I know Civil 3D and Google Earth split circa 2012, up until that time/release you could direct import a GE image and surface data. We kept it going by hanging onto Civil 3D 2011, etc but now it appears, probably due to updates to OS and GE itself, that no longer works. So today's unsolved maze included hotfixes and other bits to get Civil 2015 (and higher) to work with Bing satellite images using the Geomap command. Ironically, after all that, I couldn't get the bit I want - near the international dateline and in WGS84 Zone 1 - to load. Adjacent zones worked.
But my conclusion is, with "out of the box" Civil 3D you can only get as far as a coordinated image, not surface data. To get data you need Autodesk InfraWorks or some third (or forth) party methods.
Richard Imrie, post: 449424, member: 11256 wrote:
But my conclusion is, with "out of the box" Civil 3D you can only get as far as a coordinated image, not surface data. To get data you need Autodesk InfraWorks or some third (or forth) party methods.
Richard;
Explore the Map 3D data connect features (Map 3D functionality is part of the Civil 3d package and can be accessed through the Planning and Analysis work-space). Data connect will allow you to reference external data from outside sources in DEM, ESRI Grid, or Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) formats.
Of course if you have DEM files you can create a suface from them directly by right clicking on the surfaces collection in the prospector and selecting "create surface from DEM".
RRain
Carlson does it. Buy a seat of that to use for GE. Not sure if the ICAD version does it.
JPH, post: 449429, member: 6636 wrote: Carlson does it. Buy a seat of that to use for GE. Not sure if the ICAD version does it.
Carlson Survey or Carlson GIS?
Randy Rain, post: 449428, member: 35 wrote: Of course if you have DEM files ...
Keep in mind that by specification DEM files are integer based so unless you are loading them and that's all you've got, they should be avoided. Be warned that if you have a precision GridSurface and export it from CIvil3D to a DEM file it will round the elevations. Stick with ESRI Ascii Grid files when you are using GridSurfaces.
And to the OP, third parties are not necessarily a bad thing.
Jimmy Cleveland, post: 449436, member: 91 wrote: Carlson Survey or Carlson GIS?
Carlson GIS.
My suggestion would be to hold on to C3D 2011 and install an old version of GE to see if that would do the trick. Not sure if it is a communication issue with the actual GE program or its servers, so I suppose that would be a toss-up, but possibly worth a shot.
Jimmy Cleveland, post: 449436, member: 91 wrote: Carlson Survey or Carlson GIS?
Carlson Survey allows you to import and export to/from GE
twdotson, post: 449444, member: 8059 wrote: Keep in mind that by specification DEM files are integer based so unless you are loading them and that's all you've got, they should be avoided. Be warned that if you have a precision GridSurface and export it from CIvil3D to a DEM file it will round the elevations. Stick with ESRI Ascii Grid files when you are using GridSurfaces.
And to the OP, third parties are not necessarily a bad thing.
Absolutely what Terry said! DEMs are just rough data to begin conceptual designs or give you an idea of general topography.
RRain
Thanks for these comments. We only used Google Earth surfaces for conceptual stuff, like the shape of the mountains in the background of this photo:
Trying to avoid paying for another "big" piece of software as we already pay a lot for Civil 3D seats and it's a bit on the nose to have to buy or find out another method to do something that used to be a feature of Civil 3D. In Autodesk Apps there does appear to be a third party App for GE surfaces into AutoCAD but at the moment I haven't been able to download it - looks like the server is very slow, it's about 50MB and the download fails after an hour or so at 6MB.
What's the Lat/Lon of that mountain, I'd like to test something here. Your photo didn't contain GPS coords, already checked that.
twdotson, post: 449530, member: 8059 wrote: What's the Lat/Lon of that mountain, I'd like to test something here. Your photo didn't contain GPS coords, already checked that.
It is:
17?ø42'4.50"S
177?ø27'48.24"E
Me and the camera are pretty much due south, 197 degrees. (Should I be listening for the sound of a drone, or a knock on the door?)
Here are some contours in a KMZ, could have made anything else (like a mesh). Simply opened Civil3D, drew a rectangle in the AOI and obtained roughly 800,000 points (2.4mb in 18 tiles) in ~6 seconds, creating a Civil3D TinSurface in another 1/2 minute. No goo... necessary, data courtesy of AWS.
twdotson, post: 449560, member: 8059 wrote: Here are some contours in a KMZ, could have made anything else (like a mesh). Simply opened Civil3D, drew a rectangle in the AOI and obtained roughly 800,000 points (2.4mb in 18 tiles) in ~6 seconds, creating a Civil3D TinSurface in another 1/2 minute. No goo... necessary, data courtesy of AWS.
Wow! :
So US$95 will get me the C3D Surfaces tool to do this and be able to generate Civil 3D surface contours, etc?
Richard Imrie, post: 449563, member: 11256 wrote: ... do this and be able to generate Civil 3D surface contours, etc?
Yes, but if that's too little, you can fly me and my team in for two weeks to discuss it.
Pretty cool Terry. As a side note, I am still gonna get that excel to cad program you sent me the demo on. That project is in a holding pattern at the moment.
I've seen the import and export to and from Google Earth to Carlson. Carlson GIS has a pretty cool tool that allows you to specify an area, and you can bring in a Google Earth image as a background. It is pretty slick.
The one thing I wish about Carlson GIS is that it was available as an option in the Carlson Survey program, on the AutoCAD OEM engine. I have both programs, but have to close out of my survey program, and then open the GIS program to do GIS stuff. Opening the drawing in Intellicad then causes the Autocad version to pop up that warning that the drawing was created with a non-Autodesk product. Annoying to say the least.
twdotson, post: 449564, member: 8059 wrote: Yes, but if that's too little, you can fly me and my team in for two weeks to discuss it.
Well, that worked:
 1.jpg "google tes 1t-Layoadsut1 (2) 1.jpg")
I got the terrain just from Google Earth data. I see in your post that you used AWS (Amazon Web Services) data, which I looked into but gave up when it came to provide credit card and identity details. Can you give an indication of what it would cost for AWS data?
Richard Imrie, post: 450584, member: 11256 wrote: Can you give an indication of what it would cost for AWS data?
You may have been in an area where you sign up for cloud storage. When you use the Tile Option as I mentioned in the email, you are using a public dataset provided free on AWS. When you visit this link the top line says "AWS hosts a variety of public datasets that anyone can access for free.". Plus the program caches the compact tiles so secondary access comes from your %TEMP% folder. I only downloaded a little over 2mb in my test.
twdotson, post: 450620, member: 8059 wrote: You may have been in an area where you sign up for cloud storage. When you use the Tile Option as I mentioned in the email, you are using a public dataset provided free on AWS. When you visit this link the top line says "AWS hosts a variety of public datasets that anyone can access for free.". Plus the program caches the compact tiles so secondary access comes from your %TEMP% folder. I only downloaded a little over 2mb in my test.
I'm back on this, for a different site, but can't find the "Tile Option". Are there any video help tutorials, etc?
Command: SurWebElv
Tech support would be best handled via email, I only check this board once a day, and gloss over the topics then.