PARADIGM Geospatial Drafting, COGO and surfaces for survey drawings.
Paradigm CAD is drafting and civil CAD built for survey drawings: bearing-and-distance linework, COGO and deed traverses, survey points, TIN surfaces and contours, alignments and corridors, plotting to PDF, and DXF and DWG exchange.
Standouts
Crash-safe
Every save records a checkpoint in the project journal, and reopening after a crash or a forced exit restores the edits you made since. Separate recovery checkpoints are written every 10 minutes by default and hash-checked.
ftUS
Distances, areas and acres read in the drawing's own unit, US survey feet stay distinct from international feet, and CAD warns you when the drawing header and its coordinate system disagree.
No silent loss
When a format cannot hold part of a drawing, a strict export stops with a clear message instead of quietly dropping data. A lossy export asks first and lists every omission.
Open DWG drawings from AutoCAD 2000 through 2018 and save as DWG 2013, alongside ASCII DXF from R12 to 2018. Format checks read the file itself, not its extension.
Inverse, sideshot, bearing and map check with curve legs, and a traverse ledger for entering deed calls in order.
Attach a PDF plat as an underlay and snap to its linework while you draft.
In the app
Overview
Lines go in by bearing and distance, deed calls go into a traverse ledger, and the drawing carries survey points, surfaces and sheets through to a plotted PDF.
Lines by quadrant bearing and distance, tangent curves off a line end, snaps, ortho and polar tracking, and constraints.
Inverse, sideshot, bearing and map check with curve legs, and a traverse ledger for deed calls.
TIN surfaces with breaklines and contours, alignments, profiles and corridors, then layouts plotted and published to PDF.
Features
Window, crossing, lasso and fence selection; snaps, ortho and polar tracking with clickable command options; lines by quadrant bearing and distance and tangent curves off a line end.
Distance and area report in the drawing's unit, including US survey feet, square survey feet and acres, and each drawing tab keeps its own undo history and view.
Run an inverse or a sideshot, compute a bearing, map-check a boundary with its curve legs, and enter deed calls in a traverse ledger.
A point manager with point groups, description keys and point-file import and export, and coded points drawn as 3D linework.
Build a constrained TIN with breaklines and contours tied to it, run volume, compare and section reports, import LandXML surfaces as editable TINs, and lay out alignments, profiles and corridors.
Set up layouts with CTB or STB plot styles, plot to PDF, and publish several drawings at once. 3D solids export to STEP and STL.
Saves record checkpoints in the project journal and reopening restores later edits. Recovery checkpoints are hash-checked, and crash reports stay on your machine.
Specifications
| Component | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit (Windows Server supported) |
| Graphics | A GPU with Vulkan 1.3 support |
| Runtime | Microsoft Edge WebView2 (part of Windows 11) |
Questions
Yes. DWG drawings from AutoCAD 2000 to 2018 open within tested limits, and drawings save as DWG 2013. ASCII DXF from R12 to 2018 reads and writes.
Reopen the drawing. Every save records a checkpoint in the project journal, and CAD restores the edits you made after it.
Point clouds belong in Surveyor. CAD picks up Surveyor's results as DXF linework and LandXML.
Yes. Layouts plot to PDF with CTB or STB plot styles, and several drawings can be published at once.
Get CAD
CAD is part of the launch release and is included in every Founders license.