be a smart object, and get automated quantities of them. I want to have a "curb" and "sidewalk" and "tree" object to place on a site. Maybe even get a groundwater table element as well?
I want a model that's shared (or heavily interfaced) with the architects, so they can design a canopy over a site Civil sidewalk, and we can design retaining walls up to the building, and all the footings, pavements, and earth grades show up together in a single model, and sections through the site would show building basements and shells, earth modifications, site paving, and vegetation.
I want site pipe networks that tie into building pipe networks, and I want site power and lighting systems that tie into the building as well. I want photometric analysis that includes site and building lighting based on the model, and I want it all to be seamless and continually up to date. While I'm on a roll, I'd also love to have stormwater tools that reliably detect catchment areas and calculate impervious/pervious based on the model too. Architectural, Structural, and MEP Engineers currently have this.
But Revit as it stands right now can't handle this for Civil and Landscape. Civil 3D has all the grading tools, the corridor tools, and better sloped pipe tools. It also has the better interaction to storm analysis programs, and the ability to set alignments and profiles along an alignment (instead of just a straight-line section). It also has the ability to vertically exaggerate profile views (Revit can only match the vertical and horizontal scales).
Neither Revit or Civil3D really handles traffic signs, pavement markings, and traffic signals well, so I would love to have that functionality added as well.
When the architect asks: "Can you do the site design in our Revit model?" I want to say "Yes." Right now I have to say "No", and work in Civil 3D, and we're both constantly saving down to dwg and exchanging files--and the boundary work between the disciplines is always fuzzy. Even the pure roadway designers could get value from this--if the bridges, tunnels, retaining walls, lighting design, and roads all shared a model.
So can we do this? Can we add the Civil3D functionality to Revit, and improve the Site Works functionality? Can we expand Revit fully to the site? (Revit Electrical is a relatively recent addition, so there is precedent here.) Of course I'm imagining Civil3D would live on as a separate program for quite some time like AutoCAD architecture so nobody would lose their software. I'm also imagining Infraworks could serve as the conceptual partner for this beefed-up Revit, so we'd want good interplay between them.
That's my wish. Any chance we could get there? Now that Revit MEP is fairly mature, I would imagine you've got some skilled and talented programmers lying around looking for their next task?
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