Need help with csv

[Anonymous]

Hey guys,

Working on Acad map 3d 2016, I have a non-traditional usage of map from what I've gathered over the year, but it works for me. All of my points are generated via a handheld gps capturing device, and am not used to some of the other methods of importing. I have been given some section corners in .csv format and am stuck at getting them into the map. I've read some how to's on civil, since it seems to be similar and more abundant, but I'm still not getting it.

So far, I have opened the .csv and named my data range, established the excel .xlsx ODBC connection, and have connected to it in map3d. The surveyor that sent me the files did not label them, and I'm not familiar enough with this type of data to know exactly what I'm looking at. The first colum seems to be perhaps an ID number, they're chronological down the 1st column. Column 2 and 3 appear to be coordinates, but once again am not familiar enough with them to know exactly what I'm looking at. I checked them in google earth and they don't appear to be lat and long, or UTM coordinates, unless he's used a different reference point than I am, but I don't see that being the case. I mention this because it may be the cause of my overall problem. Anyhow, I connect to my Excel ODBC connection via map under the data connect tab. I then set the coordinate system to my map, not sure what his use or if that really matters depending on what his coordinates are in, but I set it to NAD 83 EF just like my map's overall CS is assigned. Then I issue what I believe to be the horizontal and vertical coordinates to the respective x and y colums in the source settings table after testing the connection.

This all makes relative sense to me, and I feel I am doing it correctly, but when I select add to map, it adds no visible features, creates a new feature layer but the symbol is covered by a caution triangle, and I get a warning-"Failed to cache features". I'm not sure what that means, I'm not sure whether I've done something incorrectly, or if this is possibly err on his part, and I'm not sure what to do to fix it. If someone could help me out, I'd greatly appreciate it. I've got several old .csv's that I'd like to insert but never got around to learning how to do it. 

I'll try to post one of the files I have for reference.

Thanks ahead of time, 

Damon

[Pointdump]

Damon,

Looks like a PNEZD file: Point Number, Northing, Easting, Elevation, Description. Pretty routine with C3D, but certainly do-able with Map. Biggest problem is that you don't know the Coordinate System that the points are in.

Here's a Blog Post from @Murph_Map:
https://map3d.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/bring-a-csv-file-into-map-3d-with-data/

Dave

[Anonymous]

Dave,

I put the labels on the .csv to make things a bit more clear. I followed all of the information in the blog you linked to, but I still got the warning for "Failed to cache features" in the message details it states that the Access Database (Excel Driver) cannot find the object. I linked directly to the saved .xlsx so there couldn't have been a typo or anything in the path. I wouldn't think this would be associated with the lack of coordinate system. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it would still import the data, just potentially not where it belongs, yes? Do you have an idea of why would it would not be able to find the object? Perhaps a corrupted file involving the driver?

[Pointdump]

Damon,

Are the CSV's for Randolph County, Indiana? My guess is that the Coordinates are State Plane.

I've never used an ODBC Connection, so I can't offer any advice past Murph's Blog Post. If this is a one-shot deal, I'd be happy to create a Shapefile of the points for you. With C3D it would be easy. QGIS might be a good candidate too.

Can you post those CSV files?

Dave

[Anonymous]

Dave, 

It is in Jay County, Indiana. Still would think UTM or State Plains. I can post them for you. This is the only time that we've worked with a surveyor so I would assume this to be kind of a one-off deal, but I'm going to talk to my IT tomorrow to see if perhaps there is something wrong with the driver. I remember there being an issue with 32 bit and 64 bit versions of the driver when I installed it, but I would like to get the situation resolved for any future occurences. 

Out of curiosity, are you going to use a converter or perhaps some esri product to simply convert the .csv to a shapefile? I've only delt with .sdf and .shp so far, and I have no problem with them. I'd be fine with converting the file from .csv to .shp as I have no practical use for .csv anyhow, it was just the only way I could recieve them from the surveyor.

Thanks again,

Damon

[Pointdump]

Damon,

I imported the CSV into Civil 3D. But Civil Objects don't play well in Map, so I'll make a Shapefile for you later tonight.

These points look like they're hitting Street Intersections, so the Coordinate System is probably right. (Indiana East)

Dave

[Pointdump]

Damon,

OK, here's two Shapefiles. One is a Jay County Shape, the other is the 7 Points. I couldn't figure out how to add the information, the PNEZD, to the points, so they're just points. I'll play with that in the morning.

Dave

[Murph_Map]

Damon0521, That blog posting was back long time ago before Office 2010 and Windows 64 bit Operating Systems. The  ODBC drivers today for excel and 64 bit don't always work in Map3D. If what Dave converted to shp works then go with that for now. 

[parkr4st]

I used IN83-EF.  not sure if that is correct.  Pts with data attached in sdf format

dave

[Pointdump]

Dave,

Nice! Comes with data and everything:

I don't think it'll matter to Damon, but what happened with the elevations?

The Other Dave

[parkr4st]

ft vs meters

[Pointdump]

Dave,

Yup, that much I figured out.

Why were only the Elevations "converted"? The Northings and Eastings remained in Survey Feet.

The Other Dave

[parkr4st]

on the map import window i did not drop down Z-unit and set to US Survey Feet. I threw in extra properties to double check on this one.

dave

[Pointdump]

Good job, Dave!

My learning assignment for today is to figure out how to change the header names:

I've tried with DBF Commander and QGIS so far, but no luck.

Other Dave

[parkr4st]

Easy, during mapimport change the target fields.

[Pointdump]

Cool! Thanks Dave!

Other Dave

[Anonymous]

I really appreciate your guys' help on this. I appreciate the .sdf and .shp files you guys have given me. Still a bit bummed I can't get it to work, but I'm gonna try several different things today. If one of you guys would fill me in on your ancient chinese secret of how to convert to any other usable format other than .csv I'd highly appreciate that haha.

Thanks again,

Damon

[Anonymous]

Murph, I'm sure you know more about the driver than I do, and it's been a while since I downloaded the excel driver, but if I recall correctly, the main problem was something like there are 2 instances of the excel driver on the computer, but they are both labeled 32 bit instead of one being 32 bit and the other being 64 bit. Like I said, it's been forever since I looked at it, and it took me a bit of digging to find a solution to my driver issue, but from what I understood relabeling the proper one to 64 bit allowed it to correct the path and run correctly. So seeing as how the whole situation is wonky, I wouldn't be surprised if the driver was the limiting factor with this.

Thanks,
Damon

[Anonymous]

Guys, 

I gave up the ODBC and tried it a different way. I used mapimport and brought in the .csv, whcih created drawing data at first, which I thought was a bit weird, but then I exported it to .sdf from the drawing data and it works perfectly. I appreciate the help you guys gave, and the files you created for me.

Thanks,

Damon

[Pointdump]

Damon,

"...ancient chinese secret of how to convert to any other usable format other than .csv..."

I realize you never got your original question answered, until you figured it out for yourself, but hey, we went down some cool side roads.

"I used mapimport and brought in the .csv..."

I didn't know you could do that. I'm off to try that out.......

Dave