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Bearing and distance info needed between two points

33 REPLIES 33
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Message 1 of 34
kfisher50
3904 Views, 33 Replies

Bearing and distance info needed between two points

I am a very recent convert to Civil 3d (within the last week, in fact!) -- I have been using LDD for many, many years.  As a surveyor, one of the routines that I most use is determining the bearing and distance between two points.  I have not been able to find a method to accomplish this task in a simple and speedy way in Civil 3d.  Drawing a line between the two points in question and then listing the line's properties (and then having to delete the line when finished) seems like a waste of steps, especially when compared to what it took in LDD.  The "Help" section does not address this problem, so I'm hoping to get some feedback from this forum. 

 

Thank you for your input!

33 REPLIES 33
Message 2 of 34
Sinc
in reply to: kfisher50

I think most people use the DIST command. There's also the Inquiry tool, although that's not as accessible as the DIST command.

 

I prefer the PTINV command.  It's only available in the Sincpac-C3D, a third-party add-on, but it gives much more useful output than the DIST command, including both 2D and 3D distances between your pick points.

Sinc
Message 3 of 34
kfisher50
in reply to: Sinc

Thank you for your reply.  I have tried the "DIST" command, but it only returns a horizontal measurement between two points -- it unfortunatelly doesn't provide a bearing to go along with the distance.

Message 4 of 34
AllenJessup
in reply to: kfisher50

Are you looking for the Brng & dist between 2 AECC points of just any 2 points you can pick in AutoCAD?

 

Allen



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 5 of 34
AllenJessup
in reply to: kfisher50

You can just the Inquiry Tool and select the Point1 and Point2 coordinates from anything you can snap to.

See Attached image.

 

But the best way to get an inverse between 2 points is the use he CGLIST command. You can list the info on a line or curve by selecting the object or you can select Points and snap to end, mid, center points or any other point you can usually snap to. You can also us the Transparent  Commands to snap to AECC points by name or number or Select the Point Object.

 

Allen



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 6 of 34
kfisher50
in reply to: AllenJessup

Allen:

 

This problem involves two aecc points...

Message 7 of 34
kfisher50
in reply to: AllenJessup

Thanks Allen -- I'll give it a try.

Message 8 of 34
JRedell
in reply to: kfisher50

Point Inverse through the Inquiry Tool is the best way I've found to accomplish what you're trying to do. One thing that still baffles me about C3D though is it's inability to just place a label between two points in space and not be tied to a line.....

JRedell, PLS
Erlandsen
Civil3d 2012
Intel Core 2 Quad 2.66GHz
Win7 64bit
Quadro FX1700 (Driver 265.70)
8GB RAM
Message 9 of 34
kfisher50
in reply to: JRedell

Thanks for your reply.  From the feedback that I've heard from other surveyors who have migrated (or rather forced!) to Civil 3d, this software does not lend itself very well to the needs of surveyors.  Or maybe it's just that we surveyors are a difficult bunch of SOB's who are hard to please!  LOL!!

Message 10 of 34
JRedell
in reply to: kfisher50

Well, that's a fact! We are a bunch that's fairly resistant to change, but that one issue has kept us from migrating for the last 4-5 years. As I'm sure you know....that's a much needed feature in the surveying world! Without it, plats and ROS's are very difficult to draft.

JRedell, PLS
Erlandsen
Civil3d 2012
Intel Core 2 Quad 2.66GHz
Win7 64bit
Quadro FX1700 (Driver 265.70)
8GB RAM
Message 11 of 34
AllenJessup
in reply to: JRedell


@JRedell wrote:

Well, that's a fact! We are a bunch that's fairly resistant to change


 

I don't necessarily find that so. The first Survey office I worked in was ahead of the curve in adopting new technology. I benefited a lot from that. I find Engineers much more hidebound. The ones I work with would still like to be designing on paper and many still do. They regard CAD as a fancy drafting tool.

