Query Location

[rad.77676]

I have 3000+- quarter sections that I need to query. Is there a simple way to save the location coordinates for all of these sections to external query files?
I know I could select each one and save to external file, just hoping someone has a better idea!
Thanks,
Rob

[MHultgren]

Are you wanting to save the window limits of each one or just the centroid? If you have LDT, place a point at the intersections and you can export the coords (X.Y.and Z - if needed) to a file. and then build a template query to pull in the type of data you want, then use the ol' cut - n - paste (in your favorite ascii editor) to change the coordinates for each section, do a save-as with section number or something that makes sense. Here is the format of the qry file. Make sure that you have created your project info prior to generating the template, build your query and run it on the first section to make sure you have everything you need showing, then save that to an external file. Open that file and look for the areas in red below to see what you would need to change. I would probably round off the coordinates and give yourself a bit of a buffer ( add or subtract 10 to each X and Y coordinate to make sure your get the whole section.

(setq ade_cmddia_before_qry (getvar "cmddia"))
(setvar "cmddia" 0)
(mapcar 'ade_dwgdeactivate (ade_dslist))
(setq ade_tmpprefval (ade_prefgetval "ActivateDwgsOnAttach"))
(ade_prefsetval "ActivateDwgsOnAttach" T)
(setq dwg_id(ade_dsattach "path(s) of drawings to query"))
(ade_prefsetval "ActivateDwgsOnAttach" ade_tmpprefval)
(ade_qryclear)
(ade_qrysettype "draw")
(ade_qrydefine '("" "" "" "Location" ("window" "inside" (681885.371764 920871.924347 0.000000)(683411.390529 919379.271217 0.000000))""))
(ade_qrydefine '("AND" "" "" "Property" ("objtype" "=" "object types")""))
(ade_qrydefine '("AND" "" "" "Property" ("layer" "=" "layers")""))
(ade_qrysetaltprop nil)
(ade_qryexecute)
(setvar "cmddia" ade_cmddia_before_qry)

Once you build your "Template query, you should only have to change the coords and do a save-as.

[rad.77676]

Mark,
Thanks for the tip, that is basically what I'm trying to avoid.

I'm guessing I'm not the first person to deal with Local Agency GIS data.
I'm trying to break down 953MB of data into quarter section size drawings so our designers can open them.
With help from others here, I have the routine to query and block out each drawing, but I'm trying to find a better way to put together the query files that contain the location of each quarter section boundary.
I have created them in the past just by defining the query location and selecting a boundary.
I don't want to cut & paste 3000 query files, if there is a better way, just thought I would check and see if anyone has come across this already.
Thanks again,
Rob

[MHultgren]

Rob,

You could always dump the section coords into an MDB and set up your queries from there using the quarter section number as the index field?
Are you trying to break out topo for each section? Take a look at WWW.DOTSOFT.COM. Terry has a new tool that might be just what you are looking for. It is called GridWorks. Not sure if it is what you are looking for, but it might be of some assistance

[rad.77676]

Rob,

You could always dump the section coords into an MDB and set up your queries from there using the quarter section number as the index field?

M,
Newbie here!
How would I go about doing this?
Thanks,
Rob

[MHultgren]

Well, you would need to start by registering and catching up with the ATP085 course (under Education - ATP Courses) while you still can. This will give you the training to access and talk with MS Access for your MDB. Once you get through that, then you would be able to connect to that DB from the Map Pulldown. It is a bit much to try explain breifly on here though. Pull out the Help file and tutorials to walk you through the procedures.

<from the ACMAP Help File>
Using AutoCAD Map, you can link information from an external database to objects in your drawing, and then retrieve objects from source drawings using the linked information. For example, with a database of traffic flow information, you can link traffic records in the database to roads in the drawing, and then run a query to display only those roads with high volume traffic.

After you create the links, use the Data View to select, highlight, view, and edit records in the database table.

The first step in using external databases is to attach the data source to your project.

You can view the external table using AutoCAD Map's Data View. You can customize the look of the Data View and hide and freeze columns in the display.

If you want to link records from the table to objects in your drawing, create a link template that specifies how to uniquely identify each record in the table.

Once you create a link template, you can link records from the table to objects in your drawing.

You can then use those links to view and select objects based on their linked data.

You can also set options that specify how you use external database tables with AutoCAD Map.

[rad.77676]

Thanks Mark!

[jim.dahl]

Sounds like the Database approach is a good one, but try link to the poly. I believe the mapbooks does this, which sounds like what you are trying to accomplish. To create the link you probably could generate on the unique quarter section number. I had this set up for our county in Map 2005 with 1440 half sections, but the Mapbooks in 2005 was not good enough in my opinion so heard 2006 was better.

jim

[rad.77676]

Jim,
How do I go about creating links from polyline boundaries, I only see options to link text or blocks.
Rob

[jim.dahl]

What works for one might not work for others, so there are a number of ways to approach the task. I attached a sample of a project for a Township quarter-quarter section. I have done this at least three different ways and will explain a basic way to create the links, but forgot how to do the query; maybe someone else can explain that but the map set knows the extent of the polygon when you set up the query on the unique ID.

1. Start with polygon.
2. Have centroid of unique ID.
3. Create object table with one field.
4. Drag and drop MDB (with the ID as one of the fields) into project space.
5. Generate links based on the text enclosed.

At this point you have the DWG with polys that have a link to the MDB so each record is spatially aware of where it is.

I am eager to learn how to create the map book in Map 2006 because have heard that you have much more flexibility in previewing and plotting each cell of the grid.

BTW, if you have access to ArcGIS, the DS Mapbook is a model that I was hoping that AutoDesk developers would follow, and if someone knows of a routine for that, I definitely would be interested!!!!

Good Luck and please let us know how it works.

I see a bug in the way I created centroids and needd to redo that to maintain text WITHIN poly.

Jim