topic Re: Trying to import civil coordinates to match architectural background in AutoCAD Forum

Trying to import civil coordinates to match architectural background

rrogersrcm — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 13:27:23 GMT

I received a CSV file from the general contractor that uses Northing and Easting coordinates (for example 1303024.111, 10487602.55, 2604.41). I have the site plan and building background that is rotated and aligned with the Civil layout however when I import the points they end up thousands of feet away from the architectural background. What is the correct procedure for scaling and aligning civil points to 1:1 architectural plan? Thank you.

Re: Trying to import civil coordinates to match architectural background

imadHabash — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 13:36:35 GMT

Hi,

since you have a civil coordinates , then you have to use it ( as you did ) then you can move it to your architectural background location . now from well known and the same line area for both drawing you can use Scale ( Reference ) and Align commands .

Re: Trying to import civil coordinates to match architectural background

ChicagoLooper — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 13:52:06 GMT

I would not move the Civil drawing to the Architectural drawing. I would go the other way and move the Arch to the Civil.

It's likely you may get additional civil drawings or civil entities, and they too, will be referenced to a coordinate system being used on the Civil side. If you need to make changes and send the drawing back, they'll still be in the correct geo-location as they were when you received them.

You can use the Arch drawing as an xref to insert it into the Civil drawing. You'll also need to be aware of the drawing units in the Arch drawing because it's using feet & inches whereas the Civil drawing has drawing units of feet.

Re: Trying to import civil coordinates to match architectural background

ChicagoLooper — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 14:13:03 GMT

Those x and y coordinates from csv file are in units of feet and most likely referenced against State Plane (which State and Zone I don't know, you should get that info from the surveyor or civil engineer). Your Architectural drawing is using different drawing units compared with the civil side so your drawing is treating the coordinate values as though they were inches, and not as intended, which is feet.

Re: Trying to import civil coordinates to match architectural background

rrogersrcm — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 15:17:14 GMT

I think I figured it out mostly...

I changed the units from inches (architectural) to decimals (civil)
After inserting all my points, I scaled them by 12 to change them from inches to feet
I took a point that was intersecting a column grid and placed it on the corresponding column grid
I cross referenced the PDF that was supplied by the surveyor to make sure that all the points matched. Luckily they had more than one point intersecting the grid so I was able to verify I was in the correct spot by checking to see if both intersections were matching the grid.

We use a Trimble RTS873 for layout so our points have to match with the architectural in order to work. The above method only really works if there are at least two civil points intersecting with a grid and if you're able to obtain a copy of the civil DWG.