 

I know the inability to produce a bearing and distance label is inconvenient. I end up with a lot of lines on a no-plot layer so I can label intermediate distances or overalls if I have labeled parcels.

 

You can always explode the label and erase the line. But I think that's bad practice. One thing I've done is add the AeccAddSegmentLabel command to a Tool Palette so I can label the lines easily. I've meant to add it to the Rt Click menu for lines, but haven't gotten around to it. Don't do may Plats anymore.

 

Allen

 



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 12 of 34
JRedell
in reply to: AllenJessup

Myself and another drafter here made up a dynamic block that allows you to essentially have a label between two points. It contains a drop down list that allows you to configure it as B/D, Dist, D/B, etc. It also allows for reversing direction and flipping the label as well:) Works pretty good really!

JRedell, PLS
Erlandsen
Civil3d 2012
Intel Core 2 Quad 2.66GHz
Win7 64bit
Quadro FX1700 (Driver 265.70)
8GB RAM
Message 13 of 34
AllenJessup
in reply to: JRedell

Yes. I've seen it done that way too. I'm just a purist. If I'm working in C3D I try to do everything with Civil 3D tools.

 

Just want to add this. I believe that Surveying can be done well with Civil 3D. It's easier if you buy one of the add-ons made for Surveyors. However I never recommend Civil 3D for Survey only shops. It's a very powerful engineering tool but way over powered (and overpriced) for surveying. But if the Survey work in done in-house by a Surveying and Engineering firm. Then the Surveyors need to use C3D to be compatible with Engineering.

 

Allen



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 14 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: kfisher50

Since the OP stated he wanted to "list" the bearings and distance of two points.  Attached is a vlisp program I wrote that will do that showing the data at the command prompt and continuing with whatever option you choose until you cancel it.  It gives you the option to choose from lines or points when you start it.  You can add this to your startup suite or create a toolbar to run it.  I hate C3D's listing capabilities so I wrote a program to ease the pain.  I agree with some of the statements made that C3D isn't a good choice for doing Survey work but these are the times and either we go along with them or stay behind.  You will have to rename the file to LBD.vlx for the file to work.

Message 15 of 34
Sinc
in reply to: Anonymous

I do NOT agree with the statements above, about C3D not being good for Survey work.

 

True, I couldn't use it as it comes out-of-the-box, but that's why I created the Sincpac-C3D.  One of the major benefits of C3D over its competitors is that it is far more customizable.  If Carlson doesn't do what you want, you're pretty much out of luck, but that's not necessarily the case with C3D.

 

I often hear Surveyors saying they miss LDD, which they claim worked great.  But we can run circles around LDD with C3D.  Most things can be done faster and easier in C3D.  And there are some things we can now do in just a few hours, which would have taken all week in LDD.  So if LDD was really "great for Surveyors", as many claim, and C3D is many times better, I really don't understand comments about how C3D is "not good for Surveyors".

 

I also don't agree with statements that C3D is "overkill" for Surveyors.  But a good part of the reason for that is that we've discovered it's not competitive in today's world to try to do things exactly the same way we did them 10 or 20 years ago.  The world is changing fast.  And as we've gotten more fluent with C3D, we find we use virtually ALL of the program.  There are some things we never touch, like hydrology and QTO.  But we use pretty much all the rest of it.  We may not use certain features very often, like Plan Production, but Plan Production sure comes in handy when we need to produce 50-page plan sets (which happens once or twice a year), and allows us to do something in a few hours that would have taken us days before.

 

And we're also doing a lot of "new" things...  We regularly work with aerial imagery, GIS data, and more.

 

C3D isn't sufficient by itself.  In particular, it can't handle GPS processing.  It has no integration with OPUS.  We hate the Survey Database, and still use TGO if we need to adjust a traverse.  Lack of Project support is a constant headache.  There are lots of other problems.  But we are also doing better work than ever before, much faster, and to a high level of consistency, and have gained a reputation as being one of the most-competent Survey outfits in Colorado.  And, we're also a dream for Engineers who have moved to C3D, since we give them fully-built C3D entities, rather than the grab bag they usually get from Surveyors.

