Landscape Architecture

[Anonymous]

I want our Landscape Team to be able to team work with the Architects using Archicad. Not a problem I know but the Landscape Team want to be able to schedule plant no.s to an area and as that area is altered so the plant numbers alter with it etc. 'Artisan' software backed with Autocad apologies for the swear word has been mentioned.
Question:
Is there any known landscape software developed to run with Archicad?

[Karl Ottenstein]

Zones can be used to report any kind of elements contained inside of them. So, for the plantings, if they draw (freeform) zones and place plant objects in those zones, you can generate a schedule showing the plants per zone, subtotaled by quantity of each type.

I don't know of any landscape architecture-specific features ... somebody else will have to answer that part.

Karl

[Anonymous]

I know several landscape architects using ArchiCAD since it has had advantage in the past even with plain 2D "coloring" of landscape design.

Where ArchiCAD and add-ons like ArchiTerra fall short are terrain modelling. Especially roads. Sure -approximation can be done, but if that is not good enough...
well competition doesn't shine on these areas either. Or if does, I like to learn about them.

[Anonymous]

Landscape Add-on for ArchiCAD
Cadimage have just developed a very nice landscape add-on for ArchiCAD which will address this. It is a collection of new tools to automate the layout, labelling and scheduling of plant symbols. You can place plant symbols via normal click, or you can convert any poly line into a row of plant symbols. Or you can convert a fill area into a planting area. Each group of plants is connected by a line and labelled with number of plants plus the plant code. Once a string of plants is created you can move individual plants around and remove or add symbols to the string. Plants are managed and selected from a spreadsheet type database which holds the code, group, name, and symbol of a plant. This means users can manage the database to suit their needs. (For NZ we are investigating having this database pre populated by a plant supplier.) At any time you can create a schedule to place on the site plan. The scheduling can be for the whole plan or per area controlled by a Zone. The user can also control the display of the plant symbols as Presentation Mode: (detailed symbols) or Construction Mode: (circles.) The Add-On is about to go into Beta test phase. I can send anyone the user manual for comment if interested. Obviously keen to see how close this tool works for markets other than NZ.

[Anonymous]

Once again many thanks for your replies.
I will look into the software and develop our skills with Zones.
kind regards
HLPBob