SierraSoft Land Design Studio is a comprehensive Building Information Modeling (BIM) software solution tailored for land surveying, 3D modeling, and analysis, particularly for transportation infrastructures. It empowers users to produce, modify, share, and analyze topographic information models, optimizing activities and containing costs by integrating land surveying, restitution, and information modeling simultaneously. This single product provides all necessary tools for managing land surveying, 3D modeling, land surveying analysis, information modeling, and quantity calculation. It incorporates all functionalities found in SierraSoft Land (for land 3D modeling and analysis) and SierraSoft Survey (for calculation and adjustment of topographic measurements), offering a unified and powerful platform for civil engineering and surveying professionals.

Features & Benefits

• Data Acquisition
  • Allows use of data from various sources including total stations, GPS, laser scanners, or drones, with direct import from instrument files and management in specialized tables.
• Survey Calculation
  • Executes calculations for mixed total station and GPS/GNSS survey data, processing all types of surveys with different methodologies such as average readings, traverses, free stations, and earth sphericity correction.
• Least Square Adjustment
  • Performs rigorous adjustments using the least squares method to achieve maximum reliability in measurement calculations and display error ellipses.
• Point Cloud Management
  • Enables simple handling of one or more point clouds of any size with fast loading and display, real-time drawing and extraction functions, and tools to extract models and calculate volumes. Includes "SierraSoft Mass Data Converter" for various file formats.
• Survey Restitution
  • Manages all information while completing and enhancing it, allowing automatic design creation from traditional coded surveys or digital survey functions for point clouds. Supports photos, satellite imagery, and digital maps.
• Terrain Modeling
  • Generates accurate 3D terrain surfaces with discontinuity management and high processing speed, capable of handling models from small to large point cloud triangulations, and completing jobs with contour lines.
• As-Found Model Creation
  • Creates new objects from acquired data, defining geometries and their information content to produce a complete information model highly useful for design.
• Coordinate System Support
  • Supports a wide range of coordinate systems, including EPSG standards-based and localized systems, ensuring accuracy and consistency in design and information modeling.
• Coordinate Transformation
  • Transforms coordinates between reference systems using calibration points, offering various transformation types such as barycentric, affine, homographic, 3D Helmert, polynomial, and 3D conformal.
• Transformations Between Coordinate Systems
  • Facilitates easy switching of coordinates between different systems (e.g., with control points, between EPSG systems, axis inversion), applicable to points or all graphic entities in the project.
• COGO Commands
  • Provides commands to quickly and accurately create new survey points for intersection, offset, tangency, alignment, projection, and slope, streamlining drawing and data entry.
• Survey Codes
  • Manages information in the field and automates design by generating break lines for the mathematical model and obtaining automatic survey design and BIM information models.
• Survey Drawing
  • Creates an accurate topographical representation of the land using drawing functions, allowing customization of points and lines drawings and supporting photos, satellite images, and digital cartography.
• Cross Sections
  • Extracts and manages sections of 3D models automatically, either along a direction or a polygonal alignment, and extracts complex sections using multiple 3D surfaces.
• Volume Calculation
  • Calculates volumes using different methods depending on data and goals, including calculations from a model’s triangular surfaces or extracted sections, with high precision for triangular surfaces.
• 3D Design
  • Enables easy design of complex surfaces with immediate 3D representation, including features for leveling, sideslopes, polylines offset, connection surfaces, and merging models for precise project 3D models.
• Hydrological Analysis
  • Obtains valuable information for hydrographic and hydrological analysis, facilitating decision-making for new projects, displaying slope vectors, valleys, ridges, and calculating basin filling volumes.
• Advanced Information Modeling
  • Defines BIM models in detail simultaneously with design, integrating buildingSMART's IDS and bSDD standards for intuitive creation, management, modification, and validation of information content, and supporting BCF for multidisciplinary collaboration. Requires the SierraSoft BIM Modeling extension.
• Information Exchange & Multi-disciplinary Integrated Design
  • Shares project information in open formats like IFC (2x3, 4.1, 4.3) and LandXML for export to other software, and imports information models of various works for integrated design and management of federated models. Requires the SierraSoft BIM Exchange extension.
• Information Analysis & Verification
  • Analyzes, verifies, and validates information content of BIM models simultaneously with design and modeling to identify and resolve errors at the point of origin, including interference detection and specific checks for topographic and infrastructural models. Requires the SierraSoft BIM Checking extension.
• Information Documents
  • Automatically generates required information documents such as planimetry, cross sections, and prints from survey, project, and information model data, all customizable and consistent.
• Information Models in Open Formats
  • Creates customizable information models in IFC and LandXML formats according to BIM Execution Plan (BEP) specifications, defining version, domain, spatial structure, elements, graphical representations, and properties.
• Positioning & Staking Out
  • Generates reports and data to be sent to instruments for staking out represented elements, supporting formats used by widely adopted topographic instruments.
• Positioning & Construction
  • Generates reports, drawings, and models for topographic positioning of projects and construction, including exporting models for "machine control" systems to automate processes.
• As-Built Model Creation
  • Creates information models representing built structures in detail, integrating project data with information acquired during the construction phase, supported by design and 3D modeling tools.
• Platform for Coordination & Integration
  • Serves as a platform to coordinate multidisciplinary design by allowing sharing of models and importing various infrastructure models (railways, roads, hydraulic works, bridges, tunnels, buildings) to create aggregate models.