topic Re: DWG coming in at wrong location in Civil 3D Forum

DWG coming in at wrong location

dsmapping — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:09:22 GMT

Im having an issue with Civil 3d and we are stumped. We have a surface, orthomosaic, and dwg breaklines coming out of Global Mapper to Civil 3d. The surface and orthomosaic come in at exactly the correct same location. However, when importing the dwg, it is shifted way out in left field. I cannot figure out what the issue is- has anyone had anything like this happen and any suggestions on what to try?

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

_Hathaway — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:25:35 GMT

How far is way out in left field? 10'? 10,000'? More? Does the Cad file measure the same distances as in Global Mapper? This info would help narrow down the potential problems such as International foot to US Survey Foot, Feet to Meters, etc.....

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

Neilw_05 — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:36:52 GMT

How are you "importing" the dwg? Are you inserting as a block, Map Query, etc.? It may be a matter of INSUNITS or coordinate system settings.

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

dsmapping — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:40:44 GMT

Thanks for the reply.

Candidly, I have never learned the correct way to insert an outside drawing, so I am open to suggestions there. I have been trying to drag and drop the dwg into the model space and select the geographic insertion point. When I do this, it comes in with some type of scale. However, if I just open the dwg by itself, it comes in at the correct location. What should the insunits be set to?

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

dsmapping — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:47:19 GMT

A lot more, 42 million... the file is exported in the same state plane as everything else, and as I mentioned above, If it the file is opened up by itself it comes in correctly. Has to be something in Civil 3D's settings for dwg insertions?

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

dsmapping — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:49:36 GMT

Also, yes after checking, the distances are the same in GM.

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

Neilw_05 — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:54:21 GMT

The way INSUNITS works is ACAD will try to automatically scale drawings to fit the units of your host file. For example, if you have an architectural dwg with units=inches and you xref it into a dwg with units=feet, ACAD will scale the architectural dwg by a factor of 1/12 to make it match your dwg. It works the same way with blocks. If you don't want any scaling to happen, change insunits to unitless.

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

dsmapping — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 20:15:26 GMT

I will play around with that some more. I went ahead and set insunits to 0, but the dwg still comes in at the same incorrect place.

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

Neilw_05 — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 20:26:36 GMT

Instead of Drag and Drop, try inserting as a block, or use Copy Paste. Not sure what the software is doing with Drag and Drop.

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

Pointdump — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 21:06:40 GMT

Hi Dennis,
In what format is the Global Mapper surface?
Can you zip everything together and post your source and target drawings and data? And some screen shots of the mismatch?
Dave

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

ChicagoLooper — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 21:56:39 GMT

Hi @dsmapping

OK, you are using Global Mapper. If you import a Global Mapper file to display linework in Civil3D, then you should disclose the FORMAT that's coming out of Global Mapper, e.g, dwg, dxf, shapefile, etc.....

In addition to describing the format you are exporting from Global Mapper, you should look at the bottom to view the PROJECTION that GlobMap is using. What does it look like?

Image-1For example, if your GloMap projection is Texas SPCS, NAD83, Central Zone, feet, then it will look like the screen capture on the left. (Your actual Global Mapper projection may very.) If you, or Global Mapper, didn't assign a projection, then it will look like the one on the right that contains question marks.

Based on your description (BTW your description is still kinda vague) it sounds like the Global Mapper projection is NOT being considered so when the linework is imported, it plops down in the wrong place in C3D's modelspace.

Can you disclose the projection being used by GloMap (if one exists to begin with)? Knowing BOTH the GloMap projection AND the whether or not you've assigned a CoordSys to C3D's modelspace will go a long way in diagnosing your issue.

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

dsmapping — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 22:10:52 GMT

Thanks for the response. I apologize for not being more detailed, I thought I did include the format from Global Mapper, but perhaps I didn't.

The format of the line work coming out of Global mapper is a dwg and the Global Mapper project projection is NAD83_NSRS (TXSC ft). This is the same coordinate system that I have set in C3D. When opening the dwg exported from GM alone (just double clicking to invoke C3D to open) the dwg comes in the exact correct position. When importing/inserting the dwg to match our other work, which is currently just some boundary shots, a surface from a DEM.tiff and an orthomosaic, the dwg is coming in with some type of scale. It is likely an issue with the way I am bringing the line work into my project. I am completely self taught and have been using C3D in the forensic world for the past 5 years, until this point in time. I am trying to drag and drop the dwg from Global Mapper into my C3D project which I think is telling the software to insert as a block. After I tell it to use geographic coordinates to insert, it places the dwg in some other place on the other side of the world. It seems like it is using meters to import the dwg at this point. This method of inserting the dwg may be incorrect... The dwg is just a set of simple breaklines along a road and some driveways etc. Thanks again for your help.

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

dsmapping — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 22:11:38 GMT

Let me grab some screenshots and zip a folder up. I know that would be more productive

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

dsmapping — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 22:37:12 GMT

The surface from GM is a tiff.

Here are some screenshots

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

dsmapping — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 22:38:53 GMT

Here are the files Im working with.

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

dsmapping — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 22:42:29 GMT

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

ChicagoLooper — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 13:03:14 GMT

Hi @dsmapping

Thank you for uploading your files.

Using your uploaded dwg and DTM, I can build a surface in the correct geospatial location without any issues. Using your uploaded files, try doing it like this:

1. Open Natural-Cliff civil.dwg and assign NSRS11.TX-SCF, aka EPSG 6588.
Then go to Toolspace=>right click Surfaces and do this.

Image-1

2.Expand Surfaces=> Expand MY-NEW-SURFACE=>Expand Definition=>right click DEM Files=>Add, then do this.

Image-2

3. Your surface is now built. The Red lines shown below is your cliff linework.

Image-3

4. Zoomed-in view with Bing aerial imagery in the background.

Image-4

5. If you wish, you may change your Surface Style. Go to Toolspace=>right click MY-NEW-SURFACE=>Surface Properties=>Information Tab=>Surface Style dropdown=>change the Surface Style.

<<NOTE: You can perform the exact same procedure on your drawing named Man-made gm.dwg.>>

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

Pointdump — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 07:21:32 GMT

Dennis,
An observation. In System Variable Editor(SYSVDLG), both of your drawings had an "Initial Value" of Inches or Millimeters.
Dave

Re: DWG coming in at wrong location

dsmapping — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 14:18:22 GMT

Thank you so much for taking time to work through this and show me! This worked. I very much appreciate your help sir.