AutoCAD Map 3D

[#1]

We have color GeoTIFF aerials that we've been using for 4 years without any problems until now.  In Civil 3D 2013, when I use the MAPIINSERT command to bring in the TIFFs, they are being shifted way outside of the coordinate system that's been set up.  I can do the exact same steps in all previous versions all the way back to 2006 using the same template and the images come into the correct coordinates.  It's just 2013 that shifts the images.

The images were obtained from the State of Tennessee and our drawings are all in Tennessee State Plane Coordinates NAD83, US Survey Feet.  I have attached two screenshots of the MAPIINSERT dialog box for both 2012 and 2013.  The same image.

How can I get C3D 2013 or Map 2013 to insert the images correctly?  All my units are set to foot from every dialog that I know about.  The 2013 drawing used the exact same template as the 2012 one, but just saved as 2013.  

[#2]

It looks like it's being scaled exactly 3.280839857143.  For some reason, C3D (Map) is reading the file as meters when it's in feet.  What setting am I missing to tell it the image is in feet and not meters in 2013?

[#3]

Forgot to attach the images of the dialog box.

[#4]

I've got a support request going for this, but Autodesk seems to think the images are in meters.  Just to be sure, I downloaded FWTools2.4.7 and opened one of the images.  The file's header information states that the projection is NAD83 / Tennessee with the UNIT set to "US survey foot".  To double check what I was seeing, I asked our GIS department to take a look at one of the TIFFs and see what ArcGIS 10 says the metadata information says.  In ArcGIS, the image is listed as being in Tennessee state plane NAD83 and the linear unit set to US Survey foot.  The images fall into the correct space in any other GIS program and all previous versions of C3D and Map3D.

Even if the image was set to meters, if Map is reprojecting the image to my US Survey Foot drawing then why is it multiplying the X and Y coordinates in the file by 3.28 instead of by 0.3048?  None of this is making any sense.

[#5]

Well seeing your working in the Volunteer state coordinate system I'll provide some suggestions. First I'm not using 2013 so they may not be the issue, but look at the INSUNITS, INSUNITSDEFSOURCE, & INSUNITSDEFTARGET variables.

[#6]

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Murph wrote:

Well seeing your working in the Volunteer state coordinate system I'll provide some suggestions. First I'm not using 2013 so they may not be the issue, but look at the INSUNITS, INSUNITSDEFSOURCE, & INSUNITSDEFTARGET variables.

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Not sure what those variables are supposed to be.  All of them are set to <2> currently. 

I downloaded Lizardtech's GeoViewer 5.5 and looked at the images metadata.  GeoViewer also says the units are US survey foot.  Below is one of the file's metadata.

Left: 3032503
Top: 741378
Right: 3046503
Bottom: 733378

X resolution: 1
Y resolution: -1

CRS name: NAD83 / Tennessee

WKT: PROJCS["NAD83 / Tennessee",
GEOGCS["NAD83",
DATUM["North_American_Datum_1983",
SPHEROID["GRS 1980",6378137,298.2572221010002,
AUTHORITY["EPSG","7019"]],
AUTHORITY["EPSG","6269"]],
PRIMEM["Greenwich",0],
UNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],
AUTHORITY["EPSG","4269"]],
PROJECTION["Lambert_Conformal_Conic_2SP"],
PARAMETER["standard_parallel_1",36.41666666666666],
PARAMETER["standard_parallel_2",35.25],
PARAMETER["latitude_of_origin",34.33333333333334],
PARAMETER["central_meridian",-86],
PARAMETER["false_easting",1968500],
PARAMETER["false_northing",0],
UNIT["US survey foot",0.3048006096012192,
AUTHORITY["EPSG","9003"]]]

 It seems like 2013 is reading either the number after the unit or the pixel density instead of the actual unit text to determine what the image's unit is.  That number that's past the "US survey foot" text is the conversion from meters to feet. 

[#7]

So, my case is closed, but the issue isn't resolved.  It looks like all of the Raster Designs and Map 2013 ignore the file header information regarding the image's unit.  Instead, it reads one line about the coordinate system code that relates to the EPSG number.  That number is apparently incorrect in all 111 of our aerial images for our county and possibly all of the State of TN, although how it's incorrect I still cannot figure out.

No other program reads these files incorrectly except for Map (C3D) 2013 and Raster Design.  ArcGIS reads the units correctly and places the images in the correct spot.  Because all previous versions of Map didn't try to reproject images, the images came in correctly because Map just treated it like a world file using the drawing's units and the file's insertion point and scale.

The solution for now is to make the drawing have no coordinates or projection, insert the image, then turn the coordinates back on to TN83F.  I have a feeling that we will have to do this from now in every single version of Map (C3D) unless Autodesk makes Map and Raster Design read the UNIT field in the header information.  I doubt they'll ever do that, though.  

[#8]

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engrtech wrote:

The solution for now is to make the drawing have no coordinates or projection, insert the image, then turn the coordinates back on to TN83F.  I have a feeling that we will have to do this from now in every single version of Map (C3D) unless Autodesk makes Map and Raster Design read the UNIT field in the header information.  I doubt they'll ever do that, though.  

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That sounds about right.

Good luck.

[#9]

Thanks for the reply, this is painful Autodesk... fix please! In the meantime, did you see any documentation that might help us adjust the image header for several hundred tiles. Ughh. 

[#10]

Not sure if this will help you but I wrote a lisp program to avoid using Mapiinsert because it was so unreliable.  The program takes the info from the image and world file and puts the image in the right place, regardless of coordinate system.  It uses TIF and TFW files, so if you use a different image type, you will need to edit the program.  Also the directories will need to be set to fit your data.