In 25 years that tiny company has grown to over 5,000 employees in 33 countries, with product offerings spanning a variety of industries, from architecture to civil engineering to computer animated graphics. Over the years AutoCAD, the company’s flagship product, has been joined by an ever-growing family of products that leverage the trusted platform’s capabilities to address the specific needs of a variety of designers, including AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Electrical and most recently AutoCAD P&ID, to name a few.

Some cool milestones:

1982 - Autodesk starts with 16 employees
1984 - revenues top $1 million
1985 - ADSK goes public
1990 - Glenn Letham starts using AuoCAD r9 for pipeline mapping project (remember the dot prompt?) - OK - I slipped this one in!
1992 - Carol Bartz named CEO (you gotta love a woman CEO who will freely drop an occasional "F-bomb" when you least expect it!)
1993 - the First Autodesk University
1995 - Autodesk.com website launches
1996 - new division focused on visualization
2002 - Autodesk adds Revit to the portfolio
2005 -  Autodesk wins Academy Award for technical acheivement
2006 - Carl Bass takes over at President/CEO
2007 - More than 8 million users
Now - focused on 3D!

See www.autodesk.com/autocad25

Some of my favorite Autodesk / AutoCAD memories:
- using AutoCAD in my first GIS related internship to map the natural gas pipelines in Victoria, BC
- seeing John Cleese at Autodesk U in Vegas, 2003
- the Autodesk Miramar hospitality event in San Diego (GITA)
- having one-on one's with Lynn Allen, Carl Bass, Chris Bradshaw, Carol Bartz, and other ADSK execs.
- the Mapguide open source launch in Orlando
- Autodesk realize your ideas tour in Vancouver and meeting Guy Kawasaki
- a cool Autodedesk intro event in Atlanta - the travelling road shows are awesome!
- DWF (say no more!)
- the Pre-season ball game in Tampa with open bar complete with 24 oz. beer cups...

Lynn Allen and John Cleese on stage at AU 2003

Me Meeting the AUGI Dawg in 2005!

We've had many Autodesk / AutoCAD related articles published here at GISuser over the years. The following are some of the best ones!

GISuser Spotlight on Education... Autodesk Education; supporting students and educators (Aug 7, 07)
It's back to school time and like many "big name companies" Autodesk is committed to supporting students and educators. They do so by providing access to powerful design software, innovative programs and resources designed to inspire the next generation of professionals to experience their ideas before they're real. By advancing education in  the key areas of science, technology, engineering, math and visual communication, Autodesk is helping students develop critical skills for future academic and career success. Read on for more about the Autodesk student design community website, free educational software opportunities, and a student contest with fantastic prizes.

Autodesk’s Enterprise Solutions, 2008 - Welcome Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise 2008, TopoBase 2008 - article from conf. call with ADSK execs. Recently, Autodesk officially announced the release of Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise (MGE) 2008. This commercial  product offering, built on the same architecture as the Open Source Autodesk MapGuide, was announced alongside the official release of Autodesk TopoBase 2008 – an enterprise-scale solution with several vertical application modules. The company is now making a “splash” with the official launch of these two enterprise solutions.

Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise 2008 Roll Out - Community Driven = Enterprise Solution (July 10, 07)
The pitch from Autodesk... "Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise delivers valuable spatial data and analysis over the web, while reducing distribution costs. Enjoy a more efficient workflow, as well as improved communication among internal teams, mobile field force, and customers". At the heart of this release: enhanced FDO Data Access Technology, native support for Google Earth, speed and stability. Read on for a quick look at the new features, the benefits and 12 Cool Things About MapGuide Enterprise.

Developer Spotlight - Autodesk Location Services Developer Program
Friday, 23 March 2007
 Billed as the killer enabler, the Autodesk Location Services Developer Program enables application developers to leverage the same tools used by five world class carriers to build and deploy location-smart wireless services using the Autodesk LocationLogic platform and APIs. Autodesk Location Services Developer Program offers third party developers a software platform that enables you to quickly develop and deploy your location services applications, reducing your time to market and development cost.

Share Spatial Information Across Your Organization With Topobase 2007
Posted on September 15, 2006
Autodesk recently announced the availability of Topobase 2007. To understand where this solution comes from you'll need to go back to the 2005 Autodesk acquisition of c-Plan.

Understanding MapServer Enterprise – a closer look at the latest open source web mapping solution
Posted on December 06, 2005

Autodesk's Free DWF Viewer Matures at Version 6.5
Posted on November 23, 2005
dwf Now available with faster sharing of design data... have you upgraded your viewer yet?? View DWF data with the free DWF Viewer, publish DWF with the DWF writer, round-trip markups, annotations, and other changes with Autodesk DWF Composer.

Sharing Autodesk Drawings With the Free DWG TruView
Posted on October 28, 2005
TrueView There's another free viewing on the block... this one comes from Autodesk and it supports DWG and DXF! View and plot DWG and DXF files, and then publish them as DWF files for quick and easy review and markup in Autodesk DWF Composer. We take a Quik Look at the functionality provided in the latest offering from Autodesk.

