and surface modeling...2014/02/05 · and surface modeling with carlson survey presented by who is...

New Jersey SurvCon 2014

Field to Finish And

Surface Modeling with Carlson Survey

Presented by

Who Is That CAD Girl?

Jennifer DiBona is a long‐time CAD consultant and trainer doing business as That CAD Girl. She is based in

Raleigh, North Carolina.

Jennifer has a degree in Surveying Technology and has worked for surveying and civil engineering consulting

offices in North Carolina and Illinois. She also worked for an Autodesk reseller for several years and built their

technical services division from the ground up.

Today, That CAD Girl provides sales, support and training for Carlson, AutoCAD and IntelliCAD software and

Carlson hardware and data collection. We specialize in Field to Finish, Surface Modeling, CAD standardization

and Carlson Software implementation.

Jennifer is one of the charter members of Carlson College which is the certified program for authorized

Carlson Software trainers.

Jennifer also writes the "CAD Picks and Clicks" column for Professional Surveyor Magazine and has been a

featured presenter at:

Autodesk University 2004 and 2007

World of Concrete/Technology for Construction 2004 and 2005

AEC Science & Technology 2005

NC Society of Surveyors Institute 2009

Carlson Software User Conference 2009, 2010, 2013

New Jersey SurvCon 2013, 2014

Maryland Society of Surveyors Fall Conference, 2013

Jennifer is a member of the Steering Committee for Version 6 of the National CAD Standard®, serves as Chair

of the Survey/Civil Task Team and co‐Chair of the CAD Layer Guidelines Task Team. The purpose of the

Survey/Civil Task Team is to explore and propose changes that incorporate more civil and survey‐related

content into the National CAD Standard.

You can reach me at [email protected] or (919) 417‐8351.

Carlson Self‐Study Manuals are available for purchase during the Carlson User Conference at a discounted price or from my

online store at www.thatcadgirl.com

Importing GIS‐Attributed CAD Files to Carlson Survey, SurvCE and SurvPC

TCG_EsriArcMapToCarlson_Handout.docx 9/14/2013

© 2013 Jennifer L. DiBona [email protected]

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1 Importing GIS‐Attributed CAD Files to Carlson Survey

This document picks up from another handout, Using Esri ArcMap to Extract GIS‐Attributed CAD Files and requires that you start with a GIS‐attributed Drawing (.dwg) file that has been exported from Esri GIS software.

(1‐1) Open the project drawing in Carlson Survey.

Although it’s hard to see in the image shown below, there are very small point node entities in addition to the polyline entities. The point nodes represent the point data exported from Esri and the polylines are polyline data.

(1‐2) Click the down‐arrow to see the list of layers in the drawing.

You can see that the CAD layer names correspond to the features/Layers exported from Esri.


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(919) 417‐8351


© 2013 Jennifer L. DiBona

Convert the point nodes to Carlson point block entities and save the point data to the Coordinate (.crd) file.

(1‐3) On the Cogo menu, click Create Points from Entities.

(1‐4) In the Create Points From Entities box, click the radio button to change the Description Settings to Use Entity Layer for Description.

(1‐5) Click OK to continue.

(1‐6) In the Entities To Points box, click the Points check box and make sure all other check boxes under Entities to Process are unchecked.

(1‐7) Select other options or settings as needed.

(1‐8) Click OK to continue.




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Set the Coordinate (.crd) file into which the points will be added.

(1‐9) To create a new .crd file, click the New tab, set the Folder and type a new File Name or, to append to an existing file, click the Existing tab to browse to and select an existing file.

(1‐10) Click the Open button to continue.



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When the Open button is clicked, the Command: line prompt reads:

Select arcs, circles, faces, points, text, lines and polylines.

FILter/<Select entities>:

(1‐11) Pick two opposite corners of a window to select the entities.




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After processing and zooming in, you can see the generic point nodes have been replaced by Carlson point block entities.

Next, create a new Field Code (.fld) file that will insert typical fire hydrant and manhole symbols and assign the points and symbols to standard layers.

(1‐12) On the Survey menu, click Draw Field to Finish.

(1‐13) In the Draw Field to Finish box, click the Edit Codes button.



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(1‐14) In the Field to Finish box, click the Code Table by CRD button.

(1‐15) When the CRD To Field Code Definitions box is displayed, click the Append button to have the new Codes added to the current .fld file or click the New button to add the Codes to a new .fld file.




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(1‐16) In the Specify Field Code Definition File box, set the Folder and type a File Name for the new .fld file.

(1‐17) Click the Save button to continue.

(1‐18) In the Field to Finish box, click the Edit button next to the Code you wish to edit.



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(1‐19) In the General tab of the Edit Field Code Definition box, change settings as needed. In this example, only the Description, Main Layer, Distinct Point Layer and Attribute Layout ID have been changed.

(1‐20) Click the Symbol tab.

(1‐21) In the Symbol tab, click the Set Symbol button.




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(1‐22) Click the symbol to be inserted for this Field Code.

(1‐23) Click the OK button to return to the Field to Finish box.



