Efficient Surveying Techniques for AutoCad Blueprint Creation

[tribdog]

I went out and surveyed a bunch of gas stations. I "shot in" all the points I needed in order to come home and draw a blueprint of each one. sounds really easy, but now I'm sitting here looking at a bunch of dots on the screen and trying to play connect the dots and it is one of the most frustrating things I've ever had to do. I was really good at this when I was 6, but unless this gas station is supposed to look like a kangaroo I'm in trouble.

 

[enigma]

Yep. I've got several years under my belt. Everything from R14 onward.

My least favorite task was creating blueprints from scratch. Nothing sucks worse.

 

[PerennialII]

Here as well ... have been spending too many years connecting the dots and trying to built the most complex things using primitive constructs. Nowadays doing most of my work in systems like IDEAS though.

 

[russ_watters]

I use it pretty much every day. Fortunately, in my line of work, we get floorplans from our architects and only have to lay-out ductwork. And when we do have to generate a floorplan (or an existing system layout) from scratch, we have some newbies do it.

 

[dekoi]

Russ Watters, i sent you a Private Message a couple of days ago discussing your line of work. However, you never replied. I am not sure whether you received it or not.

 

[PRodQuanta]

yep. I got 2 years under my belt. Did the blueprints for my H.S. actually.

Paden Roder

 

[Janitor]

Just set OSNAP to NODE and PLINE away! Accidentally ERASE something? OOPS it back.

 

[ray b]

you did label the points didn't you
we allso sketch the topo and place the points on the sketch in the field

we use number codes to autodraw lines between points
like 101 is a first building corner 102 a mid point and 103 an end [same as begining]

 

[Artman]

I've also been working with it since R14. I'm not too good at starting from nothing, but I'm not too bad at adding items once the scale is determined and the units are all set.

 

[tribdog]

you did label the points didn't you
we allso sketch the topo and place the points on the sketch in the field

we use number codes to autodraw lines between points
like 101 is a first building corner 102 a mid point and 103 an end [same as begining]

Where's the fun in that? Where's the challenge? We had to do 30 gas stations in 14 days. So we were running from one to the other, and this may have contributed to my problems. I also seem to have a talent of mislabeling one point per setup, or shooting either 2 or 4 points on a curve.

 

[ray b]

one clue is the elevation
if the height is the same then group them

1/2 hour sketch saves many hours
a few digital cam pic will help jog memory too

but LABEL the points!
how long does [nw bl cor] take

 

[tribdog]

one clue is the elevation
if the height is the same then group them

1/2 hour sketch saves many hours
a few digital cam pic will help jog memory too

but LABEL the points!
how long does [nw bl cor] take

the best labeling I've seen so far was by the guy we just fired. He labeled a bunch of curb-foc-for 'face of curb' then he labeled an underground fiber optic line foc for fiber optic cable. that turned into a bit of a mess.

 

[ray b]

thats why we use number codes
standerd features are listed on a sheet and each has it's own number

google search for sat photos,
the ones you can zoom into the site
and lay your points over the sat photo of the gas station

 

[russ_watters]

Russ Watters, i sent you a Private Message a couple of days ago discussing your line of work. However, you never replied. I am not sure whether you received it or not.

Hmm... I did get it and thought I had replied. Maybe I just meant to reply. Sorry about that...

 

[tribdog]

thats why we use number codes
standerd features are listed on a sheet and each has it's own number

google search for sat photos,
the ones you can zoom into the site
and lay your points over the sat photo of the gas station

lol, you are funny.
sat photos, lists of features, organization.
I go to work armed with a Red Bull and a diagram drawn on a McDonalds paper bag. After setting up the gun it's time to actually sit down and do the calcs I meant to get to the night before.