Where things exist in the real world is critical for any civil engineer or surveyor using Civil 3D to know. For this reason, as Civil 3D users, we commonly query the coordinates of objects in our drawings to assist in a wide range of project tasks.
Leveraging Civil 3D, we always have the option to add a Label. Of course, while possible, littering my Civil 3D drawing with a bevy of temporary annotation objects is not what I would call a best practice for drawing maintenance. So what are we to do?
Although there are numerous ways to quickly query coordinates inside AutoCAD and Civil 3D, my two go-to methods are the AutoCAD Status Bar Coorindate readout and the Civil 3D Coordinate Tracker. Let's explore both.
AutoCAD Status Bar Coordinate Readout
The AutoCAD Status Bar Coordinate readout is perhaps the best-known way to quickly query coordinates within both AutoCAD and Civil 3D. While civil engineers and surveyors primarily express coordinates as Northing and Easting, the Cartesian Coordinates of AutoCAD isn't too far of a departure. Northing is nothing more than your y-coordinate, and Easting is nothing more than your x-coordinate. Recognizing this, we can read the Cartesian x, y, z coordinates of AutoCAD as Easting (x), Northing (y), Elevation (z).
Easy enough, but how do we actually query those coordinates?
Although a previous mainstay of the AutoCAD Status Bar, the Coordinate readout is no longer displayed by default in AutoCAD or Civil 3D. The good news is it's not difficult to enable it within your installation.
To display the AutoCAD Coordinate readout in the Status Bar:
- Click the Customization button on the right-side of the Status Bar.
- Choose Coordinates from the menu that displays.
- Move your cursor throughout the drawing area and note how the coordinates reported in the Status Bar change to reflect the location of your cursor. Additionally, selecting an object and then hovering over its grip is a quick and easy way to query the precise location of an object in your drawing.
Civil 3D Coordinate Tracker
Although the AutoCAD Coordinate readout is great for quick coordinate checks, it does have its limitations. Chiefly, in the context of civil and survey drawings, unless the object you select has an elevation, the AutoCAD Coordinate readout does not display an elevation. Likewise, there's no easy way to use a queried elevation (or x/y coordinate) for a secondary task - like drawing a line.
How can we overcome these limitations with Civil 3D?
A lesser-known tool packed inside Civil 3D is the Coordinate Tracker palette. With it, we can overcome the key limitations of the AutoCAD Coordinate readout.
You'll find the Civil 3D Coordinate Tracker by expanding the Palettes panel of the Home Ribbon tab in Civil 3D. Alternatively, you can type SHOWCT at the command line.
Unique to the Civil 3D Coordinate Tracker is the ability to select a Surface. With a surface specified, we can query not just the X and Y coordinates, but also Z coordinates - anywhere in our project.
The Civil 3D Coordinate Tracker works a lot like the AutoCAD Status Bar Coordinate readout when opened. More specifically, as you move your cursor, the coordinates, plus Z, update. Helpful, but not all that revolutionary from what we get from base AutoCAD.
So what makes the Civil 3D Coordinate Tracker so special?
If you press Ctrl + Shift + Z, you'll take a snapshot of your current coordinates. More specifically, the coordinates reported within the Coordinate Tracker freeze.
Once frozen, you can now use any of the values for a secondary task without having to manually enter the values.
For example, if you wanted to draw a line from the X, Y, and Z location captured with the Civil 3D Coordinate Tracker:
- Start the LINE command.
- At the "Specify first point" command prompt, click the bar that expands across each the X, Y, and Z coordinates, and the Coordinate Tracker will write those coordinates to the Command Line.
Alternatively, the bar spanning the X and Y coordinates will write just those coordinates to the Command Line, and the bar immediately under the Z coordinate will write just the elevation to the Command Line.
Did you find this tip helpful? Connect with me on Twitter @TheCADGeek and YouTube for more tips like this one.
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