GIS files to surface

[DeanMussell]

Hi all, 

I am completely new to Civil 3d. I am a student and I am trying to take some GIS information we were given for a project and import it to make a surface. I was given shapefiles with every file extension you could have possibly ever heard of. I have .shp .shx .prj  .sbn autocad compatible, autocad shape source, etc. I have tried to load... import and follow the "creating a surface" tutorial with no success. By the way I am working in Civil 3d 2011. Thanks in advance for any help or tips!

[MikeEvansUK]

Not sure if this will work as I have not tried it and it also depends what information the shapes contain.

Try importing the shapes into a new drawing and use the Express tools function "Convert shapes to Blocks". It may give you data that is usable.

If the blocks are not in 3D then you may need to attach the file into the map drawings and run a query then modify the elevations.

If they are contours then that will be simpler but again you may need to adjust the levels if in 2D, there's a tool in the UKIE pack which does this quite well.

If you post a copy of the data I'll take a Pog at it and see what options you have, also please let us know what version of Civil3D you are using as functions vary from version to version.

[DeanMussell]

I appreciate the help. I have not been able to get any of these files to open, load, import or anything. Also I have no idea what info is in these files as I did not cut them. I was just given a cd. I uploaded a few of the files, maybe someone can tell me even what information I am dealing with. Thanks again,

[Joe-Bouza]

All the different file extensions  you see are support file for shp file. the shp is the meat and potatoes. shp are not Shapes as acad understands.

Hopefully, Almas or Seth will ring in, as I do not have 2011 to understand the new feature to directly use gis data for surface data.

Now that I said it out loud: if you expand the surface collection>> definitions - is gis ( i.e shp or sdf data an option)?

[DeanMussell]

Sorry I have: "AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 (English) 64-Bit"

This is the only identifier I could find about the program, not sure if that answered your question or not. 

Some of the files I uploaded did not seem to post in the previous reply. It gave a message about unsupported file extensions. 

[DeanMussell]

Ok I found the "create surface from GIS data" and I can't believe I missed that before. I loaded the .shp file I was given in this GIS data import wizard. A lot of promising "thinking" went on and I got 858 errors that read mostly something like, "Breakline (969749.999921, 748238.812496) -- (969749.999921, 748251.750062) not added -- crossed a point at 969749.999921, 748243.937471" 

I noticed in that wizard that you can log in to a database rather than using your file. Anyone used this feature before? I may be able to get that login information through the school. I feel bad getting this help from you all with no real knowledge of the program. I just don't have a lot of time Senior year to be "spinning my tires" in these programs, so these forums are priceless.

[AllenJessup]

Use MAPIMPORT it import the shape file. On the import dialog click where it says <None> in the Data column. Select "Create object data". After the import see what you have. Let us know. You may have to do a Query to get elevations assigned to the imported entities.

Allen

[DeanMussell]

Ok I did as you said Allen, and I got no error messages and it says "10525 objects inserted" But I see nothing in the modelspace. Just black space as before. I suppose I need to perform this query to assign elevations to these objects?

Thanks,

Dean

[AllenJessup]

I'm not familiar with that process but I may be able to eliminate some of the errors. In Toolspace, on the settings Tab, expand Surface and then Commands. Right click on Create Surface. On the Edit Command Settings dialog the fourth line down should be Build Options. Expand that and change the item "Allow Crossing Breaklines", near the bottom, to Yes. This should eliminate the crossing breakline messages - I think. Since this is Create from GIS Data it might be one of the other commands. But I've looked at several and don't see that option.

If that doesn't work we can always get it in the long way. I looked at the file you posted and it seems you have a file that contains 1' contours.

You're not the first person on these groups with little experience. But you're a student. We get people with the same experience level that are working in production and have just been handed the program and told to "Do This". Glad to help.

Allen

[DeanMussell]

I am sorry. I did a "zoom all" and found the contour lines. Should have thought to do that before replying.

[AllenJessup]

Z for Zoom, E for Extents. See if you can see anything.

It looks like you've progressed some in the Create from GIS routine. See my answer to that and it may save you some time. I haven't worked in 2011 for too long. So I wasn't familiar with that command. But it looks like that's the way to go.

Allen

[AllenJessup]

See my other post about altering the command that creates the surface. Before you save and close the drawing with the contours in it, List a contour and see what elevation it's at.

Also remember that when you create a surface in Civil 3D, what you see on the screen ( or don't see) is dependent on the Style set for that Surface.

Allen

[Murph_Map]

Well if youwant to do it the long way

http://map3d.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/contours-from-shape-files-with-elevations/

or

http://map3d.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/create-a-3d-surface-from-a-shp-file-with-survey-extension/

But I would use the C3D tool Surface from GIS data.

[MikeEvansUK]

Right now you have the raw data do you have elevations? These will probably be in the form of an object data table or if your lucky elevations on the polylines which you can directly use. If a data table exists then you'll have to save the drawing close it, attach it to map in the toolspace then add a query. Select entitiy type polyline. Modify elevations and see if you can get the data table elevation value and check the draw function. Run the query and crossed fingers it should create all the contours at the correct elevations. Have you a way of checking they are correct? There's a few tutorials to aid here, google move text to elevation using map query. You should find a site explaining how the map query works. Just change the values according to entity and you should get there. I'll have a go later (on a train home : ) ) and try the process out. Possibly get a workflow lined up so I can mail it here for you and others.

[Joe-Bouza]

Did the object data come with the contours and or are they at the correct elevations?

[annw2]

I'm trying the same thing.

I heard raves about the Lidar data on PASDA - PA

I stumbled through & found a whole bunch of files with lots of extensions.

I finally found the import surface from GIS and got it to work, but I have no idea where it is.

The TIF file image for the background said it wasn't a TIF or was corrupted.  Most of the other files said they weren't what the extensions claimed.

Has anybody out there gotten the files to work?

[AllenJessup]

---

@annw2 wrote:

I stumbled through & found a whole bunch of files with lots of extensions.

---

Were they the same extensions as the OP listed? LIDAR data and GIS data are not necessarily the same thing. If the TIFF is a GEO-TIFF you could attach it as an FDO.

Allen

[annw2]

What is FDO?

I have *.shx files, which worked for the import surface from GIS with lots of error messages and what looks like a very rough surface, even though I used the breakline shx.  Does anyone know the accuracy of the PASDA lidar?  The blurb says 3.2 ft, but from the surface, it seems to be 3.2ft spaced every few hundred feet.

*_bl.shx, *_cont.shx,

*. las file - AutoCAD layer states ? - no dwgs  No idea why this would be here

*_con.shp, *_bl.shp - Which is better to import shp or shx?

*_dem.aux file ?

*_bl.dbf & _cont.dbf ?

*_bl.html, *_cont.html, *dem.html

*_bl.idx, *_cont.idx

*_bl.prj, *cont.prj

*_dem. rrd

*_dem.tif

*_dem.shp.xml, *cont.shp.xml, *_dem.tif.xml

[AllenJessup]

FDO - Feature Data Object. It's a way to connect to data, mostly GIS data. Here are a couple of links to look at. You can use FDO to link to SHP file or any Raster files that contain surfaces.

http://map3d.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/create-a-3d-surface-from-a-shp-file-with-survey-extension/

http://blogs.rand.com/geospatial/2010/03/working-with-mapinfo-data-from-autocad-map-3d.html

Allen