Topic Title

Looking for site plan software that allows me to map a site (cottage, boat house, deck etc) on a survey area to get approval for building. Requirements include adding measurements, calculating birds-eye sq feet, distance from property lines...etc

DataCAD is very good at this. Do you have any prior cadd experience? Will you be interfacing with an engineer that uses AutoCAD or another cadd program?

I'm trying to hire someone in my area Muskoka's in Ontario but I'm having problems finding someone. I've taken some/most of the measurements and was thinking maybe I could do some of this my self?

Do you think I'm dreaming?

No, you're not dreaming - but unless you have some cadd experience it will likely take you some time as you go through the learning curve. DataCAD will be a shorter learning curve than AutoCAD, but you'll still have a learning curve!

This forum is a wonderful place to ask questions as you're starting out and learning the program. Don't be afraid to ask!

The hardest part of site work is remembering how the "compass" works when in "bearings". I usually do all the layout and bearings-work with 'straight-up' being NORTH regardless of how the final drawing will orient. If not a total-pain, I'll even put the title-block and border in at an angle. You can always "rotate" the entire finished drawing to a normal orientation later-on during the drawings process.

One thing to keep in mimd is you can change both the "units" and "compass-type" back and forth while your working on the drawing. This is useful when you have engineers' decimal feet on the drawing, yet need to imput foot-inchs from your architectural drawings. I just wish that when the grid-angle was not "zero", there was a graphic in the lower corner to remind you of the offset compass-directions like Autocad has.

Here's a cheap trick that I've been using since 1988:

I'll draw the site with north up and let the property lines go where the metes/bounds directs them to. I'll then put a target at each property corner with the crosshairs in the vertical/horizontal position. This way I can rotate the site to my heart's content and always have a reference of the true compass direction!