Learn the process of setting up a survey database in Civil 3D, including creating linework code sets, figuring prefix databases, and setting up specific pieces of equipment. Understand the role of equipment databases in survey imports, and how to create a new local survey database to save all relevant information.
Key Insights
- The article outlines the step-by-step process of setting up a survey database in Civil 3D, starting from creating linework code sets and figuring prefix databases.
- It explains the use of equipment databases in survey imports. While not all survey departments use equipment databases, more robust ones often do, as they allow for specific pieces of equipment to be set up with detailed information.
- The article also demonstrates how to create a new local survey database, where all information related to a survey import can be saved. This includes import events, survey queries, networks, network groups, figures, figure groups, survey points, and survey point groups.
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So in this video, we're going to go ahead and actually set up our Survey Database. So as we've been doing in the past, we're going into our Survey tab in the Toolspace window, and we're navigating up to our Survey Database.
And as you have probably noticed in the previous videos, we've been working our way up from the bottom, creating Linework Code Sets, Figure Prefix Databases, and we're now skipping Equipment Databases. We are not going to be using Equipment Databases when we do our survey import. But just so that you know, Equipment Databases are here.
And if you right-click on them and select New, you would create a new Equipment Database. It would be saved to the working folder that we have set up in our user settings. And it would populate here.
We'd be requested to put in a name and then we could open the window. So I'm going to open up this Sample window just to give you an example of what's going to show up if you were to work with an Equipment Database. So I'm going to right-click on the Sample.
I'm going to click Manage Equipment Database. And then here, you have the options for setting up specific pieces of equipment. So here, we have our Sample Equipment, and you have the name, you have the units that your equipment works in, you have certain information about the equipment that you're working with.
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So you have your angle information, your electronic distance meter information, you have your prism information, you have your Standard Deviation information. And so all of these are very specific pieces of information that surveyors know they are working with. I am not a surveyor.
I am an engineer. And so I depend on my Field Engineers to have these Equipment Databases set up for the equipment that they're using when they do their survey imports, if they choose to use Equipment Databases when they do their imports. Not all survey departments are going to use Equipment Databases, but some of the more robust survey departments will use these Equipment Databases.
So I'm not going to be using them for our class. I'm going to go ahead and click OK. And then we're going to move on to creating our Survey Database.
So inside of Survey Databases, I'm going to right-click on Survey Database, and I'm going to set my Working Folder. So this is telling Civil 3D where our Survey Database is going to be located somewhere on our computer. So I want to keep everything centrally located with my Civil 3D 201 class working drawings.
So I'm going to go ahead and set my Working Folder to where I have my class file set, which is Civ 201 and Working Folder. I'm going to click Select Folder, and then I now have to create a New Local Survey Database. So the New Local Survey Database is going to be a folder where everything associated with my survey import will be saved to.
If I select New Local Survey Database, I'm going to go ahead and type in Civ 201 Import, and I'm going to go ahead and click OK. Now Civil 3D has created a dropdown from my
Survey Database that says Civ 201 Import, and inside of here I have Import Events, Survey Queries, Networks, Network Groups, Figures, Figure Groups, Survey Points, and Survey Point Groups. All of these items will be saved inside of my Civ 201 Import folder.
If I go to the folder where I have all of my class files saved, and I open it up, what you'll see now is that I have a folder called Civ 201 Import, and if I go in here, I now have information that has been dropped in here based on me creating a new Survey Database. We're going to go ahead and leave all of these items here. We're going to back out, and then we still have all of our Field to Finish, Figure Prefix Databases, and our Equipment Databases in here.
So I'm going to minimize this. I'm going to go ahead and save, even though I don't need to for this drawing. Then in the next video, we're going to actually do a survey import.
