The Lone Wolf's Guide to Learning Map 3D (remember Civil 3D and Land Desktop are built on Map!)

Civil 3D and Land Desktop are both built on Map, which means you have access to the Map GIS tools (and more) inside both of those programs. This is a horn I toot A LOT- and worth tooting again.

IF YOU HAVE CIVIL 3D OR LAND DESKTOP OR MAP in your office YOU HAVE A GREAT GIS PACKAGE! Most people don't know that. You need to know that!

Take advantage of this list even if you have taken, or plan to take a Map 3D 101 Class, go through each item of this list to prepare yourself so that you can really get your money's worth.

Your boss is more likely to send the whole gang to training if s/he sees the benefits of what you were able to pick up on your own.

Two Extremely Basic Things YOU NEED to learn (if nothing else)

1) IMPORT ESRI FILES AS POLYLINES TO THE PROPER COORDINATES All of that free GIS vector data is out there. Why are you still tracing FEMA maps?

2) INSERT GEOREFERENCED RASTER IMAGES Don't play the eyeball game. Don't just slap in some not-to-scale scale and try to "make it fit". This stuff is often free, it already knows where to go. You NEED to know how to do this.

There is so so much more. Start small. Build up. Watch your billable hours increase.

List of Training Resources (in rough order of how I would tackle them).

1) Map 3D Mini Demos
Cost: Free
Don't get bogged down here. Just check out what is possible.

2) AUOnline - Recorded Classes from Last Year's Autodesk University
Cost: Free for subscription customers and people who attended, $395 for a full access pass until November 30, 2006.
Many lectures are available to watch recorded, and most also have handouts that you can download. Definitely AT LEAST download and read the handouts. A lot of great material here!
Specifically start with:
GS12-1- Introduction to Map 3D 2006 (good for 07 as well, EXCEPT if he talks about Civil Objects)
GS11-1 Locating and Importing Freely Available GIS Data
and then move in to task specific courses.

Chances are pretty good that if you have Civil 3D 2006 and especially Civil 3D 2007 (or Land Desktop 2007 or Map 3D 2007)that you are on subscription. If you aren't sure, check with your CAD manager. If s/he doesn't know, call your reseller and ask. Login to the Subscription Center here

3) Map 3D Webcasts
Cost: Free to watch live, Free to download or stream recorded sessions
Best one to start with:
Bridging CAD & GIS with Autodesk Map 3D
Recorded: Thursday April 21, 2005

4) Cadapult Civil Yahoo Group Files Area
Cost: Free to join, all welcome
I wrote a short, brief, bare bones paper for importing GIS data into Map. Super simple, but if you never have done it- it does the trick. Look for "Import Map Data.pdf"