Geolocation Tab in Civil 3D

[neilyj666]

The vanilla AutoCAD 2014 that comes with IDSP Premium has the nifty contextual Tab/Ribbon for Geolocation but there is nothing similar in Civil 3D (that I can see). I have typed GEOMAP and all works as expected but how can I add the ribbon into Civil 3D 2014?

[neilyj666]

I seem to have done it......

[troma]

You seem to have done it twice.....?

[neilyj666]

Yes - it's a long way to drag the panel in the CUI editor and I grabbed the wrong one but it's sorted now...

..

[jonas]

how did you do in CIVIL 2014?

[shamusmc]

Could you explain how you got that tab in Civil 3D 2014?

[BANI_INDICA]

can anyone explain how to bring the geolocation panel into civil3d 2014 ! 

[BrianHailey]

Here's the way I did it.

1. Open AutoCAD 2014 (not C3D).
2. Go into the CUI and create a new CUI file in the transfer tab.
3. Copy the Geolocation tab to your new CUI file and save it.
4. Open Civil 3D
5. Go into the CUI and load the CUI file you created earlier.
6. Drag the ribbon tab to the Geo Location Assigned contextual state.

I decided to write it out in more detail on my blog. You can read it HERE as well as see a video of the steps.

[neilyj666]

Thanks for this Brian, this was the way i did it too.

This was going to be the first job of the day for me but you've saved me the trouble..(I probably wouldn't have done the video though)...:)

[BANI_INDICA]

Thank you very much ! 

Can you lookinto the below link long time i have no reply from anyone ...

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-Civil-3D-Wishes/cross-section-with-station-offset-distance-wit...

[mmott]

Help! Please....

I must be missing something with this new feature. If I am starting a civil 3d drawing by setting coard's - importing a shape file of say parcels and r/w lines shouldn't this "geolocation" feature just be able to drop a map in with out me having to set a "location pin" and telling it where north is? I am sure I am missing something.........

In 2012 you could just import geimage, and in 2013 project basejump just brought the image in and both seemed to read the geo data from the shape files to determine accurate placement (looked good down to 1" = 40' scale for our simple utility maps). The place by map in the geolocation feature is very time consuming to get it close to the accuracey of the two previously mentioned ways in 2012 & 2013 (if at all). We tested the two previous ways in 2012 & 2013 (still have both installed on our machines) against 2014 with geolocation. The two previous ways are faster and more accurate....again we are starting the drawings by settign the coards, importing a gis shape file from a local county...thank you in advance fo assistance and have a good day

[neilyj666]

my template is set up with the correct coordinate system and if I create geometry eg polylines then the geomap feature works as expected

[BrianHailey]

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@mmott wrote:

Help! Please....

I must be missing something with this new feature. If I am starting a civil 3d drawing by setting coard's - importing a shape file of say parcels and r/w lines shouldn't this "geolocation" feature just be able to drop a map in with out me having to set a "location pin" and telling it where north is? I am sure I am missing something.........

In 2012 you could just import geimage, and in 2013 project basejump just brought the image in and both seemed to read the geo data from the shape files to determine accurate placement (looked good down to 1" = 40' scale for our simple utility maps). The place by map in the geolocation feature is very time consuming to get it close to the accuracey of the two previously mentioned ways in 2012 & 2013 (if at all). We tested the two previous ways in 2012 & 2013 (still have both installed on our machines) against 2014 with geolocation. The two previous ways are faster and more accurate....again we are starting the drawings by settign the coards, importing a gis shape file from a local county...thank you in advance fo assistance and have a good day

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Works fine for me.

[mmott]

Thank you very much for the vid! that is how i assumed it should work. Now was that a new image, or did you already add a location and just had the map turned off?

We are on a novel network and have been fighting it for a few years now. We never know if the issues we are having are cad related, or network related. We keep getting "connection timed out" errors when using the geolocation features so the map connectivity is pretty spotty for us. 

Thank you again!

[BrianHailey]

---

@mmott wrote:

Thank you very much for the vid! that is how i assumed it should work. Now was that a new image, or did you already add a location and just had the map turned off?

We are on a novel network and have been fighting it for a few years now. We never know if the issues we are having are cad related, or network related. We keep getting "connection timed out" errors when using the geolocation features so the map connectivity is pretty spotty for us. 

Thank you again!

---

I started with a blank drawing with no coordinate system assigned at all. In fact, the template is the default template that ships with Civil 3D. I imported the shape file using FDO. When you do this to a drawing without a coordinate system, the coordinate system of the first data source is assigned to the drawing. I then simply turned on the map.

[mmott]

Cool, got it working great with shape files now.

Now we just started a new drawing, set coords. imported a txt file exported from our gps hand held with elevation shots and power pole locations that were use on a previous drafting project.

all our points came in as they should, but when we turn the map on nothing happens. if we delete the import even back to a blank drawing set the coords again, import a shape file, it works fine. We are banging our heads against the wall with this today.

We are now (that everyone is here) getting connection timed out errors again....geeze.

[BrianHailey]

If you have 2012 installed on your system, set the coordinate system, import the points, drawing a rectangle, publish the rectangle to Google Earth. This will let you check and see if your points are coming in at the right location or not.

[bcollins]

You can also add the Geolocation tab to your ribbon (rather than a contextual tab) using a similar procedure. 

Follow the same steps in AutoCAD to save a CUI file with the Geolocation tab. 

Then in Civil 3D, type CUI to open the Customize User Interface window.

Click on the Transfer tab, and then click on the "open" folder under the "Customizations in New File" on the right side of the window.  Browse and pick the CUI file you exported from AutoCAD.

Next, click on the + next to Ribbon, then click on the + next to Tabs (also on the right side of the window).  You should see the Geolocation tab.  Simply drag and drop onto the Ribbon under the "Customizations in Main File" on the left side of the box.

Once you hit apply, the Geolocation tab should be at the end of the series of tabs.

[alexander.dunkel]

First time I worked with AutoCad since 10 years and this was frustratingly difficult.

In Autodesk AutoCad Map 3D, there is no Set Geolocation tool and the Location ribbon is missing under "Insert" tabs. I could not find it, anywhere. Stumbled across this command: GEOGRAPHICLOCATION

Type it in the command palette and you're good.

[ChicagoLooper]

@alexander.dunkel 

You didn’t assign a coordinate system to your drawing. Assign your CS first, not during and not after, then begin drawing. Even though Bing imagery appears in background, it doesn't necessarily mean your drawing is properly georeferenced. It only means you have Bing imagery in the background. 

To make GEOLOCATION tab appear:

1. Assign a ‘projected’ coordinate system that has meters or feet for units (not geographic which uses degrees).
2. Go to ribbon and you’ll see the Geolocation Tab. 

BTW, this post is over 8 years old. I’m sure the OP figured it out by now.