Location Plans

[j4cksincl4ir]

Before I ask for advice, I haven't used AutoCAD for seven years and when I did use it, it was for mechanical engineering purposes. Now I am using AutoCAD LT for architectural reasons. I've signed up to my local night school to get back into things.

 

I am making a location plan for a planning permission application to the local authority. I bought a 4 hectare or so location plan from the Ordinance Survey. I've drawn in the location of the proposed building and changed the relevant site boundaries to red and blue.

 

Now I want to use two layout tabs with a drawing border at a scale of 1:1250 and 1:1500 respectively. The existing scales appear to be in imperial units. How can I change this?

[eldon]

Use custom scales.

[ReMark]

In the future avoid using the acad.dwt template file which is for imperial units and instead use the acadiso.dwt template file which is for metric units.

[danellis]

Remark: He bought the file with the base mapping from Ordnance Survey (OS) who provide mapping in the UK, so he probably didn't have a choice about which template to use.

 

j4cksincl4air: you need to use the UNITS command and set your units to either millimeters or meters. AutoCAD will ask you if you want to rescale anything; you should tell it not to. Depending how, or if, you need this drawing to interact with your others you may need to scale it up or down by a factor of 1000 (the difference between millimeters and meters). Unfortunately the most common practice in the UK is to set units to millimeters but draw in meters; frustrating and wrong though this is you may find it easier if you're incorporating other people's drawings (surveys or civil engineering, for example).

 

Off-topic, but 1:1500's an unusual scale, and I'm, not sure it would gain you much over 1:1250. Or was I right first time when I misread it as 1:2500!?!

 

dJE

[eldon]

When I get an electronic snippet of Ordnance Survey data, it comes as a DXF file. It is unitless, but Measurement is set to 0, so it picks up the acad.lin linetypes.

 

The units are metres, and the detail is drawn to the Ordnance Survey coordinates, which are metres. You just get to know these things and deal with them.

 

Unfortunately, even if I start a drawing with a metric template, the plot scales are full of Imperial (certainly for my version of AutoCAD), so one has to input useful scales.

 

Usually I have found that the planning process needs a 1 to 1250 and a 1 to 500 plot. If using paper space, and set up with an A4 sheet in portrait mode, then the custom scales needed to plot the OS drawing are 0.8 for 1 to 1250 and 2.0 for 1 to 500. These scales are derived from the formula:- Drawing units (in millimetres) divided by drawing scale equals custom scale. For the 1 to 1250, we have 1000 divided by 1250 equals 0.8.

[Organic]

Off-topic, but 1:1500's an unusual scale, and I'm, not sure it would gain you much over 1:1250. Or was I right first time when I misread it as 1:2500!?!

 

 

It depends on the industry. In surveying and civil 1:1500 is a better scale than 1:1250.

[eldon]

It depends on the industry. In surveying and civil 1:1500 is a better scale than 1:1250.

 

Welcome to the world of planning (as mentioned by the OP)

[j4cksincl4ir]

 

Usually I have found that the planning process needs a 1 to 1250 and a 1 to 500 plot. If using paper space, and set up with an A4 sheet in portrait mode, then the custom scales needed to plot the OS drawing are 0.8 for 1 to 1250 and 2.0 for 1 to 500. These scales are derived from the formula:- Drawing units (in millimetres) divided by drawing scale equals custom scale. For the 1 to 1250, we have 1000 divided by 1250 equals 0.8.

 

Thanks, so there is no way to change the imperial scales into metric?

 

Having used the 3/8" = 1" scale, I think that 1:1250 is too large so I'll try to use the 1:1500 as the location plan is a rural setting.

[Tiger]

In the long run, I would recommend you create your own template with your own scales already pre-defined - then you can forget about the pesky imperials all together

[j4cksincl4ir]

In the long run, I would recommend you create your own template with your own scales already pre-defined - then you can forget about the pesky imperials all together

 

With pleasure but it is annoying when I buy an OS map in metric with the view to use metric scales, I see these imperial scales!

[Tiger]

This may be not at all useable with how you need to do your drawings, but I never really open the maps and stuff that I get, I use them as External References in my drawings. That way, I can have my own template with my own scale and just have the map as a background.

 

 

Note: I open the maps and stuff and clean them with audit and purge, but that is just the one time I promise.

[eldon]

As you mentioned Layouts in your first post, I was assuming that you would be plotting from paper space, and of course the best way is to plot at 1 to 1. It is the scaling of the viewports that needs to be attended to, and my remarks on scaling should have mentioned viewports.

 

I am most surprised that you should feel the need to go to a scale of 1 to 1500, when I can manage to get a whole 40 hectare picture onto a 1 to 1250 with lots of room to spare.

 

Whatever you do, put a North point on your plot and also a scale bar.

[ReMark]

I just started a brand new drawing using the metric template acadiso.dwt and all the scales shown are in METRIC units. Maybe some of you are using the wrong template?

[eldon]

Some of us may not be quite so up-to-date as you

[ReMark]

eldon: Open your wallet and let the moths out. Even they need to inhale some fresh air once in a while.

[eldon]

eldon: Open your wallet and let the moths out. Even they need to inhale some fresh air once in a while.

 

Now, now. Keep my wallet out of this. I am of an age where new technology is confusing (I have not sent this from my iPad).

[j4cksincl4ir]

is 1/4" = 1' the same as 1:1500 ?

 

Can't get my head round the imperial stuff at all?

[ReMark]

No. I believe that 1:50 is however.

[eldon]

1/4" to 1' is 1 to 48

[ReMark]

Metric plot scales are as follows (with roughly equivalent Imperial plot scales in parentheses):

 

1:1 (Full Size)

1:2 (Half Size)

1:5 (3"= 1'-0")

1:10 (1 1/2"=1'-0")

1:20 (3/4"=1'-0")

1:25 (1/2"=1'-0")

1:50 (1/4"=1'-0")

1:100 (1/8"=1'-0")

1:200 (1/16"=1'-0")

1:250 (1"=20'-0")

1:500 (1"=40'-0")

1:1000 (1"=80'-0")

 

Source: www.academics.triton.edu