Anuncios

The Autodesk Community Forums has a new look. Read more about what's changed on the Community Announcements board.

help on surveying points and importing to CAD from survey app and ArcGI

Anonymous

help on surveying points and importing to CAD from survey app and ArcGI

Anonymous
No aplicable

using AutoCAD 2016

Not sure if this Board is the one to post this under but here it is...

 

Part of what I do is Tree Stand mapping for development projects.  I will have a CAD base dwg from the engineers/developers for the existing and proposed site.  I'll describe my process and the issues I'm having and hopefully someone is able to provide insight and/or better and accurate way of mapping the trees on their base plans. to Preface this process it goes from iphone app to ArcGIS to AutoCAD...

 

1. I am trying to use Theodolite (a surveying app) for the iphone to "log" my location at each tree.  It logs the LAT/LONG using the WGS-84 Datum.

2. Once finished, I can email myself the log data - it provides a KML file and also the info to copy/paste into a .txt file

3. I open ArcCatalog and convert the new KML file to a geodatabase

4. Open ArcMap and add new geodatabase Points.  For the most part when shown over an aerial base map it see decently accurate

5. I also try to locate some stationary points or property pins that would be shown on the civil's base

6. In ArcMap, 'export to CAD' the point layer

7. when new CAD file is opened the scale is incorrect, showing distances of o.ooo1 units which default is inches, but I change to feet

8. I measure a distance between points in ArcMap then scale the points in CAD to that measurement

9. I copy/paste the CAD tree points into the civil base and align the known stationary points.  Overall it doesn't appear the points I surveyed are matching well with the civil's surveyed points

 

Anyone familiar with the Theodolite app for surveying or other accurate methods of mapping points to import into CAD without needing to invest in more expensive surveying equipment?

0 Me gusta
Responder
1.755 Vistas
5 Respuestas
Respuestas (5)

stevetamplen
Alumni
Alumni

Hello bbage, and welcome to the Forums!

 

I am going to hazard a guess by your description of the workflow that you are using Civil 3D, and not vanilla AutoCAD, is that correct?


Steve Tamplen

Technical Support Specialist
0 Me gusta

Anonymous
No aplicable

It actually is the plain old vanilla AutoCad, not civil 3D.  I receive base drawings from civils or architects then xref them into a drawing for me to add in tree points or landscape plans.

0 Me gusta

Emmsleys
Alumni
Alumni

@Anonymous 

 

OK, let's see if I can take a crack at it this and help out. Guiño

 

Reading your post I thought back to hours spent surveying and the amount of hair I pulled out. haha Emoticono muy feliz

Also having to work in different applications like yourself and not quite getting it to jive, I understand the frustration. The picture below was sent to me and I thought you might find it a bit humours. 

 

coordinate system.png

 

 

 

 

So, General overview of issue: IOS APP> ArcGIS > AutoCAD

 

Referencing step #3

  • After data is collected from the IOS app… Are you able to export the data to any other file format besides KML? Is there anything in the settings where you can change it in the Theodolite app, it would be interesting to see if it made a difference when exporting to your geodatabase? or if you could directly import to AutoCAD using X,Y,Z coordinates from your point data. 

 

Referencing #8

  • So are you scaling off known points on the correct projection to scale to your CAD file?

I would recommend the following,

Let's keep this thread going just in case any other users want to chime in. You have a lot of moving parts that involve different software which makes it a bit of a challenge but not unattainable.

 

Have you tried running this type of work flow/point data in MAP 3D or Civil 3D before?

 

We do have FREE TRIALS for the software, it wouldn't hurt to try.  I would be interested to see if the Survey IOS app has any direct compatibility with other Autodesk applications. 

 

Resources: 

Map 3D Import Point Coordinates 

Civil 3D  Import ASCII point files

 

I hope this helps. 



Sarah Emmsley
Technical Support Specialist

0 Me gusta

arturopolanco
Mentor
Mentor

Hi @Anonymous, can you send file KML


Arturo Polanco
AEC Solutions Specialist - Civil Infrastructure

Youtube | Twitter

0 Me gusta

Anonymous
No aplicable

.KML files apparently are not valid file extensions for attachments in this forum...  

 

I was out yesterday taking more points but for the sake of time I've exported the map as a jpeg and xref into my .dwg and scaling/aligning it to the base drawing rather than trying to export points to CAD.  Not a perfect match but close enough for now.

 

Exporting data points from Theodolite app exports via email by KML file and a text log, both of which can be imported into ArcMap and to me it seems converting the KML into a shapefile is the easier option.  I looked through the iOS app preferences and it does have in-app purchases for additional datum sets like NAD 1927 and the option to change the coordinate position format from absolute Lat/Long to others like the UTM Grid.  I haven't played with those options yet so I wonder if that might make significant changes in display when finally exporting to AutoCad.  I will play around with the varying datum sets.  If the engineer survey base was plotted using NAD 1983 or NAD 1927 then I'll see about changing my iOS datum and the ArcMap data frame.  That might at least help with the spatial reference but the CAD export scaling issue is something else I'll have to test.

 

I have contacted both the app developer (not much help from him) as well as a tech assistant from ESRI for GIS questions.  ESRI ran some test work on their end with my KML file but I haven't yet had the chance to go through it and see how or if it differs.  Will post an update when I can.

 

 

0 Me gusta