I have been delivered a .dgn file and I need to define a coordinate system for its model. The file's metadata states that it is in a State Plane coordinate system in U.S. Survey Foot, but when I select that coordinate system from the library, I get the dialog below, indicating that the Storage Unit is actually International Foot. Because the coordinate system in International Foot isn't available in the library, it seems to me I have two options:
1) Use the coordinate system from the library that's in U.S. Survey Foot and choose one of the options from the dialog that MicroStation presents:
2) Define a custom coordinate system with the same unit as the model and assign that coordinate system to the model.
Which is the best option to choose? If 1), which of those options do I choose? The second one will alter the contents of the original file, which is scary....
Several of my colleagues and I have read the article on the subject, and it's not making sense.
When dealing with different geographic coordinate systems and English units you really want to be using U.S. Survey Feet as the storage units. Things will work much better if you select the second option and have MicroStation change the working/storage units of the model.
Rod WingSenior Systems Analyst