Display Position Marker Location on Drawing

[jcrispino3]

I'd like to display the lat/long of a position marker on the drawing, preferably when I place the point. Is this possible???

[ChicagoLooper · Accepted solution]

Hi @jcrispino3 

Yes, it’s possible. You can insert a geomarker anywhere in your drawing and the geomarker will 'display' its Lat/Long at the bottom of the Properties Palette. Unfortunately, the geomarker can't capture that Lat/Long and use it as a label. 

If you want to label a point in lat/long format, you'll need use the geomarker in COMBINATION with another entity such as mtext, an attributed block, or an mleader. Although the geomarker can calculate Lat/Long position, it can't make Lat/Long labels.

Here's how you can display Lat/Long using an mleader. You can adjust the procedure to use it with an attributed block if you wish. The reason an mleader is preferred is due to the flexibility provided by the leader--the Mleader's arrow can be manually 'reconnected' and remain pointed to Geomarker even when that Geomarker is moved. 

To begin, start a clean, brand new drawing then use MAPCSASSIGN to assign an appropriate coordinate system to modelspace. If you don't assign a proper CS or assign it incorrectly, you'll end up with inaccurate results.

1. Go to Geolocation Tab=>Tools Panel=>Mark Position=>Point=>click a location where you want to determine Lat/Long.

Image-1

2. Next, insert an Mleader that points to the center of the Geomarker=>at your flashing cursor right click and select Insert Field. 

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3. In the Field window, make your selections as shown below.

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4. In modelspace your cursor will turn into small square. Use the square to select the Geomarker.

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5. Back in the field window, select LATITUDE=Click OK=>latitude field appears=>Insert a comma=>Press Spacebar=>Right click=>Select Insert Field.

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6. Repeat Step #3=>this time, select LONGITUDE=>Click OK=>Longitude appears=>Left click to end the Mleader operation.

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7. Your Mleader will look like this. Note: the Mleader and geomarker are 2 separate entities.

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NOTES:

1. Make your system variable LATLONGFORMAT=0 or LATLONGFORMAT=1 to toggle between Decimal degrees format and Degrees-Minutes-Seconds (DMS) format.
2. To change precision of coordinates go to command line and enter UNITS=>Length Type=>Precision dropdown=>Increase/Decrease the precision=>OK.
3. If you move the Geomarker you'll need to regen all (REA) to update the coordinates. You'll also need to move the Mleader's arrow so the tip can still point to the Geomarker.
4. You'll need to make a new Mleader with new FIELDS for each Geomarker.
5. You can copy and paste Geomarkers but you can't (and shouldn't) copy and paste Mleaders. If you copy and paste Mleaders, the new leader will still reflect the old Geomarker's Lat/Long, not the new one.
6. If you're up to it, you can create a Table with rows and columns and populate the cells with fields such as the latitude field and longitude field. You can manually give each geomarker a point ID number and manually create a point ID column in your Table. The Table w/ID numbers will effectively replace the Mleaders. 
7. You can increase and decrease the SIZE of a Geomarker. Go to Properties Palette Geometry Section=>Size. You can select multiple Geomarkers and change their size globally.