Iterating an analysis using the Army Corps of Engineers HEC‑RAS model can be a real time waster. You have to go back into AutoCAD, extract cross section geometry data, and then get that data back into HEC‑RAS. That iterative process of changing things in both CAD and HEC‑RAS, and getting everything to line-up, takes a lot of time and patience. We have found that GeoHECRAS eliminates all of this wasted time.

Jonathan Jupka, EIT, Civil Engineer, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc., Bozeman, MT

Most engineers I know tend to not like change. However, if they do HEC‑RAS modeling, I would strongly recommend that they look into using GeoHECRAS for speeding up their engineering workflow. I think that they will be really surprised at how much an improvement in efficiency and accuracy that this software provides.

Daniel Ahn, P.E., PMP, GISP, CFM, ENV SP, Engineering Team Lead, Stantec, Inc., Washington, DC

With GeoHECRAS, everything is integrated into one user interface. You can bring in your AutoCAD drawing and georeference it directly to Google Maps and see where everything is. If you make a change in your HEC‑RAS model, you immediately see the change in the flood results directly in your AutoCAD drawing. GeoHECRAS allows us to save a lot of time, being much more productive in doing our projects. I would recommend GeoHECRAS to anyone doing hydraulic modeling. It is a really powerful tool that will save you a lot of time so you can get a lot more profit out of your engineering projects.

Robert Douglass, E.I., Civil Engineer, Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood, Inc., Montgomery, AL

I have had a lot of experience working with HEC‑RAS and have recently started using GeoHECRAS. I like how GeoHECRAS combines three or more steps into a single step. For example, it will automatically cut cross sections along an alignment, extract the cross section geometry, assign the bank stations, and determine the flow lengths all by running one command.

Tyler Branch, E.I., Civil Engineer Intern, Forte & Tablada, Inc., Baton Rouge, LA

The biggest benefit I see in GeoHECRAS is not having to go back and forth between AutoCAD Civil 3D and HEC‑RAS. You can load your Civil 3D drawing file into GeoHECRAS and work directly on the AutoCAD drawing. Then, if you decide to change where a cross section is to be located, it is easy to make that change. Also, when you need to insert an additional cross section, it is as easy as drawing a polyline. Overall, GeoHECRAS saves me a lot of time in my HEC‑RAS modeling by allowing me to work directly with my AutoCAD Civil 3D drawings.

Donald P. Verobish, P.E., Senior Engineer, Gwin, Dobson & Foreman, Inc., Altoona, PA

The Army Corps HEC‑RAS software is not that user friendly with its multitude of windows and its file system with one project file and multiple geometry files and plan files. And, if the cross section geometry data sets are not previously prepared or if you need to make changes to the cross section geometry, it is a very laborious process to get the data into HEC‑RAS. You need to move everything into Microsoft Excel to make your edits and changes, and then move everything back into HEC‑RAS. Whereas with GeoHECRAS, I can do all of this work in a single mouse click.

Megan Busch, LEED AP, Staff Engineer, Brooker Engineering, PLLC Suffern, NY

We commonly have to go through several iterations of grading to finalize a site development. GeoHECRAS allows us to instantly recut HEC‑RAS cross sections with the proposed changes and see what impact these changes have on the flood elevations. Updating cross sections to incorporate these changes is really easy. Using GeoHECRAS, I can create a HEC‑RAS model, along with changes and updates in half of the time from what I was doing before. It allows us to be at least twice as fast in doing our HEC‑RAS modeling work.

Dana Morris, Staff Engineer II, J3 Engineering Consultants, Inc., Centennial, CO

Up until recently we were using the standard Army Corps of Engineers HEC‑RAS to do our bridge modeling work. Cutting additional cross sections was difficult to do, since we would have to draw a line string in MicroStation in order to retrieve the point data. Then, we needed to extract the station-elevation data, and then copy and paste the data into HEC‑RAS. All of this extra work resulted in not many cross sections created in our models. Whereas with GeoHECRAS, you can simply just draw a line anywhere on your model and the software will extract the cross section information, assign the bank stations, and update the flow lengths—all in one step.

Ian Nilausen, EI, Willett Hofmann & Associates, Inc., Dixon, IL

The ability to pull all my data into a single user interface and start to develop my project is a huge time saver. I can pull in the quad map and the FEMA flood map with GeoHECRAS’ built-in functionality by simply selecting the appropriate maps. Up until now we had to go to different sources and try to aggregate this information into our project. GeoHECRAS does this function with just a couple of mouse clicks. Clearly, GeoHECRAS makes my HEC‑RAS work easier and more efficient.

Chris Gatling, Project Engineer, EI, Mickle Wagner Coleman Inc., Fort Smith, AR