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Experience
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 software contains most of the functionality that can be found in
AutoCAD Map 3D 2014 software. As survey technology advances and sources for accurate data
become more varied, the ability to transform between units and coordinate systems will become
increasingly more important. For the solutions to many interoperability questions, you will look
to the Map functionality to help you along.
In this chapter, you will learn to:

66 Attach Raster Images

66Transform coordinates between drawings

Attaching Raster Images

Frequently, when using AutoCAD Civil 3D software, youll need to show an aerial image as
it relates to your design. The coordinate system of the photo will not always use the same units
or coordinate system as your drawing.
Standard image attachment tools will not automatically transform the image. Even if both
your drawing and the image are assigned coordinate systems, Civil 3D software will not presume to move one into the other. Youll need to use the Map portion of the software to force the
coordinate transformation.
Here are the general steps you will need to follow in order to transform an image from its
original coordinate system to the coordinate system of your Civil 3D drawing:

1. Start a new drawing and set it to the same coordinate system as the image.
In this chapter, this will be referred to as the source coordinate system.

2. Switch to the Planning And Analysis workspace to access the Map 3D tools.
3. Insert the image into the new, empty drawing using the MAPIINSERT command.
4. Save and close the initial drawing.
5. Open your project drawing and make sure it is set to the correct coordinate system.
In this chapter, this will be referred to as the destination coordinate system.

6. Use the Map 3D Attach command to attach the source drawing.

7. Use the ADEQUERY command to pull the image across to the destination coordinate system.
In the following sections, you will work through these steps in greater detail.

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Finding Your Map Tools

AutoCAD Map 3D software bridges the gap between GIS and CAD. Because infrastructure
designers often dip their toes in the GIS waters, Civil 3D software contains all the tools that
come with Map 3D software. To access the tools you will work with, you will need to change
your active workspace.
In the following exercise, you will change workspaces.

1. Start a new drawing based on the Autocad Civil 3D (Metric)NCS.dwt file.

Even if your preferred working units are feet, the first step in the process will be working
with the TIFF image in its native coordinate system. The TIFF you will be working with
was obtained from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) website (http://viewer
.nationalmap.gov/viewer/). Like most of the data from USGS, the file is in UTM
NAD83 and is in metric units.

2. Save the file in your example file folder as Source.dwg.

3. From the Settings tab of Toolspace, right-click on the name of the drawing, and select Edit
Drawing Settings.

4. On the Units And Zone tab, enter UTM83-16 in the Selected Coordinate System Code field.
This will set the drawings coordinate system to UTM83 Zone 16, Meter.

5. Click OK to dismiss the Drawing Settings dialog.

6. Click the Workspaces icon in the lower-right corner of the screen and select Planning And
Analysis, as shown in Figure B3.1.

Figure B3.1

Switching to the
Planning And
Analysis workspace
to access Map 3D
tools

7. Save the drawing and keep it open for the next exercise.

Inserting the Image

Now that you have set your source drawing, it is time to insert the file. In this example, youll use
a TIFF, but the process is the same regardless of the type of image file with which you are working.

1. Continue working in the Source.dwg file that you created in the previous exercise.
Remain in the Planning And Analysis workspace.

2. From the Home taba Data panel, click the Insert An Image button. Note that you can

type MAPIINSERT at the CAD command line from any workspace to invoke this command.

Transforming to Local Coordinates 109

3. In the Insert Image dialog, set Files Of Type to Tagged Image File Format (*.tif, *.tiff).
4. Browse to the files you downloaded for this chapter, select MKE94-43-41.tif, and click Open.
5. In the Image Correlation dialog, click OK.
The insertion point and units are coming from the TFW file that accompanies the image.
The two files have the same name but different file extensions.

6. Zoom extents to see the image in your file.

7. Remain in the Planning And Analysis workspace, and save and close Source.dwg.
If you happen to receive a TIFF that is in the same coordinate system as the rest of your project, you can use the MAPIINSERT command directly in the project. A coordinate system match
may happen periodically, but more often than not you will need to continue the process as outlined in the next section.

Transforming to Local Coordinates

The first thing you should do in any project drawing is set your coordinate system, as shown
in Figure B3.2. Be sure a coordinate system is set before you import your survey and create
Civil 3D data. If you change coordinate systems or units partway through a project, any
already existing information will not be adjustedand changing coordinate systems in the
middle of a project is generally a bad idea.
Figure B3.2

Set Units and Zone

before you begin
importing data.

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The technique outlined in this section works on images and any base AutoCAD object. If you
have AutoCAD objects (lines, arc, circles, etc.) in a file that has a coordinate system assigned to it,
you can attach the file and use a query on the graphic data to perform an exact transformation.

