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what coordinate system is my dwg in?

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Message 1 of 11
mugye77
6203 Views, 10 Replies
‎12-18-2002 04:17 AM
‎12-18-2002 04:17 AM

what coordinate system is my dwg in?

I desperately need some answers here, and the help file is not exactly helpful. I have two drawings that used to be aligned but are now a little "off". I'm assuming that their coordinate systems differ. But what i need to know is how i find out what coordinate system they are currently in. Where exactly is the metadata for Autocad drawings?
Thanks-

Paul Bradford
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Message 2 of 11
bakerjd21
in reply to: mugye77
‎12-18-2002 05:08 AM
‎12-18-2002 05:08 AM

What do you mean by 'used to be aligned'. You used to bring up the files in Map and they were aligned? If so, do you know why that changed?

This may or may not be helpful. I'm using Map 6, but not an expert. I'm replying because I've recently worked with some coordinate system issues. If you open the drawing in Map (as the active project), you can choose Map>Tools>Assign Global Coordinate System to see the coordinate system assigned.

One other note... I had problems with dwg's being a little 'off'. The reason was that one file actually used units of International Feet instead of US Survey feet. If you don't know the history of both files and think this could be an issue, let me know and I can pass along what I learned about the subject.

Hope this provides some help.

Jason
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Message 3 of 11
mugye77
in reply to: mugye77
‎12-18-2002 05:29 AM
‎12-18-2002 05:29 AM

Jason,
Any info you have about what to do if you don't know the history of the file, would be greatly appreciated. The problem is, that i took over this position and picked up on projects left off by the former employee. I had similar problems when working in ArcView but luckily i had metadata to work with. I think that these two dwgs use to align. The story with the drawings is that one is just an enlarged splice of the other. I have a comprehensive street atlas drawing, and then separate enlarged drawings representing each sheet of the map. There were instances in the past where i would alter something in the comprehensive drawing and then copy and use the PASTEORIG command in the other drawing. Everything used to align as if they were in the same coordinate system, but now they are slightly off. Well again, any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm stuck.
thanks,
Paul
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Message 4 of 11
Anonymous
in reply to: mugye77
‎12-18-2002 05:49 AM
‎12-18-2002 05:49 AM

To see if a coordinate system has been assigned to drawings
....

1. Start a new drawing

2. Attach the drawings in question

3. Right click on "Drawings" in the Project Workspace, and
choose "Define/Modify Drawing Set ..." from the pop-up menu

4.Click the button "Drawing Settings ..." from the
Define/Modify Drawing Set dialog box

5.The coordinate system assigned to the attached
drawings will be listed in the Drawing Settings dialog box - to the right
of the drawing name.  Example, LL will be listed for Lat
Longs.

 

Jim B.

 


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
Jason,

Any info you have about what to do if you don't know the history of the
file, would be greatly appreciated. The problem is, that i took over this
position and picked up on projects left off by the former employee. I had
similar problems when working in ArcView but luckily i had metadata to work
with. I think that these two dwgs use to align. The story with the drawings is
that one is just an enlarged splice of the other. I have a comprehensive
street atlas drawing, and then separate enlarged drawings representing each
sheet of the map. There were instances in the past where i would alter
something in the comprehensive drawing and then copy and use the PASTEORIG
command in the other drawing. Everything used to align as if they were in the
same coordinate system, but now they are slightly off. Well again, any help
would be greatly appreciated. I'm stuck.
thanks,

Paul
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Message 5 of 11
Anonymous
in reply to: mugye77
‎12-18-2002 06:48 AM
‎12-18-2002 06:48 AM

Unless the user who created the files assigned a
coordinate system to them, you will have no way of determining the coordinate
system from autocad itself. You will have to find a geodetic coordinate for a
point in your drawing. Perhaps a local surveyor could give you a lat and long
for a section corner or some other monument that is included in your drawing.
Once you have the geodetic coordinate and your drawing coordinate, you can use a
datum conversion utility such as corpscon to determine the
projection.


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
I
desperately need some answers here, and the help file is not exactly helpful.
I have two drawings that used to be aligned but are now a little "off". I'm
assuming that their coordinate systems differ. But what i need to know is how
i find out what coordinate system they are currently in. Where exactly is the
metadata for Autocad drawings?
Thanks-

Paul Bradford

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Message 6 of 11
mugye77
in reply to: mugye77
‎12-18-2002 09:38 PM
‎12-18-2002 09:38 PM

Thanks Jim and Neil for all the info. I appreciate it.
-Paul Bradford
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Message 7 of 11
mugye77
in reply to: mugye77
‎12-19-2002 02:56 AM
‎12-19-2002 02:56 AM

Hey guys,
new question for ya. I've determined that no coordinate system was ever assigned to these drawings. So how is it that when i from one drawing and pasteorig in the other, that parts of the map are almost aligned? It looks like it might be a scale issue. Like i said someone else actually created the original files. I'm just wondering what the process is if no coordinate system has been assigned, that allows Cad to align images spatially?
Thanks,
Paul
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Message 8 of 11
Anonymous
in reply to: mugye77
‎12-19-2002 03:07 AM
‎12-19-2002 03:07 AM

That's a whole new ballgame, Paul.

