relationship GCS to grid system

Hello All,

Again I have searched the forum about the topic I have a query about, but I could only find a couple of threads over 6 years old, and even then not exactly about my question.

I was wondering if it is possible to set a relationship between the grid systems (Grid manager) and the Geographical Coordinates? Let me explain in more detail.

Right now it looks as if the grids are all referenced to the design center of the files. So when I set up a grid system it will appear on the same position - relative to the design center "0,0,0" - in all the models in a workset. In a way this makes a lot of sense. As a user we can reference all models to eachother with their origins set to "coincident" and everything works well.

However once we start using the GCS - and make sure it is set to the same coordinate system in all files correctly - there is a new option when referencing models "Geographic" which is very interesting when combining models/drawings with a "local" grid/coordinate system on the one hand together with the "Geographical" grid/coordinate system on the other hand.

Now to the actual question/issue:

  • One set of models is using the "local" coordinates. So there the grid system is shown on the correct location in the files
  • Another model/drawing/file is the "geographical" implantation, also used by the surveyer. Here we use the "real world" coordinates (which in Belgium are usually > 100 km from the GCS origin thus also from the design file center). In this file when I activate the grid system it is of course not on the correct position in relation to the model/drawing elements.

I also don't see a workaround for the latter case. I can of course not activate the grid system in this file/model/drawing so it's not on the wrong location. But I don't see a way to reference the grid system in another way because it's stored in a DGNLIB, not just a plain drawing file.

Is my explanation making sense? :) If not, I'll be happy to try and make it clearer!

  • Hello Johan, 

    I think we are talking about the same principles from ever so slightly different angles. in the Floor Manager we have Floors(levels), Buildings, and Site. 

    I would effectively like to be able to define a local (or file origin) origin to a grid (say a building that repeats multiple times, modelled at 0,0), and enable placement markers, or plot origin points within the site level of the Floor Manager so I can place multiple references of the same building relative to plot origins through a site.