Inputting a survey in AutoCAD...

[Anonymous]

I have a survey for a residential property with all the coordinates along which I input into CAD.  The house & property run in a NE/SW angle which isn't an angle I want to do work in.  If I pivot the drawing so the house & lot are parallel with the screen the crosshairs take on a weird shape.  It made me wonder if people did anything with the x/y coordinates or settings in the drawing?  

Should I just draw the floor plan in that funcky angle?  

Thanks.  

[BBP-Arch]

I usually import the survey into an Element. Or draw it from scratch as an Element. Then I create a SIte Plan Construct and drag and drop this element into my site plan construct. Then in my site plan construct I rotate the survey and place it where and how I want it so that from then on in the project it's in the orientation I want...like when I then create a site plan View, it's correct...same with the sheet.

Hope that helps.

Scott

[Anonymous]

Does that retain true north?  

Now that I start to think about this, I remember a drafter at work teaching me about true north and CAD years ago but I'll be dammed, I can't remember what the heck he showed me.  😞  Is it even necessary to retain true north?  

[BBP-Arch]

That's precisely why I do it the way I described. Often times when you get a survey it's drawn w/ true north at the 90 degree, top of page. However, sometimes they then rotate it to suit their page setups, etc., but will include a north arrow to indicate north so you have a reference to bring into your construct. Conversely, if you were to draw the property lines from scratch using the metes & bounds descriptions, then true north is in the 90 degree direction of your computer (remember that by default autocad assigns 0 degrees as east, 90 degrees as north, 180 as west & 270 as south), and thus, your lot lines will be drawn properly.

Hope that made sense.

Scott