Interview with Aplitop: Better Surveying and Civil Engineering Solutions with ZWCAD

Located in Malaga, Spain, Aplitop is a company specializing in technical applications for surveying and civil engineering since 1987. Its broad variety of solutions for setting-out field surveys, CAD-based software for civil projects, and specialized applications for point-clouds, tunnels and photogrammetry have satisfied the needs of more than 15,000 users from 86 countries. Being the technical partner of ZWSOFT for several years, Aplitop currently has three of its applications run on ZWCAD – TcpMDT for developing all kinds of surveying projects, TcpTunnel for tunnel works, and TcpStereo for stereoscopic restitution for aerial photographs.

Figure 1. TcpStereo on ZWCAD for stereoscopic restitution

As ZWSOFT’s Local Marketing Consultant responsible for the Spanish market, I’m honored to take an interview with Francisco Navarrete Mandly, General Director of Aplitop at Barcelona Building Construmat exhibition, to dig deeper into how Aplitop and ZWSOFT work together to offer complete solutions for surveying and civil engineering.

Figure 2. Mr. Francisco Navarrete Mandly being interviewed

1. Hi Francisco, glad to have you here! As we know, TcpMDT V8 of Aplitop has just been ported to ZWCAD 2020. Who, exactly, are benefiting from Aplitop applications running on ZWCAD?

We have more than 15,000 clients all over the world, including public administration, universities and training centers, construction companies, engineering and town planning studios, quarries, mines, environmental services, as well as independent professionals. Just to mention a few of our users running Aplitop software on ZWCAD – several regional government agencies in Spain, construction companies all around the world, like in Chile and Slovenia, surveying firms in Poland and a town hall in Quito, Ecuador.

Figure 3. TcpMDT V8 running on ZWCAD 2020

2. How does this integration help them?

The integration of ZWCAD and Aplitop provides a budget-friendly, high-quality and easy-to-learn solution, covering the main needs of our customers. Their flexible policy allows us to purchase perpetual licenses without having to pay for annual subscriptions. We also share the same philosophy about upgrades and maintenance.

3. Aplitop and ZWSOFT have cooperated for some years. What do you think of ZWCAD as a 2D CAD platform?

ZWCAD is an excellent CAD solution for our users. Thanks to its full compatibility with drawing files in DWG format and its ease of use, users can start using it immediately. Its Application Programming Interface provides a full set of functions and technical documentation that have been enough for the porting of the applications.

4. How was the porting process? What do you think of ZWSOFT’s service and support during this process?

The porting process has been surprisingly easy. It's more than 99% compatible with source codes and only minor adaptations were needed. The support of ZWSOFT has been very professional and effective, giving quick and precise answers to the issues found during porting and also some suggestions. We are very happy.

5. What other fields are you focusing on recently?

We are currently working on virtual and augmented reality for field survey, management of point clouds generated from laser scanner or photogrammetry, and BIM for infrastructure with IFC Road.

Figure 4. Virtual and augmented reality for field survey

6. What's new can we expect in the near future? Aplitop is working with buildingSMART International to develop an extension of the standard IFC format for road projects. In fact, Aplitop was the first company in the world to implement the IFC Alignment extension in our software MDT. We expect to offer this feature in our application MDT Professional on ZWCAD very soon. We are very satisfied with the cooperation with ZWCAD. We would like to strengthen this cooperation in the future by the strategic partnership.

I really enjoy the time talking with Mr. Francisco Navarrete Mandly, who is so professional and far-sighted. It’s also encouraging to know that vertical applications like the ones of Aplitop running on ZWCAD platform are helping users in surveying and civil engineering industry with practical solutions. I’m looking forward to more surprises brought by the deep cooperation between Aplitop and ZWSOFT.

Figure 5. The Aplitop team and the ZWSOFT team at Barcelona Building Construmat exhibition

If you want to have a try, download ZWCAD and click to get the 30-day free trial for TcpMDT, TcpTunnel, and TcpStereo.