Importing Point Data

2012-03-14

Product Documentation

Intermediate

Import point data from an ASCII (text) file or a Microsoft® Access .mdb file into a drawing.

Importing points, such as survey point data collected by a data collector, is a quick and effective way to place points into a drawing.

Before you import points, you must create a point file format that describes the layout of the point data in the point data file.

Important

The highest point number allowed in Civil 3D is 4,294,967,295. You can use point names or User Defined Properties to reference numbers greater than 4,294,967,295. For more information, see Using Custom Properties with Points.

For more information, see Understanding Point File Formats and Creating Point File Formats.

You can add the imported points to a point group, make adjustments to the data as it is imported, including elevation adjustments, coordinate transformation, or coordinate data expansion, encounter how the imported points are numbered as they are created.

Tutorial Exercise: Importing Points from a Database

To import point data

Specify the Point Identity settings, which control the point numbers of the created points. For more information, see Editing the Import Options Settings.
Click Home tabCreate Ground Data panelPoints menuPoint Creation Tools.
On the Create Points toolbar, click the Import Points button.
In the Import Points dialog box, click , and select the point data files you want to import.
After you have specified a point file, the Specify Point File Format list is filtered by the file types that are potential matches for the file that you selected.

NoteTo toggle off or on the file format filter, click .

Based on the specified point file format, the selected point file is parsed and a preview is displayed in the Preview area.
Select the appropriate point file format.
The display of the Preview area changes to reflect the currently selected point file format and the contents of the selected point file.
Optionally, specify a point group to which the imported points are added.
Optionally, specify advanced options for elevation adjustment, coordinate transformation, or coordinate data expansion.
Click OK to import the points.