AiC July 2016 Newsletter
We’ve had the EU in/out vote and have to live with its consequences, whatever direction it may take
us. And if you were an England football fan, it can only get better! Well done to Wales, Andy Murray
and Lewis Hamilton. Just the Olympics and the Ryder cup to go then!
GeoBusiness 2016
We had a great show! Congratulations again to the organisers of this year’s Geobusiness (GeoBiz)
show, with over 2,200 attendees visiting from 50 countries. GeoBiz has kept up its high standard and
clearly represents the premier annual event for our industry. We didn’t attend the banquet held on
the evening of the first day, as AiC staff preferred to go out for a “Brazilian” meat feast.
Phil and John presented a workshop on 30 years in business, existing and future revisions and a new
licencing policy, which we hope to have fully in place later in the year. The room was packed, with
people standing at the back. We also announced limited period special 30% discounts on our
products. See later for more details.
Debs “from the office” joined us on the stand for the two days and clearly enjoyed herself!
Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
For the very latest on what we’ve been up to try following us on social media. News is regularly
updated and we have an increasing following.
Twitter:
Tag: @appsincadd
URL: https://twitter.com/appsincadd
LinkedIn:
URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/applications-in-cadd
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Applications-in-Cadd-283228448453604/
AiC Newsletter July 2016
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Leica/AiC Joint Presentation – Scotland
Phil and Andrew joined up with Dave Dawson from Leica to carry out a joint presentation on AiC and
Leica products, highlighting the best way to integrate both.
The event was held at Forth Valley College in Scotland with 25 delegates attending. Refreshments and
a buffet meal were provided. This was a free event and was very well received.
Phil also demonstrated nDigit and the new 3D viewer in n4ce. When asked how much the new 3D
viewer would cost, his response got immediate applause when he announced it was included in
maintenance upgrades!
As the event was well supported, we’re looking to repeat the exercise in the East Midlands close to our
offices and will post news on the event in late summer.
Scottish Training – Aberdeen By-Pass
Phil and John recently carried out n4ce training for engineers and surveyors working on the 58km long
Aberdeen bypass AWPR project. The project began in early in 2015 and is intended to finish late 2017.
Its possibly the largest UK earthworks, structures infrastructure currently being built in the UK.
This is a combined venture involving Balfour Beatty, Galliford Try, Morrison Construction and Carillion.
The project is environmentally sensitive with teams of people monitoring the project. Bunds are being
built to reduce the visual impact and create sound barriers.
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The site is being flown to generate LiDAR grids that can be edited in n4ce to remove plant and
extraneous data so volume comparisons can be made to determine movement of materials.
Promotional Campaigns
AiC is currently running a number of promotional campaigns, the major ones being:
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30% discounts on software pricing
Back on Board (BoB)
In addition to the above, we are also encouraging users to supply Feedback on Projects with which
they are involved. The incentives here are AiC merchandise, including Bluetooth speaker AiC beanie
hats and AiC monogrammed Srixon AD333 golf balls.
AiC has recognised that its customers are our best advert and we get many new clients through
referrals. In the past we’ve recognised this and given “in-kind” incentives. This year, we are also
offering an AiC Jacket in our Introduce a Friend promotion. To qualify, the new user must have
purchased the software with or without the 30% discount mentioned below. The jackets are made by
Uneek, with fleece inner lining and a nylon outer skin. Very tough! We have Medium, Large, XL, 2XL
and 3XL sizes available.
In celebration of our 30th year in business, we are offering special incentives to both new and old
clients, namely special discounts on our software. This offer is available for a limited period only, so if
you are in the market to expand your computing needs, then we are sure there is an offer that suits
your requirements, but be quick! For example, if you wish to upgrade from a Lite to Professional
licence, the cost would normally be £1000+vat, but with the 30% discount promotion this would be
£700+vat.
We also recognise that some clients have stopped their maintenance on some n4ce licences, especially
after the financial crash of 2008. We’re giving these customers a chance to upgrade to the latest
release in our Back on Board campaign. The normal cost of this would be based on paying 50% of
the maintenance due for the years that have been missed. To take advantage of features you are
possibly missing and compatibility with the latest database, including 64bit processing, multi core
processing and the new 3D viewer, simply contact us for a price as each situation will be different.
