AutoCAD Base Maps

[jamiemorris24]

I'm pretty new to the system so I may be asking the most obvious question, but what is the most common source of layout maps on 2D drawings? I'm only looking at 2D for highways purposes at the moment and wouldn't imagine the user would draw the surrounding roads, buildings etc (OS type maps) of an area for each series of drawings, so how are these acquired?

 

Are these most often provided as coordinates after a survey and coordinates connected up by the user, like a dot to dot drawing? Are these maps instead purchased online and imported as a layer? Is there even a way of tracing these from programmes such as Google Earth and Bing Maps?

 

I imagine I'm showing my ignorance in asking, but I can't seem to find anything that jumps out at me online.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[ReMark]

What exactly is your interest in highway maps?

 

Have you contacted your state Department of Transportation?

 

Do you know what a USGS quadrangle map is?

[jamiemorris24]

I work for a civil engineering firm in the UK and am looking to do more CAD work. No idea what a USGS quadrangle map is. Pretty new to all of this

[eldon]

It does very much depend on what is the purpose of the drawing.

 

For accurate detail, +/- 25mm, you have to employ a surveyor.

 

For background information, +/- 750mm, you have to buy from the Ordnance Survey, (as DXF files which are to OS grid coordinates).

 

Be very careful about tracing off satellite photography, because first of all, you have to scale it, and secondly you can only see blurred images.

 

Ordnance Survey has a policy of Generalisation, which means that they do not show all lines that you might consider useful.

[f700es]

I work for a civil engineering firm in the UK and am looking to do more CAD work. No idea what a USGS quadrangle map is. Pretty new to all of this

 

USGS is the U.S. Geological Survey dept. so probably not much use to you in the U.K.

[jamiemorris24]

That's great, thanks. Yeah, tracing from satellite images doesn't seem the most accurate way to map out the area. I'll have a look for some online OS map providers that are suitable.

[ReMark]

Since you did not state what country you were in I took a guess. I was wrong.

 

Highway maps here can be viewed at the offices of the State High Department or the Department of Transportation although much of the design work in many states is done by civil engineering design companies who bid on state contracts.

[f700es]

Highway maps here can be viewed at the offices of the State High Department or the Department of Transportation although much of the design work in many states is done by civil engineering design companies who bid on state contracts.

 

I know I have downloaded DGN files for some roads here in NC. Our DOT uses microstation.

[Murph_map]

For the UK and as long as you have Civil3D or Map3D try this site.

[SAFeSTeR]

Bit late with my reply, but I use OS maps in my line of work and we purchase ours from a company called Promap - www.promap.co.uk

 

You can buy maps of all sizes, with a variety of different layers, all user defined either by specifying your selection on the site, or by uploading a polyline.

Maps are usually ready to download in minutes once approved and come in a various formats, .dxf, .dwg etc.

I found them to be reasonably priced, for example I ordered an area approximately 5km x 3km and it only cost about £45!

 

You don't need Map3D or Civil 3D either, I only use normal AutoCAD.

[BIGAL]

I am in AUS but if I was to do a freeway design for an authority I would expect them to provide a digital aerial map, if not then it must be allowed for in your contract price to purchase from somewhere. I have the luxury of direct acces to all local aerial maps and LIDAR data some better than others depending on when it was collected.

 

A word of warning getting a big map say 10km starts a different ball game in terms of accuracy as all sorts of earth curvature problems start to creep in. From start to end ground survey v's aerial around 1m difference on a job. Do you know what rubber mapping is ?