ďobo-CADzone, true men don't kill coyotes and use AutoCAD…

Bez ohľadu na užívaný softvér je prenos dát medzi totálnou stanicou a CAD systémom typická rutina terénnej práce. Výrobcovia totálok poskytujú k strojom najrôznejší firmware na editáciu, príp. rektifikáciu merania, je ovšem pravdou, že najčastejšie sa prenos uskutočňuje prostredníctvom súboru “surových” bodov v textovom (Ascii) súbore. Import nameraných bodov do prostredia CADu je základným pilierom práce.

Regardless of used CAD software, data transmission from total station to CAD is a common job routine. Athough there is usually some manufacturer firmware for data editing and rectification, loading “raw” text Ascii files is still most typical procedure.

Point import ála “pure” AutoCAD

Clean AutoCAD has no majestic possibilities for mesured point import. Most simple (and in the case of some failure also most reliable) way is copying the content of text file into memory and pasting them to CLI after “point” command (copy/paste in short). Main disantvantage of such procedure is fact that only X,Y,Z (N,E,h) coordinates could be inserted – no additional info like a point description or point identifiers are acceptable. Every point imported by this way must be on 1 row with comma (”,”) separator. On the other side main benefit of this procedure is its reliability, speed and compatibility – it works from AutoCAD R12 till today.

Fig. 01 a 02. “Raw” text output from Topcon 3xxxx total station and its processing for import into AutoCAD CLI – only X,Y,Z coordinates with comma separated valus, no other data.

External routines (scripts) solutions

This solution is based on Autodesk APIs (mainly LISP and VBA). There are a lot of those routines on internet that load external text file and import its content to CAD environment as points, lines etc. Two of them for example:

• ASCPOINT.LSP – LISP script for download on Xanadu site.
• IMPORTXYZ.LSP – on cadalyst.com

If you have no idea how to run those routines in CAD, here is the quick manual.

Point import in AutoCAD Civil 3D

In contrast with previous attempts is point import in Civil 3D environment very broad job. There is one entire part of Menu dedicated to this (Points) enabling point creation by wide range of methods – interactively by mouse clicking, by geometric functions (on lines intersection, along the line etc.), by native AutoCAD points conversion and by import from external sources. We are interested in the last one.
“Civil point” – so-called COGO point (coordination geometry) is complex object consisting of few simple components (point marker, edit handlers, text info labels etc.).
COGO is software independent term – used in variety of application (ESRI GIS, Bentley apps. and others). All COGO points in Civil 3D are available under Toolspace > Points, could be assigned to specific Point Group and their graphical presentation and some attributes could be set up in Toolspace > Settings > Point > ….
Import process: Points > Import/Export Points > Import Points and consequent tasks with import dialogue window (Fig. 03). The most important is imported format choice corresponding with data format in text file:

• P (”Point” = point number/identifier; must be unique and Integer type)
• E (”Easting” = coordinate value “to the East”, normally X; depends on coordinate system)
• N (”Northing” coordinate value “to the North”, normally Y)
• Z (elevation/height)
• D (”Description” – point description, any String)
• comma delimited/space delimited (values delimiter definition)

There is possibillity to use external relational database, but MS Access only. All other format templates are intended for text (Ascii) files².
Very nice Civil feature is possibillity of own template definition (e.g. Terraverita_import_points on Fig. 03) – through Toolspace > Settings > Point > Point File Formats. Dialogue window for custom templates is on Fig. 04.

Fig. 03. Dialogue for points import with dropdown list of available formats. Fig. 04. Custom definition of import points format template.

The status of Toolspace > Prospector after points import is shown on Fig. 05. Their graphic representation is managed by Settings in Toolspace – point styles and their text attributes are defined by parameters in Point Styles and Label Styles. The point itself is distinct according to type of measurement (excavation polygon, context tracking etc.; Fig. 06).

Fig. 05. Toolspace > Prospector after point import. At hte lower part list with present points and their description. Fig. 06. Toolspace > Settings – visual styles definition.

Procedures shown here aren’t important only in connection with points import and processing – they are typical also for another types of Civil objects (e.g. Surfaces). So it’s important to understand basic principles of import external data into application.

Menu Points > Import/Export Points is also used with another very strong Civil property – point transformation into another coordinate system. Nice post to this problem is published on civil3d.cz server by Martin Folber.

Point import workflow

General workflow during point import into Civil 3D is therefore following:

1. It’s important to determine point data format provided by total station or edit these data respectively
2. To choose appropriate format in Civile and to define point and label style in Toolspace > Settings > Points
3. to import points into Civil through Points > Import/Export Points and visualy inspect the result

Civil 3D Survey – cul de sac?

There is also one native solution in Civil 3D for field data interoperability – Toolspace > Survey with ambition to manage complete import of total station data. It works like abstraction layer (FBK connector – “fieldbook”) for external database. The problem is, however, that external database is limited to MS Access again and connection has to be configured.
One of the big disadvantages of this solution is also the fact that eventual point editing couldn’t be saved back into the database. I know nobody using this interface in praxis.

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1. záhadný Autodesk Uploadable File nie je nič iné než texťák s príponou .auf [↩]
2. mysterious Autodesk Uploadable File is nothing else than text file with .auf extension [↩]