Four platforms earn Leader status while AutoTURN tops overall satisfaction rankings in crowdsourced report

CHICAGO, March 17, 2015 — (PRNewswire) —  The first Grid^SM report for civil engineering design software, published today by business software review platform G2 Crowd, ranks eight products to help purchasers in their selections.

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The Spring 2015 report is based on more than 200 reviews written by engineering professionals.

The Grid^SM, which is created from G2 Crowd's software review platform, factors in customer satisfaction reported by users and vendor market presence determined from social and public data to rank products.

Civil engineering design software includes functionality specific to the civil engineering industry, such as railway modeling, road and highway design and mapping tools. Some of these products are stand-alone tools with extensive computer-aided design (CAD) technology tailored towards civil engineering, while others run atop other tools to optimize them for civil engineering purposes.

To qualify as a Leader, a product must receive a high customer satisfaction score and have substantial market presence. AutoCAD Civil 3D, Bentley InRoads, AutoCAD Map 3D and MicroStation were named Leaders. High Performers have high customer satisfaction scores with a smaller market presence than Leaders. AutoTURN was the only High Performer named, and it also earned the highest overall customer satisfaction score.

Across all civil engineering design tools, reviewers reported the product they use meets their requirements at an average rate of 84%, and on average reviewers said they were 84% likely to recommend the product they use.

Some highlights from the civil engineering design reviews on G2 Crowd:

"[AutoCAD Civil 3D] is exceptional in streamlining the ability to make changes and edits to a model/drawing. The changes take effect in real time to all displays of the site. The product works fast and efficient, and once learned, commands and rendering features are very helpful in improving work efficiency."
- Mikhail Potros, Geotechnical Engineer at GEI Consultants, Inc.

"Using [Bentley InRoads] to help us design roadways can quickly let the designer / engineer model their design against the existing features. It helps streamline the process of when and if retaining walls are needed and how long they need to be...Creating new or even recreating existing roadway geometry is fast and easy. There has not been a project that [InRoads] has not been a major tool and asset in creating designs and meeting the challenges for our clients."
- Peter Dispenziere, Senior Highway Designer at Hatch Mott MacDonald

"Of all of the drafting products that I have tried, [AutoCAD Map 3D] is the most user friendly and easiest to use.... The interface is very logical. It is easy for even a newbie to figure out. I like that it has many different options for command entry, unlike some of the competition...The system for layer control is [awesome] and gets better with each new release. It also handles PDFs well."
- Cody Barker, Designer at Arizona Public Service

"[MicroStation] is extremely stable. It handles large files, particularly large contour maps and high-resolution aerials, much better than other CAD software. The tools are intuitive and the online help is generally very good."
- Andy Pultorak, Project Engineer at Muller Engineering Inc.

"As a roadway designer, AutoTURN provides an easy and visual method to track vehicle paths as they maneuver through a user specified path. The preinstalled vehicle library is comprehensive and easy to edit for special circumstances if needed for your project...The time spent learning the software is minimal and well worth the effort to confidently and effectively develop horizontal designs of intersections and civil sites."
- David Jackson, Civil Engineer at Michael Baker International

Of the nearly 20 software vendors listed in G2 Crowd's Civil Engineering Design Software category, the eight ranked products each received 10 or more reviews to qualify for inclusion on the Grid^SM.

Satisfaction rankings are generated from the user reviews, and market presence is calculated from vendor size, market share, and social impact. Based on a combination of these scores, each software solution is categorized as a Leader, High Performer, Contender, or Niche.

Premium research access can be purchased on the site for $599. This offers the original data for filtering and weighting, as well as individual profiles of each platform with the most helpful positive and negative civil engineering design software reviews, detailed company information, user satisfaction ratings, feature scores and customer metrics. Future Grid^SM refreshes will provide updated rankings based on the latest reviews and social data.

Be sure to check out the new Grid^SM for the best civil engineering design software and subscribe to the premium research.

About G2 Crowd, Inc.

G2 Crowd, the world's leading business software review platform, leverages its more than 26,000 user reviews to drive better purchasing decisions. Technology buyers, investors, and analysts use the site to compare and select the best software based on peer reviews and synthesized social data. Co-founded by the founder and former executives from SaaS leader BigMachines and backed by more than $4.5 million in capital, G2 Crowd aims to bring authenticity and transparency to business technology research. For more information, go to G2Crowd.com.

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SOURCE G2 Crowd