CityCAD is a standalone application for Windows which runs independently of other CAD systems. It can exchange information with your other applications in a variety of ways.

It saves files in its own format called URB (Urban Model Format). This is an open, unencrypted XML format which other programs can use to extract information about your model.

• You can import image files (JPG, GIF, PNG) such as aerial photos or sketch plans, which can be placed on the ground to scale and 'traced' over in CityCAD.

You can bring in aerial photos, maps or sketch plans, and 'trace' over them with CityCAD roads.

•  You can also import layers from DXF drawings and 'trace' a city model over the drawing. (CityCAD has its own user coordinate system, so you can place imported DXF layers at specific coordinates)

If you import a 3D dxf file as a 'Base Map' (external reference) - then you can draw routes which snap to them in 3D.

• You can also import a network of road/street centrelines from a DXF layer, which will be 'interpreted' into a city model ie. CityCAD will turn the lines into streets and you can then edit the properties of all the streets and blocks. You can also use this technique to import building outlines, as shown below:

Import geometries from DXF models and CityCAD can be set to interpret them into buildings

• You can import 3D DXF Files and place them as 'City Items' in your CityCAD model (see below). You can assign data such as names, floor areas, energy use, costs and values to city items.

Import 3D DXF models, such as the blocks above, and place in your CityCAD model.

• Finally, you can import geometry or information from other URB files (block types, different land use settings, solar shading settings, costs/values, vehicle parking standards, trip generation etc)

You can export the following from CityCAD:

• Screenshots of 3D views of your city model in a variety of image formats. You can also shade the blocks according to their attributes, such as density, cost, population, parking requirements etc.

You can shade your city model according to most variables - such as net value - and export the diagrams for inclusion in reports, powerpoint presentations etc

• Scale plans and sections can also be exported as a 2D DXF format drawing, or in a variety of image formats.
• All data (floor areas, numbers of parking spaces, densities, numbers of units, total costs etc) can be exported in CSV or XLS (Microsoft Excel) format.
• You can quickly generate 1-page summaries (total floor areas for each land use etc) in RTF format (can be viewed in Microsoft Word) or longer masterplan reports with breakdowns of floor areas according to building or group.
• You can export to KML format, and view your city model in context in mapping applications such as Google Earth.
• You can export the whole model as a 3D DXF model and then tweak the architectural design of the building in more detail using applications such as SketchUp or AutoCAD.