Computer-Aided Design Resources

The City of Austin Capital Delivery Services Engineering Services Division (ESD) provides engineering and design services for Capital Project Delivery projects. ESD also manages the development and delivery for City of Austin CAD (Computer Aided Design) Delivery Standards. 

ESD uses the 2024 version of Autodesk products and currently prefers AutoCAD Civil 3D 2024 as the software delivery version. Note that if a different version is selected for a project, then that version shall be maintained throughout the life cycle of the project. Additionally, ESD does not discourage the use of 2022 or higher versions of AutoCAD products, however, keep in mind that there may be compatibility issues with Civil 3D objects and software-related issues with newer release versions. 

The use of Autodesk 2022 software is a minimum requirement for all contracts. Existing contracts will not change, so the choice of upgrading content to the 2022 version is left to the consultant. As a note of caution, Civil 3D objects might encounter compatibility issues across the versions that share the 2018 dwg format. Keep this in mind when upgrading or downgrading data between versions. 

The support files and documentation below were put together to provide as much upfront assistance as possible to users. Because there are so many ways to customize the software, the resources below were kept as simple as possible. If you have any problems, questions or suggestions regarding these files or our CAD standards or want to subscribe to receive email updates regarding these standards and referenced workflows, please contact Istvan Voiculescu from the City of Austin CAD Support team at Istvan.Voiculescu@AustinTexas.gov.

Documentation 

• CAD Standards Manual
• Autodesk Workflows
• Bentley Workflows
• Checklists

Resource Data 

• Autodesk Configurations – 2022 (AutoCAD, Map, C3D), 2023 (C3D only) and 2024 (AutoCAD, Map, C3D)
• Bentley Configurations – 2023 (Microstation)
• Trimble Configurations – 5.9 (Trimble Business Center)
• CAD Datasets – GIS and miscellaneous datasets converted to standardized CAD datasets in both dwg and dgn format (includes grids, planimetric, elevation, utilities, hydrology, cadastral and more)
• Civil Project Folder – desired folder structure for a civil engineering project
• Austin CAD Users Group – Discord or LinkedIn – share and learn with other CAD users in the Austin area and across the world