Creating Additional Points

You may occasionally need to create your own points to establish key locations in the drawing. For example, early in the design, you may want to show specific locations for proposed test borings or property corners that need to be found. Another example is that you may have a point file that you would like to import into the drawing without including it in a survey database. Civil 3D has a multitude of tools designed to create points easily and efficiently. They are found on a special toolbar that opens when you click the Point Creation Tools command on the Home tab of the ribbon.

In many ways, the points you create using these tools are treated in the same manner as those created by importing survey data. They can be placed in point groups and can respond to description keys. They can also be affected by point styles and point label styles. There are differences, however, between these points and those created by importing survey data. For example, Civil 3D cannot automatically generate linework by importing points in this manner. Also, these points do not have the protection of the survey database, allowing them to be edited by anyone who opens the drawing. Regardless of how they are created, all points can be exported to a file that can be uploaded to a portable device and taken to the field to be staked out.

To create additional points in the drawing by importing point data and creating points within the drawing, follow these steps:

1. Open the drawing named Stake Out.dwg or (Stake Out.dwg (METRIC)) located in the Exercise_03 class data folder. This drawing contains a calculated property boundary reconstructed from a deed or other source of information. It also contains a preliminary layout of the road centerlines that will be used to determine soil test boring locations. You’ll begin by inserting points into the drawing that represent property corners located in the field.

   Tips :Stake Out is a term used by surveyors to refer to placing markers in the field at predetermined locations, often calculated in the office.


2. On the Insert tab of the ribbon, click Points From File.

3. In the Import Points dialog box, select PNEZD (Comma Delimited) as the format. Then click the plus sign icon and browse to the Exercise_03 class data folder.
4. For Files Of Type, select the Text/Template/Extract File (*.txt) option. Then select Found Corners.txt and click Open.
5. Click OK to dismiss the Import Points dialog box.
6. On the Duplicate Point Number dialog box, under Resolution, select Add An Offset. Type 1000 in the box below Add An Offset From and click OK.

   Tips :There are points in the drawing that have the same numbers as those that are being imported. This is resolved by using the Add An Offset option to increase the incoming point numbers by 1000.

7. On Prospector, expand Point Groups. Right-click Found Corners and select Update. This will apply the default styles from the point group to the newly imported points. Found corners will appear with red markers and text.
8. Notice that two points are missing along the south property boundary as well as one point on the east property boundary and one at the northwest corner (four points in all). Finding and locating these corners in the field will greatly improve the accuracy and validity of the property survey.

9. On the Home tab of the ribbon, click Point ➢ Point Creation Tools.

10. On the Create Points toolbar, click the button on the far left to launch the Miscellaneous Manual tool. In the left viewport, snap to the locations of the missing points.
11. On Prospector, right-click the Corners To Be Found point group and select Update. These points display in blue.

12. On the Create Points toolbar, click the chevron on the far right to expand the toolbar.
13. Expand Points Creation, and enter BORE as the default description.

14. Click the down arrow on the button farthest to the left, and then click Measure Object.
15. Click one of the magenta road centerlines. Press Enter three times to accept the default starting station, ending station, and offset.
16. Type an interval of 250 (80) and press Enter. The points will be created at a 250' (80m) interval along the polyline you’ve selected.
17. On Prospector, update the Test Borings point group.
18. Repeat steps 14 to 17 for the remaining road centerlines

19. On the Output tab of the ribbon, click Export Points.
20. For format, select PNEZD (Comma Delimited). Check the box next to Limit To Points In Point Group, and select Corners To Be Found.
21. Click OK and browse to the Exercise_03 class data folder. Specify a filename of Corners To Be Found.txt.
22. Repeat steps 19 to 21 for the Test Borings point group to create a Test Borings.txt point file.