Bearing and distance info needed between two points

[kfisher50]

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!

[Sinc]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Another thing I see you promote your software in all your replies.

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I'm pretty sure I only mention my software when it can specifically help with whatever question was asked.  Are you saying that I must just sit there and watch people suffer, rather than tell them there is an easy solution to their problem, because I'm the one who created the solution?

If you follow these newsgroups at all, you know how many questions I answer.  And my answers rarely mention my software.  There are other third-party vendors who will ONLY post answers that advertise their software.  For every one of my posts that mentions my software, there are at least ten that do not.  I actually spend an awful lot of my personal time answering questions in this forum, and others.  I do not get compensated for that.  I have also spent a lot of time creating articles and blog posts explaining how to use C3D, which I also do not get compensated for.

And for several years, I *did* give everything away for free.  I started spending upwards of 40 hours per week doing it.  That's when I decided I was giving away too much, and started charging what I think is a very modest price, considering the benefits for the user, and the amount of effort it requires from me.  If I must give away all my software for free, then I think I'll focus on my band instead.  That's a lot more fun.

[Anonymous]

I never intended for this to become a pissing contest.  You have your opinions and I have mine.  You put out your PC comment and that’s all find and good if that’s what you believe.  Did you come back at me because I gave away something for free that could have cost you a sale?  Only your conscience can answer that.

You have probably helped me with a problem a time or two in the past.  I will never forget it and I will always be grateful and thankful to the people who have helped me with such problems.  That is why I am on here to give back where I can and to keep my skills up to par hoping these tough times change quickly so we all can have a good livelihood.  You have your pride as do I.  If I offended you in any way, it surely was not my intent.  So if I did, you have my apologies.  I will always look forward to your knowledge base or advice on problems because I can tell you have quite a bit of experience in certain areas as do I in some similar areas or others.

[_Hathaway]

In reply to the OP. I feel your pain, we had the same trouble a year ago when transitioning to Civil3d and was trying to get a brg and dist between two points.  You must toss out 90% of everything you know about LDD, civild 3d is completely different in just about everything you do.

You cant draw a line between two points and check the bearing and distance like you could in LDD.  Well....you can but you have to have all of your settings 100% correct in order to produce an answer that isn't actually a 3D answer.  Therein lies the transitiionaly LDD-Civil3d issues, you can't do things the old way it is not an upgrade of LDD it is a completely different program with new methods.  The challenge for us has been coming up with the new methods that work the way you want them too.  Brg and Dist is just one of them, there are countless others.  Having used it for a year or so I have the opposite issue now.  When I have to go back to an LDD project I almost cannot function.  In time you will be the same way, its a learning curve and a steep one at that.

We use the 'inquiry tool' (actually i keep that tool open but minized at all times simply for the inverse routine) in combination with the Pnt Inverse command.  It's a fairly funcitonal tool that gives you B & D along with much more that may or may not be useful to your main inquiry.

[Hidden_Brain]

attached drawing has a dynamic block that will label the "invible" line between the two points. i cannot take credit for this, Christopher Fugitt posted this in his block a while back. maybe this will help you.

**meant to write "blog" instead of "block"..aah well, its friday

[AllenJessup]

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@_Hathaway wrote:

We use the 'inquiry tool' (actually i keep that tool open but minized at all times simply for the inverse routine)

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I leave mine open and minimized also. But I still like CGLIST [ also available on the Analyze tab >  Inquiry panel   Line and Arc Information].  It gves  you the flat line Brg & Dist on the command line along with the coordinates. Nice for a quick check without a lot of analysis.

Allen

[wfberry]

Allen this is not directed at you or anyone in particular.  If appears you have to reply to someone, perhaps we need an "at large reply to" to keep this in the same discussion.

Now, I cannot sit here and perhaps see criticism toward sinc when he has answered at length an enormous range of topics that is nothing whatesoever related to "Sincpac" sales.  (Perhaps it is related somewhat due to surveying methods, etc.)  Computer purchases, surveying techniques especially GPS papers to name a couple.  I know I keep reading his paper on "Working with Grid Coordinates".  Hopefully, if I read this enough I will get a grasp on it at some point. 

Anyway, I hope we don't deter sinc from continuiing his service to this newsgroup.

Bill

BTW, I do own Sincpac.  Wouldn't leave home without it.  Does this mean I should not respond?

[Pointdump]

Hi Allen,

CGLIST works great! I'd never heard of that one.

Dave

[AllenJessup]

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@wfberry wrote:

Allen this is not directed at you or anyone in particular.  

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Bill,

Glad you added that codicil. Because I wouldn't have known which of my post you had replied to. I'm in total agreement with everything you said. I don't own Sincpac, but wish I did. If it were just a matter of myself I'd spring for it. But we'd at leas need another copy for our Surveyor. But it's always looked like a good products.

Allen

[AllenJessup]

Glad to help!

Allen

[david.zavislan]

Don't forget the Survey Command Window available through the Survey Toolsspace.  The INV PTS command will list the coordinates, distance and bearing between two points.  The output can also be saved to a file.

[Sinc]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I never intended for this to become a pissing contest.  You have your opinions and I have mine.  You put out your PC comment and that’s all find and good if that’s what you believe.  Did you come back at me because I gave away something for free that could have cost you a sale?  Only your conscience can answer that.

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I don't know anything about that.  I don't know what you give away for free.  But I'm all for contributing to the community at large...  I've done a lot of that myself.

I don't know what's "PC".  All I know is the whole reason I spend as much time in these forums as I do is because I like helping people.  That's also the whole reason I started making these tools available to others in the first place, rather than keeping them private.  So it's hard for me to see someone suffering with some problem, and know of a great solution to their problem, yet not be able to tell them about it.

But you've triggered some interesting lines of thought.  Maybe I have crossed some line away from being just a "user", and can no longer think of myself as such.  And I seem to constantly have more demands on my time these days, forcing me to be more selective in what I do.  I seem to repeat myself a lot in forum posts, yet I have a number of things I'd like to go into in more depth than I can manage in forum posts.  So it seems time to rechannel a bunch of my forum time into those other things, in other formats, which I think will provide more value to the community at large.  I might become a somewhat sporadic visitor to these environs, but hopefully that means I'll have more-interesting things to say when I speak...  🙂

[OMCUSNR]

Say it ain't so, Sinc.

There are a few other guys here that have business interests in 3rd party stuff they've developed, and I don't have a problem with any of you letting us know about them.  It's up to us to determine whether they would be worth the cost to us. 

I wish alot of the Sincpac & Dotsoft stuff were in the OOTB C3d (we pay enough for the stuff), but if ADSK isn't going to inclued it, and you have spent your time & effort in creating it, I feel you need to be compensated for it.

I VERY MUCH appriciate your (& Terry's) input to these forums, with or without the mention of your developed addins.  Both of you have helped the community vastly, sharing what you have leaned.  Hope (& pray) you continue to do so!

Thanks

Reid

[AllenJessup]

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@OMCUSNR wrote:

Say it ain't so, Sinc.

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Ditto to that and all the rest!

Allen

[Anonymous]

That was the point I was trying to make.  Is Sinc an average end user?  HELLLLLLLLLLLL FREEEEAAAAKKKING NOOOOOOO.  I am sure a lot of people on this forum would have no problem agreeing with that statement.

I felt you actually proved the point I agreed with, when you stated "Out of the Box No!"  Were we comparing apples to apples, oranges to oranges or apples to oranges?  You are one of the Ferrari's in this forum running in a pack of VW Beetles who want to be a Ferrari.