It takes more than vision when you are first on the ground and last to leave in today’s budget-tight, target-rich environment at the "silicon heart" of the world’s economy. Can the survey department of a large urban/suburban metropolitan area teach us about how to practically implement, learn, and employ AutoCAD Civil 3D software? The department's ecosystem is a political and complex technical network that includes every known form of municipal infrastructure—from the oldest state historic sites, high tech campuses, and a large international airport. Their historic and demanding customers work in a variety of CAD design and GIS software from AutoCAD® to Bentley® MicroStation® and beyond. They have gigabytes of historical data, multiple input data forms, and more output standards, reports, and changing job requirements than anyone ever wants to deal with. That’s the job. How do they and the Civil 3D survey features deliver the technical muscle, quality assurance methods, standards flexibility, and productivity to get it done?