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(1‐24) To make similar changes to other Codes, click the Edit button next to the Code and repeat the steps above.

(1‐25) After making all necessary changes, click the Save button in the Field to Finish box.

(1‐26) Click the Exit button to return to the Draw Field to Finish box.




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(1‐27) Click the OK button to continue.

After drawing Field to Finish, the results of the changes to the Field Codes can be seen in the drawing.



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Because the drawing is geo‐referenced from the Esri export, you can use the Esri ArcGIS Services Retrieve Map or Place Google Earth Image commands to insert an image.




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2 Importing GIS‐Attributed CAD Files to Carlson SurvCE or SurvPC

Note that the steps shown here do NOT require that you follow the steps in Part 1 of this document. Part 2 starts fresh with the original GIS‐attributed Drawing (.dwg) file exported directly from Esri GIS software.

This exercise and screen captures use Carlson SurvPC but will also work for SurvCE.

For more information about exporting files from Esri, see the handout Using Esri ArcMap to Extract GIS‐Attributed CAD Files.

First, in SurvPC, set the Job/CRD file.

(2‐1) Depending on whether you need to continue the last job or start a new one, click the Continue Last Job or Select New/Existing Job button. This exercise will start with a New Job.

(2‐2) Set the Folder and type a Name for the new Coordinate (.crd) file.




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After clicking OK, the Job Settings box is displayed.

(2‐4) Click the Options tab.

(2‐5) Click the check box next to Allow Import .dxf/.dwg (Esri) Options.

(2‐6) Click the OK button to return to the Main menu.

(2‐7) If it’s not already active, click the File tab.

(2‐8) Click the Feature Code List button.

The name of the currently loaded Feature Code List (.fcl) file is shown at the top of the screen. The current Code List may or may not have Codes defined.

(2‐9) If the new GIS Feature Codes are to be added to the current list, there are no changes to be made in this box so

click the back button to return to the Main menu.

(2‐10) To create a new .fcl file in which to save the GIS Feature Codes, click the Load button. This exercise will create a new .fcl file.




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(2‐11) In the Feature Code List box, set the Folder and type a Name for the new .fcl file.


If the File doesn’t exist, a Warning box will be displayed.

(2‐13) Click the Yes button to create the new file.

After creating the new .fcl file, the empty Code List box is displayed.

(2‐14) Click the back button to return to the Main menu.



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(2‐15) Back in the Main menu, click the Equip tab.

(2‐16) Click the Configure button.

(2‐17) For purposes of this exercise, click the check box next to Prompt for Height and Description.

In a normal working environment, you may or may not want this option selected.


(2‐19) Back in the Main menu, click the

globe icon to switch to the Map View screen.




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(2‐20) In the Map View screen, on the File menu, click .dxf/.dwg/.dgn and then click Import .dwg.

(2‐21) Browse to the correct folder and click the .dwg file exported from Esri.


(2‐23) In the Import .dwg Options screen, click the check box next to Import Esri GIS Data.

(2‐24) Select other options as needed.




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(2‐26) In the Import Esri Features screen, choose which Features are to be imported to the SurvPC Feature Code List by clicking a Feature and then clicking the Yes/No check box.


(2‐28) Once the Map View screen is populated, click the Zoom buttons on the left to zoom in to a point.

(2‐29) Double left‐click on a point to view the Point Details.




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(2‐30) In the Point Details screen, click the Edit button.

(2‐31) In the Edit Point screen, click the Input/Edit Attributes button.

In the Edit GIS Data screen, you can see all of the GIS Attribute data attached to the point.

(2‐32) Click the Next button to see additional attributes.



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(2‐33) Click the Next or Previous buttons to view all defined attributes for the point.

(2‐34) Click the back button to return to the Edit Point screen.

(2‐35) Click the OK button to return to Point Details.

(2‐36) Click the back button to return to the Map View screen.




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(2‐37) Click the Close button to return to the Main menu.

(2‐38) On the Main menu, click the Survey tab.

(2‐39) Click the Store Points button.

(2‐40) In the Store PTS screen, click the

Store button to set a new point.



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(2‐41) In the Store Point screen, click the Feature Code/Description to use for the point.


(2‐43) In the first Add GIS Data screen, type values for the attribute prompts.

(2‐44) Click the Next button to enter additional attributes.

(2‐45) Click the Next or Previous buttons to view and/or enter the remaining attributes for the point.

(2‐46) Click the Store button to finish.




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After clicking the Store button you can see the new point has been set.

(2‐47) Click the Close button to return to the Main menu.

(2‐48) Click the globe icon to switch to the Map View screen.

(2‐49) In the Map View screen, on the File menu, click .dxf/.dwg/.dgn and then click Export .dwg.



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(2‐50) Set the Folder and type a new Name for the .dwg file to send back to Esri.


(2‐52) In the Export .dwg Options screen, click the check box next to Export Esri GIS Data.

(2‐53) Select other options and settings as needed.

(2‐54) Click the OK button to finish.

and surface modeling...2014/02/05 · and surface modeling with carlson survey presented by who is...

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