FAQ Overview
General
Can other Councils utilise the ADAC routines?
Participating Councils encourage the adoption of the ADAC standard, and request that other Councils should contact IPWEAQ to arrange participation.
Only participating Councils are in a position to accept As Constructed information in this format.
How can ADAC benefit my business?
The anticipated outcome for developers, consultants, surveyors and draftpersons from the use of these routines is consistent, uniform and cost effective "As Constructed" data for each of the participating Councils.
In turn these Participating Councils can provide data back to the industry upon request in the appropriate format. Provision of this data back to the development industry upon request will include greater quality control as a result of the consistent formats and digital lodgement process.
Why am I being asked to use ADAC
The ADAC routines have been developed to support the accurate capture, communication and recording of details relating to important community infrastructure. It is critical that the asset information held, used and distributed by local authorities is both precise and consistent. Some specific benefits include:
- Assisting in the maintenance and renewal of assets, providing the community with improved services and value for money.
- Supporting the distribution of accurate information on existing assets to external parties.
- Reduces the likelihood of rework, both by council staff and external parties.
How much will ADAC cost me?
ADAC V4 is now officially launched and information on tools will be published to this site when they are available. Development of the free V3 routines has ceased and the use of our software vendor affiliates will be required.
Why register on the ADAC website?
Registering on the ADAC website allows users to download ADAC routines and upgrades as well as allowing Participating Councils to ensure a high level of Customer Service and Support.
In addition, registering ensures that you are kept up-to-date with information pertaining to new releases. Submission of As Constructed information in an obsolete version could result in delays.
V3 Tool Issues
Phantom Blocks?
Issue: Water and Sewer Fittings blocks are duplicated with no objects.
Solution: Purging the ADAC drawing as you progress is strongly recommended. There is a simple trick to remove phantom blocks before purging. Start the erase command and type ALL at the command prompt. Before executing the erase "SHIFT select" all the physical objects. The result is a selection of all blocks with no physical objects. Hit ENTER to finish the erase command then purge and save.
I have lost my File/Open commands from AutoCAD
There is a known issue that switches the AutoCAD dialogue box pop-up setting to "OFF" intermittently when ADAC is run. It is believed that this related to a command not completing successfully. This can disable all pop up driven dialogue boxes and can be disconcerting to a non technical user.
To fix, open a recent drawing by double clicking on it from Windows Explorer. Type "FILEDIA" at the AutoCAD command line, and change the toggle setting to "1" instead of "0".
This should re-enable all screen dialogue boxes.
Note that this is an AutoCAd setting - uninstalling ADAC will not solve this problem.
How do I convert an existing drawing to ADAC format?
ADAC routines allow existing key features to be promoted to the desired ADAC format without redrawing. Please note the original linework is converted to a block, and is therefore not retained in its original form. A backup of the original drawing may be required for your organisational needs.
Can As Con data be edited without using the ADAC menu?
Whilst AutoCAD will allow you to use its tools to update existing ADAC features, in some cases this can lead to incorrect values in the block tags. For example, stretching, extending and triming do not update length tags, and are therefore considered not appropriate. To perform these types of operations , erase the incorrect block and use the ADAC tools to recreate the correct feature.
Incorrect tag values may result in delays in the approval process.
My drawing blocks disappear/move when I Apply changes made in the Select Blocks command
When using the Select Block button to update attributes, upon applying the changes the block and/or its attribute tags looks as though it has disappeared or shifted its location.
The blocks are not deleted, but they are moved. This is due to Autodesk flipping between an absolute setting and a relative setting for the insertion point in relation to 0,0 between AutoCAD releases. We are addressing this problem by endeavouring to make each new release of ADAC work in the three previous releases and the current release of AutoCAD.
Solutions include:
- Use a version of AutoCAD that is known to work with the users version of ADAC
- Delete the original block and recreate a new block with the updated attributes. In practice, the most efficient way to do this is to still use the Select Blocks button, but use the Delete button on the dialog to delete the original block. Change the blue attribute values to the new attribute values as applicable, and then use the Insert/Draw method to add the block.
My drawing blocks disappear/move when I Apply changes made in the Select Blocks command
When using the Select Block button to update attributes, upon applying the changes the block and/or its attribute tags looks as though it has disappeared or shifted its location.
The blocks are not deleted, but they are moved. This is due to Autodesk flipping between an absolute setting and a relative setting for the insertion point in relation to 0,0 between AutoCAD releases. We are addressing this problem by endeavouring to make each new release of ADAC work in the three previous releases and the current release of AutoCAD.
Solutions include:
- Use a version of AutoCAD that is known to work with the users version of ADAC
- Delete the original block and recreate a new block with the updated attributes. In practice, the most efficient way to do this is to still use the Select Blocks button, but use the Delete button on the dialog to delete the original block. Change the blue attribute values to the new attribute values as applicable, and then use the Insert/Draw method to add the block.
Resources
Contacts
ADAC V3
The ADAC V3 Schema was updated in October 2010 to the new version V4. Over the past twelve months V4 has progressed greatly and is now fully robust. Translation tools are no longer supplied by council but are now provided by third party companies.
Please go to the Downloads section of the website to get the latest schema and associated documentation or to the Affiliated software vendors page for any authoring tools.