I got a CAD drawing from a landscape architect with points that I'm supposed to stake out. I'd like to be able to convert the point blocks from whatever format they are to Carlson points. The architect is taking his time getting back to me, so I thought I'd ask here: any suggestions at to what software created these points?
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Never mind. Finally heard from the landscape architect. They are blocks that he defined himself, so no easy conversion that I can use. He's working with AutoCAD Light.
It appears to be an Autocad block and not a point.?ÿ Why not just add your own points over the topo of the architects and then freeze his data.?ÿ On that note, I would never stake something from an Architect, especially and Landscape Architect.?ÿ Accuracy is not their strength, they just make things look good.
Like most folk, a couple of words in life really irritate me. One of them is "selected" but only when used by Architects.
How many points? Is the dwg in surveyors format and at the right scale? Most times I have had to go from architectural feet inches to surveyors feet and rescale the drawing. It appears all his points have zero elevation.
Save as a "test" dwg, isolate the point symbol layer he used, create a blank crd file, then update that file from the dwg and see what Carlson thinks of those entities. If it is a small number of points it may be easiest to just create points by screen picking the the insert point of each of his point symbols. Editing the point numbers is typically required.
Paul in PA
I use DATAEXTRACTION in Civil3D all the time to export positions of blocks to a table, add point numbers, and import back in as Cogo Points.
Might want to check and see if Carlson has a comparable function.
@peter-lothian I'm fairly certain there is a point/block conversion routine in Carlson you can use to turn these into usable Carlson points. If you'd care to send me a sample of your blocks, I'll take a look and offer any pointers. Feel free to email me at lnelsonATcarlsonswDOTcom.
Thanks for all the thoughts on this. The ultimate problem was that there was no useful elevation data in the point blocks the architect had created, so they were not worth trying to convert. It was necessary to run in 3D polylines and create Carlson points using the nodes of the architect's blocks for N, E and the 3D polylines for Z. Mission accomplished, the crew staked it out yesterday.
The ultimate problem was that there was no useful elevation data in the point blocks the architect had created, so they were not worth trying to convert. It was necessary to run in 3D polylines and create Carlson points using the nodes of the architect's blocks for N, E and the 3D polylines for Z
If I had a nickel for every time I got 2D CAD drawings for 3D plansets, or drawings with 3D entities that didn't come close to matching elevation callouts on the plans, I'd already be retired. One of my biggest frustrations...
It hasn't been all that many years ago that all drawings were 2D drawings.
Years ago (1998?) I purchased EaglePoint software.?ÿ I was contract staking highway jobs at the time and obtaining digital files from the state was practically unheard of.?ÿ It would only take me a couple of days (and several pots of coffee) to create a digital file from full size blue line plan sheets.?ÿ Construction staking with a TS was a breeze as long as I maintained good control points.
Some of the "old timers" at the state went nuts over this procedure; telling me I needed to stake everything with a traditional station-offset.?ÿ The contract actually only stated I needed to "define the construction layout to the lines and grades as specified on the contract documents (plans)".?ÿ I was always quick to point out their engineering topo for the project was collected in the exact same manner. We went round and round for a year.?ÿ
Then they wanted an ascii file.?ÿ I told them to make their own like I did.?ÿ ?ÿEvery time I would stake a drainage structure that was a half mile from any centerline control the state's crew would spend a half a day replacing the centerline up to where I was at just to "check".
They eventually stopped that nonsense.
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For the young bucks here they were in diapers in 1998.?ÿ For others here that was two or three wives ago and seven employment changes.
Kind of reminds me of a local power company.?ÿ They want all their ROW's monumented, so you can see from monument to monument, like someone will be traversing the baseline.?ÿ
But then after we submit the points file, they go out and check our monuments with GPS, not a total station, and give us a report of which ones are "out" and need to be re-set.