Using a surveyors drawing for a site plan

Autodesk Support

Oct 8, 2023


Products and versions covered


Issue:

You were given a site plan from a surveyor and you want to use it in your Revit project. However, your project is not oriented to True North. So you want your site drawing to display with one orientation (North straight up) and your build forms to display with another orientation (Plan North straight up).

Solution:

Solution

To adjust the site orientation

  1. In the Project Browser, click Floor Plans > Site.
  2. Right-click the drawing area. Click View Properties.
  3. In the Element Properties dialog box, under Instance Parameters, set Orientation to Project North. Click OK.
  4. On the File menu, click Import/Link > DWG, DXF, DGN, SAT.
  5. In the Import/Link dialog box, locate the file. Click Open.
  6. If your DWG file has property line information, proceed with these instructions. If not, go to Step 18.
  7. Isolate the property line layer on the DWG.  
  8. On the View menu, click Visibility/Graphics.
  9. In the Visibility Graphics Overrides dialog box, click the Imported Categories tab.
  10. On the Imported Categories tab, leave only the layer containing the property lines selected. Click OK.
  11. Draw the property lines by sketching them.
  12. If you can isolate the layer on the DWG, you can tab to select all using the select tool to pick them. In the Design Bar, on the Site tab, click Property Line.
  13. In the Property Line Creation dialog box, select the Create property lines by sketching option. Click OK.
  14. On the Options Bar, click Pick Lines.
  15. Highlight one of the property lines by hovering with your mouse and press the Tab key to select all the property lines attached to it.
  16. Click Finish Sketch.
  17. In the Design Bar, on the Drafting tab, click Tag. Tag the property lines. You may have to load a property tag if one is not already loaded in your project. If you can isolate the property lines, you may be able to use the Tag All Not Tagged tool. Otherwise, you will have to manually tag them.
  18. In your drawing, select all. Filter out the elevation symbols or turn them off in the Visibility/Graphics Overrides dialog box.
  19. Using the Rotate tool located in the Toolbar, rotate the drawing to the alignment you want. Note: You will see incorrect values temporarily in the project tags.
  20. Right-click the drawing area. Click View Properties.
  21. In the Element Properties dialog box, under Instance Parameters, set the Orientation to True North. Click OK.
  22. On the Tools menu, click Project Position/Orientation > Rotate True North. Pick a point, and then rotate in the reverse of the direction you previously rotated Project North.

Property tags should now display the correct values and you should have two different orientations available for all of your plans: Project North, which will show the project drawn orthogonally with Plan North at the top of the page, and True North, which will have the project rotated so that True North is at the top of the page. You can select either of these orientations in your plan views.

Products:

Revit; Revit Architecture;

Versions:

9; 2008; 2009;


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