Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site GIS Pond Planner??

I have seen some sites that allow you to calculate sf/acres from GIS Aerials. Has anyone seen software to plan ponds using GIS maps and contour lines to help design pond sizes, cut and fill etc?

Redfishman, I used AutoCAD to do mine. Local SWCD has a tool to take point elevations (GPS/Cell towers) and dump them to a cvs file. Most other CAD programs should have the same functionality.

If your local SWCD does not have the tool or are not willing to do so, you may look at State Plane data, specifically Lidar. Again this is in Ohio, not sure what other states have. The data is not as accurate, especially if there are trees in the way, open field and you should be good to go.

Google Sketchup may meet the requirement but have not used it since I was introduced to AutoCAD.

I have step-by-step guides for importing Lidar data and also how to create the pond with cut/fill tables if you have access to AutoCAD. Let me know if you need them.

Good luck, it made me feel a lot better to have the all the elevations, cut/fill data, and engineering docs when getting contractor quotes.

Thanks, I have never used any cad programs. My assumption is they are pretty tough to learn?

It depends on the complexity of the program. Some CAD programs are business based, and priced to match. I don't know of any individuals that are purchasing SolidWorks for their home computer if they aren't generating income from it (for instance).