Location Maps

Amen, always seems like so much effort to dress up legacy data for a decent location map.

I've started using the free ArcGIS for AutoCAD plugin.?ÿ The learning curve is not too steep, and they have a lot of web map service (WMS) connections already in the can.?ÿ You can add whatever other ones you want (like, say, municipal, county, or state GIS), and pulling in a variety of layers is a nice option.

What is a location map??ÿ Is that the same as a vicinity map?

@bstrand?ÿ

Yes for all practical purposes that I know about

If your project is on a known projection, you can access and extract imagery and mapping in C3D directly.

I used to have a separate CAD drawing for those. Each time I needed a new one, I'd add it to that drawing. At some point, I was able to bring several of them together. I had a pretty nice roadmap of a good chunk of Tucson.

@wendell kicking it old school.

I just make a quick map each time, tracing with a polyline over a GE image.?ÿ I only need enough to identify the site, doesn't have to be a piece of art.

I can't tell you how many plans I see with no locus map, site address, tax parcel ID, etc.?ÿ I'm looking at the plan, and can't even tell where the heck I am.

@jph I use that same method.?ÿ Use snip to grab a slice of the GIS or Google Map, save it as a png or jpg into the job, image insert in to CAD, trace, then delete the image out of my drawing to keep the size down.?ÿ Tracing the roads makes for a cleaner map and allows me to label the streets correctly.?ÿ The local addressing folks will turn a plat down in a heartbeat if the road names differ in any way from their official spelling & punctuation.?ÿ

@jph and @stephen-ward

I do the same thing. I've had clients "complain" about the different vicinity maps (location maps) and whether they used imagery, road information of a mix of the two so I now just give them a "down and dirty" vicinity map and haven't heard a grumble since.

Make it fancy, give your polylines a larger width for major highways. ?????ÿ

@john-putnam?ÿ

I usually have orthos, quads, ect in a drawing. But that's not as helpful when it needs to be shrunk, moved, doubled up for a location map. The snips are tiny files, easy to drag and drop wherever needed. I doubt it's more than 5 minutes start to finish for location maps the way I've started doing them. Unless of course something complicated is necessary such as the ones for the BOC. Those take hours.?ÿ

I have been drafting for just under 2 years. Our vicinity maps used to consist of a screenshot pasted into the drawing. I had troubles getting it to look good. We usually show the quarter section information unless there is a missing corner. I now draw seprate lines along the quarter lines on a separate layer and copy the quarter to create the section. I then place road labels, rr tracks, towns, etc.. I hatch the property using the boundary, again this is on its own layer. So, can I directly input gis into cad? This would be a time saver for vicinity sketches, flood plain/way, tiles, r/w, and more.

I posted my position on vicinity maps years ago but maybe it's worth repeating.?ÿ

I think they're silly and redundant, take up valuable paper space, and are a requirement in most local jurisdictions because of bureaucratic fiat. State statutes where I practice make no mention of them.

Supposedly they're required "so the layman can easily determine the locus of the survey."?ÿ Record maps are highly technical documents and should not be subject to accommodation strictures for laymen.?ÿ They precisely locate points, parcels, easements, reference adjacent and historical records, the PLSS if applicable, usually require ties to SPC nowadays, etc.?ÿ If a record map cannot be positioned in its proper cadastre location by examination of its mandatory Subtitle: "Brief legal description of what is being surveyed: to include Owner's Name & Document Number and Lot, Block, Subdivision Name, Vol. & Page"?ÿ and the actual map then there's something horribly wrong with the map that a vicinity map will not fix.

But I'm a pragmatist and if a County/City insists, I'll provide a vicinity map just to keep the ball rolling.?ÿ A few local agencies get it and do not require them;?ÿ here's an elightened County's submittal requirement: "Vicinity map on first sheet if there are no street intersections shown."?ÿ They sorta realize that a vicinity map is silly but don't quite realize how silly it is.

Concerning how to do it it's a ten minute effort these days by snipping the County-wide GIS road layer, adding your PIQ as a filled block, and minor labelling.?ÿ It still irks me to do so though because I'm wasting precious paper space, incurring additional lability if I screw it up and my map might turn into a two-pager and incur an addtional $200 mapcheck fee.

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@mike-marks?ÿ

I get what you're saying, but it's such a simple thing to do.?ÿ My only problem is when I've had a plan kicked back because I didn't add a locus map when the property was at the intersection of two streets, so it was abundantly obvious where it is.

The added liability of a vicinity map hasn't kept me up at night for a very long time.?ÿ?ÿ

Posted by: @fairbanksls

The added liability of a vicinity map hasn't kept me up at night for a very long time.?ÿ?ÿ

Yep, but you never know where liability will crop up.

Instead of a vicinity map; add a QR code. Snap a picture of it, with your smart phone and Google Maps will show you right where it's at.

Posted by: @dougie

Instead of a vicinity map; add a QR code. Snap a picture of it, with your smart phone and Google Maps will show you right where it's at.

OK, that is an interesting idea, but I can already hear the screeching from the county reviewer's office...has anyone here ever actually filed an ROS like that? ?ÿcan see the coding differences between QR readers and operating system apps making that messy.

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Hasn't the idea of QR codes (maybe it was RFID) on monument caps come up before? Would be really nice to have it point to the Board's public database page for the licensee who set it, so you could see current license status, contact info, etc...plus any ROS or plat it's associated with...

@rover83?ÿ

AutoDesk has an APP for this

I am in favor of vicinity maps and try to draw them artfully. It is a requirement here and that may be because there have been so many survey maps recorded showing a rectangular parcel of land on a street with a house that is labelled "house" and that frustrates me even though I am not a layman.