Irrigation Software

[Mary Beth]

I am currently looking for a good Irrigation software package that is compatible with AutoCAD 2009. I have briefly researched RainCad, LandCad, and LandF/X. What software do you use and/or what would you recommend.

[Jay Everett]

My firm uses LandFX and we are very happy with it. I’vd discussed this elswhere, but its a great program and you recieve great service from thier IT assistance.

[Joshua K]

I have also used LandF/X and have been happy with the results in the irrigation portion, however I found it difficult to switch between imperial and metric units, and it is not possible to combine the two in the irrigation calculations (i.e. PSI with millimeter pipe)

[Jay Everett]

I know that for a while there was some bugs between LandFX and AutoCAD 2007. I think those have been addressed. I have not heard about issues with ’08. I am still using ’06 but we have ’07 Civil3D in our office and we have not had any issues. Although I have had UCS and text scale problems with coordinates done in ’07 Civil 3D because I have regular ’06 and none of the patches I have downloaded from AutoDesk have worked. This is a CAD issue not a LandFX issue.

Also, “Dview “”Twist” command for rotating your drawing in a viewport does not get along with LandFX. You must use a UCS to rotate your drawing.

[Marc Chapelle]

henry cohen said:

If you’ve used the correct plants, they’ll do just fine.

Henry, sadly for the rest of the US, we are not all blessed with 60″/year in rain like PA. When I practiced in VA, you just kicked it into the hole and waited for the clouds. Unfortunately, if you don’t irrigate it here in the arid West, it won’t grow. Local code requires 1 tree for every 30 lf of frontage, etc., so planting Sage or Russian Olive isn’t gonna cut it with the local inspector. Drip systems are the big ticket, here.

Tried LandCad for a while – too cumbersome for me. We just bang out irrig. plans with hand calcs & AutoCAD. Not probably the best, but it works. Or better yet, on the really big jobs, farm it out to an irrigation consultant!

[Marko]

Ive been using LandFx for irrigation for the past 4 years. I know its getting pricey..but if you use it every day like I do..then id say go for it.

m

[Jon Altschuld]

my company uses RainCAD, im not the primary irrigation designer and Im not a big fan of it because when you export to CAD it has some difficulties….Look into the EaglePoint products-I use it for landscape design and irrigation design, but they also have software for everything from site analysis to traffic intersection design. EaglePoint LandCADD is the program you would want to look into-they have 2 different irrigation packages-irrigation design and advanced irrigation design. The whole EaglePoint LandCADD program is basically a plugin for AutoCAD so it operates as a new window right over CAD and you do all of the irrigation work in the CAD drawing using the LandCADD tools.

As for LandFX, I actually havent used it, but the reviews from the other members here sound pretty good!

Jon

[Jon Altschuld]

just FYI, I recently found out EaglePoint LandCADD does not support AutoCAD 2009 yet….sadly this means I can only use EaglePoint on my old computer now-my new computer is 64-bit in order to support/use some of its components, meaning I have to use AutoCAD 2009.

EaglePoint says they are planning on making it compatible, but have no time frame….

[Dennis J. Jarrard, PLA, CLARB]

Our office uses both Land F/X and Civil 3D (limited basis) and I haven’t found any problems. I have just found out that Land F/X is making some changes for 2009 and they will be charging a separate fee for the Irrigation component of their software. I think it’s only like $100 difference between not getting it or getting it. I have fallen in love with Land F/X. At past jobs I have tried Eagle Point’s LandCadd and it is a cumbersome and clunky program. It would appear to have a lot of capabilities but it’s just too much of a learning curve. Land F/X is very intuitive and user friendly. Although I don’t do a lot of irrigation design it appears to have a lot of functionality. We are currently using Autocad 2008 and have found no problems using the software. One of my colleagues has mentioned that Raincad has some incompatibility with Autocad.

[Anonymous]

I use Eagle Point and AutoCAD. However, I was trained on Eagle Point when I started out as an irrigation designer. When I started my company three years ago I reviewed and completed a design using Eagle Point, Land FX and RainCAD. Honestly, I thought all did what they promised. The deciding factor for me was that neither Land FX or RainCAD was any better than Eagle Point, and I really did not want to deal with the learning curve involved with running a new software.

[Doug Prouty]

I use regular auto cad. I manually add up the gpm used for drip systems and spray heads. I’ve created a standard legend and symbol blocks that i can drop into the drawings. it was a bit of upfront leg work, but it’s easy to train employees on and the learning curce is pretty much aero if they understand how to use cad.

I’d like to go to Land F/X and it’s something that may happen in the future. I would recommend Land F/X since it is very user friendly. The only hang up is if you have gone through the effort to build your own irrigation library, you’ll be starting over but with Land F/X’s library.

[ikaika fish]

We’ve been using LandFx at my firm without problem. LandFX constantly updates their software through downloads so when we discover a bug, it is usually repaired within a few weeks. One issue we found is that it doesn’t have golf components.

[Clayton Munson]

I use LandFX for all of my planting plans. Haven’t had to delve into the irrigation side of things but if it’s as easy as planting it should be no problem. I work in a design/build and the guys in the field have a better idea of what is required as far as pipe runs and valve locations.

Doug you talked about people having their own library. Land FX will let you easily add all your own symbols into their library.

[Anonymous]

Netafim has a great calculator tool, available on their website, for calculating estimated GPM based on area of a drip zone.

[Clayton Munson]

It must be nice to live/work in a place that gets 69in of rain per year. And irrigation is not a big deal. I work in Phoenix AZ where we’re lucky to get 7in annually. Most of that comes within a month. All plants require water to survive, even native ones. As for water conservation on a regional Phoenix collects water from snow melt in reservoirs for the dry periods. They have also taken steps to curb the use of water intensive landscape by limiting their use to backyards only. They also require all irrigation to be drip systems, with the exception of turf. NO SPRAY. Speaking of turf they are also limiting the amount of turf that is allowed on a site.

On the resident scale many people are beginning to request water harvesting. Yes harvesting our whopping 7in. Grey water systems are also coming into play.

You mentioned in an earlier post that irrigation on ornamental plants takes more water than “edible crops”. That maybe true in some places. I bet not as common as you might think. Crops are often watered multiple times each day.

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