Can you import excel to create points on a topo map? 4

[victroladoctor]

I am trying to create a topographic map given 4000+ points in a spreadsheet and was wondering if the spreadsheet could be imported into autocad.

 

[namdac]

It has been a while but as I remember you can import your data as an XYZ file and all of your info should show up. You will need to have an X, a Y, a Z, Elevation, description. With the description if you have a standardized coding library you can also have it place symbols and topographic features. I still use microstation cause the city, county and state all use it. If they already have the settings and stuff set to their parametters then why fix it, if it is not broken.
Regards,
Namdac

 

[MEM1]

Contours can't be drawn in plan jane autocad. You will need land desktop, civil or some 3rd party software that will create the tin and then the contours from the tin. As for your points, yes, you can import them with a simple lisp coding. I have a lisp that will do exactly as you want. The format will have to be point #, Easting, Northing, Elevation, and Description. The file will need to be a comma or tab seperated text file. If you want to email it to me, I will see what I can do with it.

s murrison @ cox. net

Take the spaces out. I don't want attract spammers to this site.

Scott

 

[surveli]

MEM1 is right. Vanilla AutoCAD wont do too much for you on a topo. But another option you can do is to change the file extension to a .TXT file type. You'll need to check CAD's point import settings to see if it is PENZD or PNEZD, or even more options. Just know that whatever the .CSV or .EXL settings are (Point, Northing, Easting, Zenith, Description) that it is set up the same way for CAD. First time you import may be a little tricky, but after that, you'll be a pro in no time. Good Luck!!

 

[msucog]

interesting thread guys...been looking for help on this for a long time. i gave up a long time ago and used Foresight as one of my data collector programs when i surveyed and so i worked between it and Autocad but i no longer have a license for foresight...so i'm again very interested in figuring it out in cad for my geotech work now that i just need to plot points every so often for boring locations, seismic traverse locations, etc. i usually end up doing it manually but that gets tough when you have a few hundred points to pull over.

surveli
can you elaborate on the function you use to import the text file? i know how to get the text file set up and all that but cannot figure out how/where to pull the list in to cad as multiple points.

i'll keep looking around since this thread is a few months old...

 

[msucog]

btw, i use autocad r2000 a fair amount but have access to newer versions (not 3D or surveying specific versions though).--thought this might be important to know
thanks again

 

[msucog]

i did find a program that does it pretty well but it'll cost about $200+. i figured out another way. make up your text file, add:
"multiple
point"
at the top and save it as the txt. then rename it as .scr
in autocad, type script and it'll import the points. there's a few kinks i've still gotta work out. like you've got to make sure the txt/scr file is in the units designated to import in autocad. and it only plotted the first and last point out of my list so i've got to figure out why it did that. thought i'd pass it along in case others would like a way to do this without paying extra for it.

 

[msucog]

oops forgot to put the command
once you've set up the .scr file, you type "script" in the command line.
will post back once i get all the details figured out.

 

[MEM1]

The following link will get you to the lisp code I use.

http://files.engineering.com/getfil...-75d1-4b69-9edf-75d4db927b34&file=XYZBLKS.zip

 

[msucog]

got it figured out. do it just like i explain and put "end" as last line. it pulls everything in fine.
i just used "x,y" type coordinates and haven't tried including point numbers.

so to summarize: create a text file like this

multiple
point
5,5
10,10
20,20
end

then rename it with .scr instead of .txt
go to autocad and type "script" and locate the file and that's it. the last thing that will happen is that "end" will be left in the command line...just hit esc (in other words, the end doesn't really do anything as far as i can tell but it does make something about it all work).

mem1, i'm clueless about autolisp but i'll take a look since i'm always trying to get better at my cad skills.

 

[msucog]

oh forget to explain one other thing since most i've seen are trying to pull gps coordinates in to cad. i use a garmin. using mapsource, i save my file as a txt (you could probably do this for your tracks except maybe use a line command to draw them out or something). then i use corpscon to change from utm to state plane and print that to a file. from that file, then you can do what i explain above by cutting and pasting (maybe use excel to cut out some extra info in the file but probably not necessary if you do it right).