Locate Using Geographic Data

For XREFs and block insertion, you will see an option called Locate Using Geographic Data. Note
that this option will be available only if both the drawings have a coordinate system set and if
the GEOMARKERVISIBILITY option is set to 1.

This option will

scale and move
the incoming file,
but does not
perform true
coordinate
translation.

Be wary of the Locate Using Geographic Data option for Civil 3D and Map applications. It is
intended for base AutoCAD users who simply want to line up drawings; it does not perform a
true coordinate transformation. In other words, it will scale and move the XREF or block, but it
will not re-project elements to the destination drawings coordinate system.

1. Open the drawing Destination.dwg (Destination_METRIC.dwg), which you can down-

load from www.sybex.com/go/masteringcivil3d2014. For this example, make sure you

have saved the file Source.dwg to your local C drive.
These files have been set to a Wisconsin State Plane coordinate system.

2. In the Planning And Analysis workspace, select the Home taba Data panel, and click
Attach.

3. Use the Select Drawings To Attach dialog to browse to your file.

For this exercise, you saved Source.dwg to the C drive in order to avoid the need to define
an alias. If the file you work with in real life is on a network location, you will need to
click the Create/Edit Alias button and set up a shortcut to additional drives.

Transforming to Local Coordinates 111

4. Highlight Source.dwg, and click Add. Click OK.

The file will appear at the bottom of the dialog in the Selected Drawings section, as
shown in Figure B3.3.
Figure B3.3

Locate the source

and click Add.

5. From the Home taba Data panel, click Define Query.

6. Click the Location button.
7. Set the boundary type to All, and click OK.
8. Set the Query mode to Draw. Leave all other options at their defaults.
9. When your dialog resembles Figure B3.4, click Execute Query.
Figure B3.4

Setting query
properties

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Click OK if you receive any warning messages. You should now see the image translated
to the correct coordinate system.

10. Select the image, right-click, and select Display Ordera Send To Back, as shown in
Figure B3.5.

Figure B3.5

Change the display order to get a

better look at the
alignments.

11. Save the drawing. You will receive a reminder that The association between queried

objects in the current and attached drawings will not be retained once the current drawing file is closed. Click OK to acknowledge this message.

12. Because you have used Map 3D functionality to attach drawings, you will see a message

about maintaining the association between drawings. Click OK to dismiss this warning.

Dont forget to switch your workspace back to Civil 3D to resume working in the rest of the book.

An Alternative Method
To insert and transform a georeferenced image into Civil 3D software, you could also use the
Map Data Connect tool from the Planning And Analysis workspace in the Homea Data panel
(or type MAPCONNECT at the command line). This method works for various data types, including
raster images as shown here.

The Bottom Line 113

The advantage of this method is that it involves fewer steps.

We made you do it the hard way for several reasons:

66If an image is inserted via the attach and query method, as you did in the previous exercise,
the image can be manipulated in all the same ways as an image attached via base AutoCAD
that is, you can crop it, make it transparent, and adjust it.

66Images brought in through the MAPCONNECT command can be color adjusted, but thats it.
66If you use the attach and query method, you can transform anythingimages and entire
CAD files, if necessary.

The Bottom Line

Transform coordinates between drawings. Most project locations have the ability to use
several coordinate systems or units. Being able to correctly manipulate a drawing's coordinate system is extremely important.
Master It The TransformThis.dwg file is in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)
North American Datum (NAD) 83, Zone 10, in meters. Start a new drawing based on
_Autocad Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS.dwt or _Autocad Civil 3D (Metric) NCS.dwt.
Set the new drawings coordinates to NAD 83 California State Plane Zone 3 (US Foot or
Meters, depending on which template you used).
Solution

1. Start a new drawing based on _Autocad Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS.dwt or _Autocad

Civil 3D (Metric) NCS.dwt.

2. From the Settings tab of Toolspace, right-click on the name of the drawing and select
Edit Drawing Settings.

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3. On the Units And Zone tab, set the category to USA, California.
4. Set the available coordinate system to NAD83, California State Planes, Zone III US Foot
(NAD83, California State Planes, Zone III Meter), and click OK.

5. Using the filename CAStatePlane.dwg, save the drawing to the same location as the
rest of your chapter files.

6. Switch to the Planning And Analysis workspace. In the Home taba Data panel,
click Attach.

7. Browse to and select the file TransformThis.dwg. Click Add and then click OK.
8. Click Define Query, set the radio button to Location, set the location to All, and set
Query Mode to Draw.

9. Click Execute Query.