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Survey Setup Information

9 REPLIES 9
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Message 1 of 10
civman_daar
389 Views, 9 Replies

Survey Setup Information

C3D 2012 SP3 on Win 7 Pro

 

I need to setup a survey department in C3D.  They have been using LDT 2008 to this point in time.

I have several questions:

 

1.  How does C3D auto draw the line work?  I know that there is a relationship between the survey database and the figure library, I'm just not sure about it.

 

2.  Description keys are responsible for placing points on designated layers with or without symbols, correct?

 

3.  Is a field book the best import solution for the survey database?  Can you import CVS files?

 

Can someone who has experience with survey setup please help.  General guidelines are helpful.

Autodesk tutorials are very vague when it comes to this.

 

Thanks

9 REPLIES 9
Message 2 of 10
AllenJessup
in reply to: civman_daar

I personally don't have too much experience with it but I can answer a couple of questions.

 

"2.  Description keys are responsible for placing points on designated layers with or without symbols, correct?"

 

Yes. Similar to the way they did in Land Desktop. The big difference is that the Symbols are usually handled as part of the Point Label Style.

 

"3.  Is a field book the best import solution for the survey database?  Can you import CVS files?"

 

A qualified yes on the CSV files. The problem is. If you only import a Point file you are only giving the program coordinates. So you can't perform any analysis. If you're going to import CSV files, you might want to consider not using the Survey Database. Point files can be imported and draw linework without the use of the Survey Database.

 

Allen Jessup



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 3 of 10
civman_daar
in reply to: civman_daar

Is it possible to have auto drawn line work without the survey database? Explain please.

Message 4 of 10
AllenJessup
in reply to: civman_daar

The answer is yes. I've seen it done. But never having done this myself I can't explain the process.

 

Allen



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 5 of 10
IanMcClain
in reply to: civman_daar

1. C3D uses a linework prefix library to create survey figures. Survey figures are stored in the survey database and can be inserted to the current drawing on import or from the survey database at a later time. Survey figures are linked to the database and can be updated to or from the survey database.

 

2. Correct. The description keys (you may have more than one set) are stored in the drawing, unlike the figure prefix library.

 

3.Field books are a good solution for importing survey data as they offer the ability to maintain survey observation raw data (rod heights, etc.) that can be edited from inside the drawing without the need to re-import survey files. If your surveyors already use FBK files, I would keep using them. If they don't, it may not be worth the time to change your work flow. You don't need FBK files to create survey figure linework, the prefix codes are read from the point description. This is a change from LDT which read linework codes from raw description notes in FBK files (this still works, FYI).

 

I have not seen any way to create survey figures or linework without the using the survey database, but it may be in a later version than what I use: C3D2012.

 

See the help files for more info, I found them pretty usefull:

 

http://docs.autodesk.com/CIV3D/2012/ENU/filesCUG/GUID-46CA2DE7-8889-42CC-AC13-1DCC9A2DA77-339.htm

Ian McClain
Message 6 of 10
n2itive
in reply to: IanMcClain

I would no longer recommend using FBK files when importing survey data.  Starting with the 2012 release, I believe, survey figures generated from FBK files have limited editing options.  Survey figures created using point/text files have the full range of editing options.  Because of this we stopped using FBK files in 2012.  Now, this was a known issue, so I'm not sure if it's been fixed in the newer releases.

 

As for using the Survey Data Base, personally, I like it.  By no means is it perfect but I feel some of the added data management benefits out way the downsides of it. No doubt you will find some that hate it and some that love it.  I'd say give it a shot.

Infrastructure Design Suite 2014
Civil 3D 2013 sp2
Windows 7 x 64, 16 GB
Intel Xeon @ 2.80 GHz
NVIDIA Quadro K2000
Message 7 of 10
cbaildon001
in reply to: n2itive

Hi nelsons

 

Could you please explain what you mean when you say 'survey figures generated from FBK files have limited editing options'? Aren't figures generated the same way from point files, at least if you bring them in via the Survey Database.

 

I commonally use FBK for total station data and CSV for GPS data, and have not noticed any difference in linework, though the most elaborate things I do with figures is use commands from the Linework Code Set.

 

Thanks

Caleb Baildon
Senior Surveyor
Opus International Consultants Ltd
Wellington, New Zealand
Civil3D 2015 - Windows10
Message 8 of 10
n2itive
in reply to: cbaildon001

Hello

 

"I have run this by the development and it appears there have been some changes introduced in the way figures were created and what is displayed in their properties. So traditional figures defined through field book command language are not editable the way they were before. Look for this thread in the future as they may be more detailed explanation of the behavior. "

 

Here's the thread - they're many more on this subject.

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-Civil-3D/Locked-Survey-Figures/m-p/3290909#M167385

 

It may have changed with 2013 & 2014... we no longer use FBK files however.

Infrastructure Design Suite 2014
Civil 3D 2013 sp2
Windows 7 x 64, 16 GB
Intel Xeon @ 2.80 GHz
NVIDIA Quadro K2000
Message 9 of 10
cbaildon001
in reply to: n2itive

Thanks nelsons

 

When we were using 2012 we were not using the Survey Figure Properties window to make edits, but only editing linework codes and editing the geometry from the commands on the ribbon, so I did not notice this issue.

 

I have started using this functionality in 2013 and 2014 and find it useful and can confirm it does work now.

 

Regards

Caleb Baildon
Senior Surveyor
Opus International Consultants Ltd
Wellington, New Zealand
Civil3D 2015 - Windows10
Message 10 of 10
Cadguru42
in reply to: civman_daar

We haven't ever really used FBK files with Civil 3D. I know the surveyors used to back when we used LDD, but that was over 8 years ago at the earliest. 

 

We import CSVs from our TDS2 (I think that's what they are named) data collectors directly into a survey database. We use the automated linework to create survey figures and have a prefix database setup to place the figures on the correct layers, figure styles, etc. We have a survey template that has the point styles, point label styles, description key set, layers, etc. already setup so we just import the figures and points into the drawing and they are pretty close to being ready with minor fixes. 

 

We've been doing this for about 5 years without much hassle. We did have to train our guys to code a little different while in the field, but after a couple of projects they got the hang of it and it works great. 

 

 

C3D 2022-2024
Windows 10 Pro
32GB RAM

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