Most basic question: What is a point in Civil 3D?

[DoctorCarlo]

Yes, I am actually asking what a point is as it is used in Civil 3D.  I will ask my live instructor at my next (second) class in which I am learning Civil 3D at ITT Tech.  However, I am quite perturbed that "point" is not defined even in the very beginning of any tutorial.  The first mention of points is how to create them, manage them, import them, etc.  However, their purpose is never defined.

I am well aware what points are as they are generally defined.  I first learned about points in geometry way back in 1967.  I have learned and used AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit Architecture.  But at no point have points been treated as they are referenced in Civil 3D.  Excuse me for my unbelieveable ignorance.

Please just tell me simply what points are in Civil 3D and their purpose.  Thank you.

[wfberry]

Per Civil 3D Help:

When you are working with points in Civil 3D, one of the first things that is important to understand is that in Civil 3D, each point is maintained as an individual object. Each point also always belongs to a point group, which is also an object. This means that you can manage points at different hierarchical levels. Being able to manage points this way improves overall performance and provides additional flexibility that you do not have when using points in Land Desktop.

A second concept that is important to understand is that unlike Land Desktop points, the display characteristics of Civil 3D points are based on two style settings: the point style and the point label style. This is a concept that is employed throughout many Civil 3D object types.

[Sinc · Accepted solution]

To answer a bit more directly, a "Point" in Civil 3D is basically the same thing you learned in Geometry.  In other words, it's a location in 3D space, identified by (x,y,z) coordinates.  Although in Civil work, we like to think of the Z-axis as being aligned with gravity, so these values equate to (Easting, Northing, Elevation).

Most of the time, Points are field shots taken by the Surveyor.  But they can also be design elements, created to indicate spots in your finish design.  They can be added to Surface definitions, so you can use them to create a Surface.  They can also be added to Point Groups, which provides some capabilities for managing related Points.  And they can be dumped out to files, which can be loaded into data collectors by Surveyors and staked out in the field.  Civil 3D can also transform coordinates to other coordinate systems (for example, convert State Plane coordinates to UTM coordinates, etc.)

In Civil 3D, there are actually two variations on a "Point":  "Cogo Points" and "Survey Points".  They are very similar.  In our drawing, the drawing elements we see are called "Cogo Points".  But if we pull in survey data through the Survey Database, this information is remembered in the Survey Database, and we can create Cogo Points in our drawing that are linked to the data in the survey database.  These "special" Cogo Points are referred to as "Survey Points", and are typically locked in-place in the drawing, so they stay the same as in the survey database (although you can unlock them if you need to, and then move them around in your drawing).

[Jeff_M]

To add to the replies by Bill and Sinc,

A Civil3D point can also have a description and UserDefinedProperties to describe what the point is marking. The point MUST have the X & Y defined, the Elevation & Description are optional, as are User Defined Properties.

[Murph_Map]

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@Jeff_M wrote:

To add to the replies by Bill and Sinc,

A Civil3D point can also have a description and UserDefinedProperties to describe what the point is marking. The point MUST have the X & Y defined, the Elevation & Description are optional, as are User Defined Properties.

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You all make a good point. (pun intended)

[AllenJessup]

Just a small addition to Sinc's excellent description. In case you haven't seen the term before Cogo is short for Coordinate Geometry. As said. A point is a point (X,Y,Z). A Civil 3D Cogo point is a specialized object that marks the point.

Allen