Note You could combine BoB with the 30% discounts mentioned above to get the all singing version of
n4ce you deserve!
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A New Boat for 4Site Sonar
The first successful outing of our new Sonar Boat took place recently. This is a twin hulled, fibreglass
boat with a shallower draft than our Carplounge boat and specifically designed to carry a GNNS
system. The GNSS/prism sits centrally on the 1.2m long hull with propulsion using twin jet system to
negate the effect of weeds. An on-board computer logs and backs up both position and depth
sounding, before sending it to the shore based operator using long range blue tooth transmissions.
This allows the creation of real time maps and a record of where the boat has travelled.
One of the benefits of the shallow draft is that the new boat does not push water along, it glides over
the surface, being more efficient with the battery life. The Carplounge boat has a battery life of close
to 4hrs, which we’ve found more than adequate for the projects we’ve carried out so far. Also included
is a battery indicator, so they can be replaced as necessary.
We’re planning to demonstrate the new boat at the forthcoming Leica golf day being held at the Forest
of Arden, for which AiC are sponsoring prizes, on Tuesday 2nd August. We are also attending the Flood
Expo, being held at EXCEL in the Dockland this coming October and will be running live demonstrations
of the Sonar Boat and 4Site Sonar.
What’s Coming up with n4ce?
We are preparing a new release of n4ce, v3.10c July, that should be on our website for downloading
shortly. This version will introduce drag and drop tools and speed/capacity improvements. The new
3D viewer is out on beta testing and will be available on general release later in the year.
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To whet your appetite, here are a list of the features contained within the 3D Viewer:
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The interface uses the same yellow cube icon;
Newer ribbon menu interface used;
4 modes of movement using mouse interaction;
It’s available to Lite, Professional and Designer editions – but not the freebie Viewer;
Backcloth models are automatically included, if turned on, within the viewer;
Aerial photo registration, using various georeferenced file formats;
Material/texture mapping attached to Groups;
Transparencies (water);
Swapping in/out backcloth models;
Changing view types of models (shading, wire frames, textures, images etc.);
Switching on/off contours and features;
Very responsive and takes large files;
Recordable fly-through (AVI) along alignments.
A New Extension at AiC Mansion
If you have been following our tweets you will
have kept up to date on the developments behind
our offices. We are building an extension to
provide much needed space for training, along
with a new kitchen to allow improved hospitality.
The project was carried out by a local builder
called Richard Moon from drawings also by a local
architect, Adam Brown.
The build has been without any serious problems
so far, except for the demolishing of an outside
wall by a skip driver. A little collateral damage
and as Karen said “you can’t make omelettes
without breaking eggs”! We hope to be using the
new extension late summer.
In addition to the new building, the garden now has decking, which is not overlooked and a sun trap
for the “workers” to enjoy their lunches, undisturbed. We’ve also been able to add access for
wheelchairs and a Disabled toilet.
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Training Dates
Course costs are £175+vat per person per day. We can also offer one-to-one training at our offices for
£350+vat and can also come to your offices which may be a cheaper alternative where training for 4 or
more people is required. Our daily rates are £695+vat plus travel and subsistence, where applicable.
Tuesday 26th July- Beginners
This course will take you through basics of n4ce, how it is set up and the code table with hands on
exercises. CAD will be introduced including the creation of symbols and generating points from CAD.
General Import/Export will be covered along with feature creation, model creation and editing.
Wednesday 27th July - Intermediate
Now we get interesting, with fireworks! Taking over from the Beginners course, sections volumes and
Drawings will be discussed in detail. Introducing select List and automatic filtering of height text, plus
more options for generating points from CAD. Don’t attend on this course if you don’t have the basics!
Thursday 28th July – Advanced * Cancelled * new date TBC
This is for the specialists, who want to carry out design covering features found in the Pro and Des
editions, including alignments and access to the dedicated CAD backcloth. The import and editing of
different data types including LiDAR grids.
Please Contact Deborah for all your training needs at [email protected]
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