What was the best part about using AutoTURN?
It's well trusted by localities for vehicle turning movement analysis and loading dock analysis. I've not utilized this software in a practical real world application yet but have been testing CAD software's recently and can provide value which is helpful. This software has been used in many countries so accuracy is trusted and legitimate. Relative to the complexity and safety made by possible by this software it's a cost effective way to design your town or city engineering loading bays, transport terminals, roundabouts and intersections. And allows you to have as much access, maneuverability, and clearance as you need for vehicles. It's relatively easy to use with a solid user interface and dashboard. All of the functionality is clearly laid out and easy to access. There is quite a lot of functionality, a solid knowledge base and other resources available to help you take this learning curve should you need to. I like that it integrates with AutoCAD seamlessly as you can certainly enhance your designs. And it integrates with Microstation as well.
What would you change about your experience with AutoTURN?
The software has seen a lot of feature upgrades in the last few years. And most of the construction vehicles are not included with the basic version of the software it seems they must be accessed with a higher version which points to the exclusivity of the pricing model. That's not my favorite method of pricing because it doesn't make their priority the end user and in this case, it has practical effects in the real world. They leave out critical functionality in order to charge a steeper price rather than help end users with all features and adapt their business model to have additional users, more online storage, better support, a dedicated account manager and items such as these rather than risk the safety of a town or city because they couldn't afford to upgrade their software to the package which makes it possible to have the latest vehicle libraries or possible to analyze how big trucks will be accessing a construction site which is in the city.
Overall Feedback
AutoTURN is an authority in this market, has been around for well over twenty years and is invaluable for transportation and civil design for local projects. They have captured nearly all of the possible market by my understanding. That's saying something about the quality of the software and it's contribution to safe roads in towns and cities around the world as it's currently used in over one hundred countries. As it is recognized by DOT's and Localities. You can design anything to have safe access and maneuvering or clearance in a virtually unlimited amount of ways including loading docks, track marking, fire access, median noses, parking garages which are in addition to the intersections, transport terminals, loading bays, roundabouts with current vehicle replications. I wish I had more computer assisted design software in this industry to compare it with. I've not completed my research yet but as far as CAD software goes it's in the middle of the pack in terms of software ease of use compared to AutoCAD, DataCAD, SketchUp, Inventor, and Rhinoceros. Though unique in its usage.