Topographical layout from survey points .

[lesliecboles57]

Need help on how to in step by step method for taking topo survey points and measurements in tenths and program them into my autocad 2000 program to make a 8x11 print out from my printer of a job site I surveyed as to get a good idea of present drainage problems from land.Leslie C Boles

[Ammon]

Do you have Land Desktop or just plain Autocad 2000?

[lesliecboles57]

I have plain autocad 2000 Sir. I just read a book today at work and found some help for myself.I,m enrolled into intro autocad at San Jacinto College in Houston ,TX But if I could just learn how to transfer my company,s survey plots (of sites I am working at ) into a visual layout of the area where the survey points are from so as the H.E. operater can see what needs to be done as far as moving dirt or adding dirt for drainage....then I would secure my future there and help my family considerably sir. I am 49 yrs old and will not waste any help you give me!!!!!!!! Thanks from Leslie Charles Boles

[sinc]

Sounds like you need Civil Design. Currently, I beleive the only option available is the Civil-3D or Civil-3D Pro packages.

There are other third-party solutions available, as well, but I'm not familiar with them.

If it's a small site, you might be able to get something in, possibly by drawing and intersecting 3D-faces? But it wouldn't be easy.

You could always just draw splines based on visual inspection of the points... It would be low-accuracy, but may be good enough for your purposes. Just hope no one asks you how much dirt they need to move... :D

[MHultgren]

You can insert a block at the x,y,z coordinates of your survey points and then interpolate between them to get your contours the old fashioned way (by hand or use the Measure command to place points along a line between your points. Remember, AutoCAD thinks in X,Y, and Z but Survey thinks in Northing (which is Y), Easting (which is X) and Elevation (which is Z). So if you had one point at 1346.82 and the point you wanted to "Measure " to was at elevation of 1347.64 you could use a distance of .64 and use the 1347.64 as your starting point and "measure" to the 1346.82 point. Set your Osnap to Node or Insert to make sure that you actually get the elevation of the points you insert. This would place a point at the 1347.00 elevation for you. This is a tedious method, but without Land or Civil, it is all I can think of at the moment.

[Ammon]

You can insert a block at the x,y,z coordinates of your survey points and then interpolate between them to get your contours the old fashioned way (by hand or use the Measure command to place points along a line between your points. Remember, AutoCAD thinks in X,Y, and Z but Survey thinks in Northing (which is Y), Easting (which is X) and Elevation (which is Z). So if you had one point at 1346.82 and the point you wanted to "Measure " to was at elevation of 1347.64 you could use a distance of .64 and use the 1347.64 as your starting point and "measure" to the 1346.82 point. Set your Osnap to Node or Insert to make sure that you actually get the elevation of the points you insert. This would place a point at the 1347.00 elevation for you. This is a tedious method, but without Land or Civil, it is all I can think of at the moment.
Agreed. Without Land Desktop or Civil3D this task will be very tedious. How many points are you working with Leslie? Maybe you could hire someone to do this job for you, who already has a copy of LDT. Doing it in plain AutoCAD might not be time productive for you.

[lesliecboles57]

Thanks !!! From Leslie!!!!!! I will try

[lesliecboles57]

Thanks !!!! I will try it!!!!!!!!!