 

 

Sinc
Message 16 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Sinc

Of course it's good for you because you have the knowledge to go and create all those great custom tools, features and workarounds.  What about the poor smuck who doesn't have said knowledge or he has a boss that won't spend any extra money for said tools?  I don't see you giving away your product for free to help the poor smuck.  You give away certain stuff but not the whole package.

Message 17 of 34
AllenJessup
in reply to: Sinc

NOT going to say you're wrong. And you might have noticed I did mention add-ons in my post. Might have even had a particular one in mind. But a lot of the Surveyors I know are the type who run very small shops. Even smaller now adays! Mostly doing mortgage surveys or the subdivision work as sub for an engineering firm.

 

These guys don't have GPS equipment. Some don't even have Data collectors yet! But they're the ones getting the work because they can bid a job at half the price that someone with modern software and equipment can.

 

The people I see benefiting from Civil 3D are those who either work in a Survey & Engineering shop or who work closely with Engineers who use C3D.  I can't tell someone to spend the extra money on the chance they will attract customers who want the work submitted in Civil 3D. I see Engineering firms who put Civil 3D in their specs but accept proposals form people using Smegeggy-CAD because the Price-is-RIGHT. They you see the post "How do I extract Civil points, profiles and surfaces from this drawing?".

 

Again. Not saying your wrong. I tend to agree with your. But this is what I see and how I deal with it.

 

Allen



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 18 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Sinc

Another thing I see you promote your software in all your replies.  I am unemployed and am here lending/sharing whatever knowledge or capablilities I have with my peers.  Do you see me asking for money or donations?  I don't thinks so.

 

How the greedy get greedy-er when times are tough.

Message 19 of 34
Jeff_M
in reply to: Anonymous


@Anonymous wrote:

What about the poor smuck who doesn't have said knowledge or he has a boss that won't spend any extra money for said tools?


At one time, this was me. Except the product was LDT. I bought a seat for the company for me to use. I was reimbursed before the end of the year when it was seen how much better/faster the work was coming out compared to what we had been doing (Softdesk8)...even though it was nearly the same product. LDT didn't do a LOT of things how we wanted, if it did them at all. I learned, on my own time, how to mostly 'fix' these shortcomings with some lisp, and then VBA. 

 

Then came Civil3D. Guess what? Same boss, same excuses of "not spending money". I din't buy it this time, but through other sources I joined a group of customizers who belonged to ADN. So I was able to get a taste of what C3D was like (this was the 2006 version, so it had some growing pains to go through). By the time 2008 rolled out, I was able to prove, once again, that we could NOT afford to not purchase C3D (I actually threatened to quit at one point unless we bought it). Yes, I still customized C3D to get it to do more of what I felt it needed for our use, but I have far fewer customizations for C3D than I ever had in the 20 years, or so, of using Softdesk/LDT.

 

If it were me now, in a shop that could benefit from Sincpac (or any other third party product) but refused to buy it.... I'd buy it myself ($350 for Sincpac is cheap to be able to keep my sanity, and cheaper than me trying to write all the commands it adds). And when my co-workers or boss(es) asked why I could do something that the guy in the next cubicle could not, I'd tell them exactly why. Dollars to donuts, your co-workers would soon be getting Sincpac installed as well.

 

**Disclaimer! Yes, as most of you know, I now contribute to the content of SincpacC3D, so I may be a bit biased. But the only reasons that I do so is because I believe in getting the customized commands to as many people as possible in the most efficient method possible. And since Sinc placed the Free Edition source code out there for anyone to use, I chose to give back to the product to enhance it even more.

Jeff_M, also a frequent Swamper
EESignature
Message 20 of 34
AllenJessup
in reply to: Jeff_M

Also there are people who are VERY good at this who don't give ANYTHING away. If you want their knowledge you pay for it. And I don't find anything wrong with that. It's a personal decision whether to participate in the groups or not.

 

Allen



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

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