InfraWorks

InfraWorks (the highly visual, fiercely modern sibling to AutoCAD Civil 3D in the Autodesk empire) completely revolutionized the "Conceptual Planning" phase of civil engineering. Civil 3D is for drawing the exact, millimeter-perfect construction blueprints. InfraWorks is for walking into a City Council meeting and convincing the angry mayor to approve a $500 million highway project. Its absolute biggest superpower is "Model Builder." An engineer types an address into InfraWorks. The software instantly queries massive global GIS databases, satellite imagery, and topography data, and in exactly 5 minutes, generates a stunning, fully rendered, 3D video-game-like model of the actual city, complete with existing buildings, trees, and roads. Because it is highly visual, its "Optioneering" capability is legendary. An engineer can drop a massive 3D bridge into the city model, realize it blocks a historic view, and instantly swap it for an underground tunnel. InfraWorks visually renders the tunnel and mathematically estimates the massive cost difference in real-time. Once the City Council approves the concept, the engineer clicks "Export," and the entire 3D model drops flawlessly into Civil 3D for final engineering.