Prepare DXF file
- Step 1: Make sure the CAD drawing is georeferenced, meaning the lines are placed in the coordinates corresponding to the desired projection. E.g. UTM zone 32.
The CAD drawing must be defined in one of following units: Meter, Feet, US Survey feet, Yard. Choose units in Settings > General > Units. - Step 2: Determine which lines of the CAD drawing should be marked. Importing many lines into the TinySurveyor app will use more computational power, which is why as few lines as possible should be saved in the DXF file. Enabling SwapNE in Settings > General > Job will swap the coordinates of the DXF drawing when importing.
- Step 3: Make sure the line type in the CAD drawing is supported by the TinySurveyor app. The app will import spline, line, polyline, circle, arc, ellipse, points and Blocks.
Text and Hatch will not be imported and may lead to error if contained in the drawing. - Step 4: Save the CAD drawing in DXF format. Most DXF versions are supported. Try saving in another DXF version if an import error is showing in the app.
Tips for DXF files
- Don’t import files containing the entire project drawing.
- Copy-Paste line works to be imported to a new DXF file. This ensures that unneeded legacy data from the entire project is not contained in the DXF file. Legacy data could slow the app's performance. In AutoCAD, use COPYBASE and PASTEORIG to preserve coordinates.
- Be aware that a polyline can contain many individual lines. A high number of individual lines in the DXF drawing will slow down the app's performance. In AutoCAD, used EXPLODE to examine the number of individual lines.
Prepare CSV file
- When staking out points, a CSV file can be used, containing a list of points to stake out.
- Ensure the data in the CSV file is formatted correctly:
The app will read the CSV file with comma as delimiter and the default format is Pointname, Easting, Northing, . Any data after the three first columns will not be read.
- The default format can be swapped by enabling Swap NE, in Settings > General > Job. Enabling Swap NE will make the app import the file as Pointname, Northing, Easting.
- A custom format can be defined in the first line of the CSV file using name, x and y to tell which order the values are listed. x = Easting and y = Northing.