Advice on displaying coordinates in different projections

[david1-b]

Hi,

 

What I am trying to do is similar to the Geodetic Calculator tool found in autocad but I would like the tool to return the location (X,Y values) in multiple coordinate systems.

 

Using civil 3D we draft in a NAD83 Universal Transverse Mercator projection. I am trying to create a tool or find a third party plugin/script that will allow the user to select a point or a line intersection in the projected drawing and have the tool return the location of the selected point/intersection in the drawings coordinate system as well as in several other coordinate reference systems. Accordingly, this tool will be performing coordinate transformations from UTM NAD83 to other coordinates/projection including Latitude Longitude (WGS) and UTM NAD27 ie, a coordinate transformation tool (from projected data to other projected forms), that returns only location and does not create new features in the drawing.

 

Does anyone know of any means of achieving this?

If no solution already exists is this more of a lisp or .net problem?

 

I am a CAD newb but very well versed in GIS (accordingly I apologize if I use the incorrect CAD words). This is a task that would be easy to do in that environment. You would use a script that calls a re-projecting tool and given the EPSG code you would re-project the point and print its xy coordinates, then repeat the process. The whole process would run in memory and your drawing would never be altered. Is this the same approach one would use in the CAD environment?

 

Thanks For Any Advice

 

David

Edited November 3, 2012 by david1-b
Clarity

[Dadgad]

Welcome to CADTutor.

 

Most of that was Greek to me (being far afield of the sort of work I do),

but you might want to look at Lee Mac's excellent site, he may have something you can use to help you

sort it all out ... http://www.lee-mac.com/ .

 

If he doesn't have it, and nobody else delivers the goods, you could contact Lee

via his website and inquire about the possibility of him custom designing a lisp

to automate this task for you.

[david1-b]

Thanks for the response,

 

Seeing as you are a deity I will trust it:)

 

I had already found his website that was my plan b. Although new to cad I believe this should be a simple problem, but that is likely just showing what I don't know about cad. Your right, after re-reading my post it is a little geek/greek and I tried to clean it up.

 

Thanks

[Dadgad]

More like a dog than a god.

No doubt my failure to comprehend was more a function of my lack of informedness of such matters,

than any linguistic discombobulation on your part.

And now that you have cleaned it up, it makes a lot more sense, I guess, since you feel that it does.

Meaning, I'll take your word for it.

It gets a bit slow around the virtual water cooler here on the weekends, just be patient and sooner or later

a forum member of sufficient 3D CIVILITY, and insight will see your post and get back to you.

Have a great weekend.

[SLW210]

I moved your thread to the Civil 3D & LDD forum for you.

[Emigrato]

Did you just try the _MAPTRACKCS command..?

 

[david1-b]

Thanks for the reply and moving my thread

 

I checked out maptrackcs and it is close what I am trying to achieve but not quite there. What my goal is would be similar to maptrackcs but would return the location in several different coordinate systems at once. Although, maptracks achieves the same end result each coordinate system needs to be specified one at a time and I am looking for an automation solution. I image this will be a code based solution or plugin.

 

Can the maptrackcs command be specified and called through lisp so the location can be returned in several coordinates automatically?

 

Thanks for the help

 

David

[BIGAL]

If you can find the Formula behind the transformations then it can be done pick a point and say write multiple text answers on multi layers. The formula's are very complex though maybe a web search and use VBA or .net as easier than trying to convert to lisp.

 

Tried the usual stuff _maptrackcs ._map -map etc but all pop the dialouge box.

[david1-b]

Thanks,

Thanks for the advice,

 

I am new to CAD (more familiar with RS and GIS) but I am surprised by this answer. I understand the role of lisp better and you are right this task seems to be outside the realm of lisp. However, I believe ACAD should have a re-project function or object that can be called to perform the transformations so I don't need to worry about the formulas just ensure the correct coordinate systems are specified.

 

I will continue my search.

 

But I really appreciate the help and advice

 

David

[david1-b]

Emigrato,

 

You were right, I was using ACAD 2009 and MAPTRACKCS does not support multiple system coordinate tracking. I downloaded a trial of 2013 and MAPTRACKCS does in that version (and I would imagine several of the newer versions).

 

So we can assign this one as a bad question.

 

Another solution is http://www.dotsoft.com/mapworks.htm has a plugin that performs coordinate tracking.

 

Thanks all the help

 

Now is only I knew how to mark a thread as answered

 

David

[BIGAL]

You just did