Tips & Tricks: Some new and not so new features in AutoCAD 2006 that you should know about!
Posted on June 29, 2005
as I’ve mentioned before, is one of my favorite things to do while attending any Autodesk-hosted event is to sit in on a Lynn Allen presentation. Lynn is always energetic, entertaining, motivating, and informative. Once again, at the Vancouver stop of the “Autodesk Realize Your Ideas Tour” Lynn delivered.

Impressions From Open Source Geospatial 2005
Posted on July 07, 2005
Open Source Geospatial '05, an international conference addressing geospatial data technologies developed by or of relevance to the Open Source community, took placed June 16-18, 2005 in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA. Jan-Oliver Wagner was on hand at this year's event and has generously provided us with some comments and a daily log from the event.

Working faster and smarter with Autocad 2006, Map 3D, and DWF
Posted on April 08, 2005
You've likely seen the ads and press. The Autodesk 2006 lineup has been officially announced. This is keeping in line with the company's plans to offer annual "calendar year" prefixed product updates. Designed to help customers work smarter and faster, Eric Stover, AutoCAD product manager reiterated to us (last year at AU) that this release is  focused on customization, presentation, and publishing improvements. "Smart" tools are the norm and a move towards encouraging heads-up display make the products more intuitive. We explore in greater detail and list our 5 coolest new features.

GISuser Spotlight on the complete Autodesk 2006 lineup
Posted on March 18, 2005
Autodesk recently announced an entire new product lineup for 2005/2006. We offer a brief list of all the new products as well as a focus on all the new features you'll find in Autodesk Civil 3D 2006. Also included in the updated portfolio is a revamped website with a whole new look.. including a new logo!

Publishing a DWF is a snap with DWF Writer
Posted on November 24, 2004
Unless you've been on another planet, you've likely heard about [or used] a DWF file. Many of you may be using or sharing DWF files occasionally; however, did you know that creating one is a snap? For users who aren't using DWF this primer on the DWF writer will be of interest.

Realizing Ideas… Report 1 from the Autodesk Realize Your Ideas Tour, Vancouver, BC, Canada - Keynote
Posted on June 29, 2005
Guy Kawasaki - It’s pretty rare that a keynote speaker affects me so profoundly. Listening to Guy Kawasaki for an hour though was definitely the highlight of my day at the Autodesk Realize Your Ideas event! This was by no means another business 101 presentation or just any old Top 10 wish list from another MBA. Instead, Kawasaki offered up “street smart” savvy and some fabulous suggestions for those of us with the entrepreneurial spirit.

A GISuser Spotlight on Autodesk's DWF Composer & Viewer
Posted on August 20, 2004
The pitch... Autodesk® DWF™ Composer is an enabling solution design to improve the efficiency of the entire design review process by enabling the coordination and communication of digital design information with published DWF™ data.

Implementing Change With Turn-key Autocad Management
Posted on April 01, 2004
Logistics... With such wide variations of application, fixing suitable Autocad standards for your particular operation 
can be a daunting task that can take many years. The amount of work involved to develop a high level system from the beginning is immense. Because of new technology, standards must be dynamic and that requires re-assessments and upgrading at one year intervals.

Environment Canada Publishes Its Data Online with Autodesk GIS Solutions
Posted on October 28, 2004
Whether they are sampling water along the Saint John River, measuring air pollutants from a Halifax factory, or monitoring harlequin duck habitat in Labrador, Environment Canada’s employees in the Atlantic Region are working hard to enhance the quality of the natural environment around them.

A GISuser Spotlight on Autodesk Map 3D
Posted on June 09, 2004
It was back in April that Autodesk Map 3D 2005, the latest version of Autodesk Map officially began shipping. Simply put, this release can best be described as a powerful 2D and 3D precision mapping and GIS analysis tool to create, maintain, and produce maps, and to integrate data from various sources and formats, perform data analysis, and  produce thematic maps.

CAD + GIS integration and the A-Z's of AutoCAD Map
Posted on December 13, 2003
(GISuser Autodesk U, 2003 feature) CAD + GIS integration… that was just one of the concepts that was on my mind after attending Autodesk University 2003 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV. Obviously, there’s still that fuzzy wall that serves to separate the traditional CAD user from the traditional GIS user, otherwise, why the need to emphasize this message?

A CAD tech who knew the value of digital design
Posted on December 13, 2003
(GISuser Autodesk U feature) Getting in over your head?... In order to realize the true value of digital design data the objective is to keep data digital, improve project workflows, and enable a multi-user workspace. We heard from one user who took a lead role in a mammoth project because he was the one person on staff that had "some" CAD  experience.

From Autodesk U 2004... Autodesk Express Viewer 4 - Quick Take
Posted on November 12, 2003
Here's the scenario... you need to view, query, edit, print to scale a CAD drawing, however, you don't have an AutoCAD  license, and furthermore, you need to send the digital file to other non-CAD users for their review/comments. Autodesk has the solutions... enter DWF viewer (Autodesk Express Viewer) & DWF creator!
 

From the AnyGeo Blog... see Labels: autocad, autodesk, autodesk university

Images of Autodesk:

The House band, Dr. Ruth is awesome!!

The Freedom Tower, New York designed with Autodesk products