12d
Civil engineering design software
CAD software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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What is 12d
12d is a civil engineering design and surveying software suite used for terrain modeling, road and drainage design, and construction documentation. It is used by civil engineers, surveyors, and infrastructure designers to build and manage 3D models and produce plan outputs from survey and design data. The product is commonly deployed for land development and transport projects and includes tools for surfaces, corridors, earthworks, and data exchange with CAD/GIS formats.
Strong civil-specific modeling tools
12d provides integrated workflows for surfaces/DTMs, alignments, corridors, and earthworks calculations that map closely to common civil design tasks. It supports producing design models and extracting quantities and set-out information from the same dataset. This focus can reduce reliance on general-purpose CAD customization for civil deliverables.
Survey-to-design workflow support
The platform is widely used in environments where survey data ingestion and transformation are central to project delivery. It supports working with large point datasets and building terrain models that feed directly into design objects. This helps teams maintain continuity from field data through to design outputs.
Interoperability with common formats
12d supports exchanging data with commonly used CAD and geospatial file formats used in civil projects. This enables coordination with external stakeholders who may use different design platforms. It also supports exporting deliverables for downstream construction and machine control workflows, depending on project requirements.
Learning curve for new users
The user interface and command concepts can be less familiar to users coming from mainstream general CAD tools. Teams often require structured training to become productive, particularly for advanced modeling and automation. This can increase onboarding time compared with more ubiquitous CAD environments.
Ecosystem varies by region
Availability of local templates, standards content, and third-party integrations can depend on geography and industry adoption. Some organizations may find fewer off-the-shelf add-ons or standardized content compared with platforms that dominate certain markets. This can lead to more internal effort to build and maintain standards.
Not a full BIM authoring suite
While it supports 3D civil modeling and documentation, it is not positioned as a comprehensive building-focused BIM authoring environment. Projects requiring deep architectural/structural BIM coordination may need additional tools and workflows. This can add complexity when a single end-to-end suite is required across multiple disciplines.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| 12d Model (perpetual / single-seat licence + modules) | Contact sales / Not publicly listed on official site | Core 12d Model product is modular (Survey, Drainage, Roadflow, Dynamic Drainage, Rivers & Flooding, 12d Field, etc.). Licence types include standalone (dongle), network/hosted options; pricing is not published — contact regional sales/support for a quote. cite |
| Annual Maintenance | 15% of the purchase price (annual) | Officially stated: annual maintenance fee = 15% of the purchase price. Maintenance includes upgrades, bug fixes, priority support, access to extra modules/options and discounts on additional licences. cite |
| 12d View (viewer) | Free | 12d View is provided free to all users (download/register or run unregistered) for viewing 3D projects; intended for users who do not require a full 12d Model licence. cite |
Seller details
12d Solutions Pty Ltd
Sydney, NSW, Australia
1988
Private
https://www.12d.com/
https://x.com/12dSolutions
https://www.linkedin.com/company/12d-solutions/
