Aligned dimension text different rotation in different areas of drawing

My colleague has just showed me something that is happening in the drawing he is working on (made originally by a client with their own dim style). When he is using the annotation aligned tool to measure a road width in one part of the drawing, the text is placed in the correct rotation (i.e. the right way up when looking at the drawing on the screen). If he does the same measurement in another part of the drawing, the dimension text is upside down. It doesnt seem to matter which way you draw the line (i.e. right to left or left to right).

Is this something to do with the styles? or just an odd quirk or something simple?

Thanks, Rich

Is the road at different angles at these locations? Even if it is slightly different on either side of where AutoCAD will treat it different, i.e. 89 degrees and 91 degrees, it can make a difference.

well the roads might be slightly different but imagine there is a road running left to right across the drawing and there are two t-junctions both with the minor road going northwards from the road so its not too different. The difference in rotation also happens even if you aren't snapping to the road and are just in the general area of the model.

Could the "other part of the drawing" where the dimension text is upside down be in a different viewport with a rotated UCS?

This is what I'm wondering but i can you even do that in the model? split areas off so that the ucs is different i mean. How would you tell?

Sure you can have multiple viewports in MS, each with their own rotations, but it should be obvious unless the user intentionally made an effort not to make it obvious.

Can you attach a sample drawing with one upright and one "upside down" dimension

Like I was trying to say, even the slightest difference could effect how it is oriented. If one is close to the angle where AutoCAD changes the orientation and the other is on the other side of that angle then you get what you are seeing.

What happens if you copy a dimension from one area to the other? Does it remain the same or rotate? Try it a few times.

Of course, without a live example of your situation, this is all speculation. Please post an sample file.

Thanks for your replies everyone, I think i've got it: the client has shifted the UCS about 45 degrees so the south/north direction is more like southwest/northwest. The angles at which the measurements are being drawn just happen to be either side of the Y axis which is why it was looking odd.

Is there a way to set the annotation text so it is always north/south orientation rather than dependent on the UCS?

I'm glad you figured it out.