Either use the rubbersheeting in Map or Raster
Design. or if you have one dwg that you know is correct as far as scaling goes
the align command  may work for you. What I have done in the past is to gps
a few known points then use align to postion the map.

 

Murph

 


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
Hey
guys,
new question for ya. I've determined that no coordinate system was
ever assigned to these drawings. So how is it that when i from one drawing and
pasteorig in the other, that parts of the map are almost aligned? It looks
like it might be a scale issue. Like i said someone else actually created the
original files. I'm just wondering what the process is if no coordinate system
has been assigned, that allows Cad to align images spatially?
Thanks,

Paul
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Message 9 of 11
Anonymous
in reply to: mugye77
‎12-19-2002 03:30 AM
‎12-19-2002 03:30 AM

All autocad drawings have coordinate systems, but
they can be arbitrary or they can be established by various agencies such as the
state plane coordinate systems. The drawings you have were created using
coordinate systems that were similar but not identical. That is why they almost
line up when you overlay them. If it is a scale issue, try xreffing them
into a blank drawing and lining them up using 2 points with the align
command. If it is a scale issue, they should line up perfectly. Do not use
rubber sheet as it will distort your data depending on what points you use. The
align command will only scale and rotate, so you won't distort your
data.


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
Hey
guys,
new question for ya. I've determined that no coordinate system was
ever assigned to these drawings. So how is it that when i from one drawing and
pasteorig in the other, that parts of the map are almost aligned? It looks
like it might be a scale issue. Like i said someone else actually created the
original files. I'm just wondering what the process is if no coordinate system
has been assigned, that allows Cad to align images spatially?
Thanks,

Paul
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Message 10 of 11
Anonymous
in reply to: mugye77
‎12-19-2002 03:32 AM
‎12-19-2002 03:32 AM

Correction: Use the TRANSFORM command to scale and
rotate. Align will rotate but not scale unless you respond "Yes" to the prompt
for scaling. Transform will always scale and rotate.


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

All autocad drawings have coordinate systems, but
they can be arbitrary or they can be established by various agencies such as
the state plane coordinate systems. The drawings you have were created using
coordinate systems that were similar but not identical. That is why they
almost line up when you overlay them. If it is a scale issue, try
xreffing them into a blank drawing and lining them up using 2 points with
the align command. If it is a scale issue, they should line up perfectly. Do
not use rubber sheet as it will distort your data depending on what points you
use. The align command will only scale and rotate, so you won't distort
your data.


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
Hey
guys,
new question for ya. I've determined that no coordinate system was
ever assigned to these drawings. So how is it that when i from one drawing
and pasteorig in the other, that parts of the map are almost aligned? It
looks like it might be a scale issue. Like i said someone else actually
created the original files. I'm just wondering what the process is if no
coordinate system has been assigned, that allows Cad to align images
spatially?
Thanks,
Paul
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Message 11 of 11
Anonymous
in reply to: mugye77
‎12-19-2002 05:30 AM
‎12-19-2002 05:30 AM

Transform 😎 have to look into that more, I'm
always used the Align. Learn something new everyday.

thanks for pointing that out Neil.

Murph


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

Correction: Use the TRANSFORM command to scale
and rotate. Align will rotate but not scale unless you respond "Yes" to the
prompt for scaling. Transform will always scale and rotate.


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

All autocad drawings have coordinate systems,
but they can be arbitrary or they can be established by various agencies
such as the state plane coordinate systems. The drawings you have were
created using coordinate systems that were similar but not identical. That
is why they almost line up when you overlay them. If it is a scale
issue, try xreffing them into a blank drawing and lining them up using
2 points with the align command. If it is a scale issue, they should line up
perfectly. Do not use rubber sheet as it will distort your data depending on
what points you use. The align command will only scale and rotate, so
you won't distort your data.


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
Hey
guys,
new question for ya. I've determined that no coordinate system
was ever assigned to these drawings. So how is it that when i from one
drawing and pasteorig in the other, that parts of the map are almost
aligned? It looks like it might be a scale issue. Like i said someone else
actually created the original files. I'm just wondering what the process
is if no coordinate system has been assigned, that allows Cad to align
images spatially?
Thanks,

Paul
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