managing multiple coordinate systems

[UpNorth]

We have two drawings, each in its own coordinate system (CS). And both have to be used in a third CS. The two drawings will continue to have work done on them so using map to insert them (and convert) is a lot of work.

The drawings do not contain any Civil 3D stuff - but we are using Civil 3D 2011. They have lots of LDT stuff and plain acad line work.

Is there a way to xref the two files into the third CS and have them translate properly. The drawings are of entire counties so they have to be more accurate than just a straight xref.

Thanks

[sinc]

If a coordinate transformation is required, then you're pretty much stuck using Map. Civil 3D has no support for automatic transformation of an XREF, unfortunately.

If you haven't already, you may want to look into using a Drawing Data Source and an FDO connection to pull your "other" linework into your current drawing. This is much like an XREF, but it does the transformation at the same time. At least, I'm assuming you can use this technique for plain Autocad or Land Desktop linework (I've only used it for images). It won't work for C3D elements, since C3D and Map are incompatible, but it will hopefully work for Land Desktop drawings. To do this, you need to use the Map Task Pane (type MAPWSPACE and turn on the Task Pane). Then use the Task Pane to connect the drawings and create the necessary query (or queries).

[UpNorth]

Thanks for the reply.

We got excoted when we saw the check box with the xref dialog for "use geographic location" but that turns out to be a basic AutoCAD tool which only uses lat/long and KMZ data. No translations being done. And when we tries this the results were very strang. The xref was rotated at an unusal angle.

Thanks again...

[sinc]

Yeah, I got excited when they first added that option, too, until I tried it.

It only seems to work if you have the GeoMarker turned on (GEOMARKERVISIBLITY = 1). And I too noticed that it gave me very strange rotations if I had very large extents in my drawing.

All this feature does is rotate/scale/translate the XREF in some way. It doesn't do a true transformation. And it also seems to pick very strange values for its rotate/scale/translate in many cases... It seems to be some function of the drawing extents, but I couldn't figure it out, and the Help wasn't very helpful. In my testing, I would see that feature give such strange results that I gave up all thought of trying to use it.