Autodesk Land Desktop: Establishing a Spatially Accurate Drawing

This procedure will create a drawing project that will be accurate with planar coordinates as well as spatial coordinates, such as Latitude/Longitude.

• a known point in the drawing, representing a Latitude/Longitude
• rotation of true North, if not straight up
• a local geodetic coordinate system, using the same units as your drawing

• define a spatial coordinate system for the drawing coordinate system
• allow a local coordinate system to be used, such as for surveying purposes
• allow .shp files to be imported accurately

(this will be shown after the project has been created, so that older files may be updated as well)

1. open an existing project
2. go to Map → Tools → Assign Global Coordinate System
3. select the appropriate coordinate system for the file, using the same units (Example: Category=USA,Arizona, Coordinate System=HARN(HPGN)Arizona State Planes, Central Zone, US Foot)
4. if you have objects in the drawing, you may need to move them now to match up with the coordinate system you just selected
   • tip: if you don't know the coordinates of the local system, but you do know the WGS84 Lat/Long, simply use the Map → Tools → Track Coordinates tool to digitize a point using WGS84 Lat/Long (or any other system); then move your objects to the new point
5. once your objects are positioned properly in the drawing, you may want to set up a custom Northing/Easting (such as for surveying)
   1. Projects → Drawing Setup → Orientation tab
   2. use the Base Point dialog to select a point on your drawing that will correspond to a Northing/Easting (entered on this same page)
   3. you may also use the North Rotation to define another direction for North, rather than straight up
6. you should now be able to:
   • import/export survey points with a custom coordinate system
   • import/export ESRI .shp files accurately
   • digitize, locate, inquiry etc… any point on your drawing, with geodetic accuracy

• the Autocad coordinate system (X,Y) will have to match up with the local coordinate system of the earth, such as

HARN(HPGN)Arizona State Planes, Central Zone, US Foot

• your points will NOT use the Autocad coordinate system (X,Y), but instead use a Northing/Easting as defined in your drawing setup orientation