Importing source data from an external file

Site model source data can be generated by tabular coordinate information from an external file. This file must be a text file with fields delimited by separators in one of the formats available.

1. On the layer to receive the imported data, select Active Layer Scale from the drawing context menu to set the scale, or select the File > Document Settings > Document Setup command (see Document setup).

3. The Import Survey File dialog box opens. Specify the file format options, scrolling through each line of data if necessary, and set the file import options.

Parameter	Description
Data from selected file	Displays the first line of data in the selected file
Line #	Displays the line number of the data displayed; click the < or > button to check each line in the file
File format	Select the file format of the imported file
Units	Select the unit of the imported file
Field separator	Specifies the file field delimiter
Tab delimited	Select if fields are separated by tabs
Other character	If fields are not separated by tabs, select Other character and then enter the character separating each field
Import Options
Create Stake Objects	Places stake objects to represent each 3D point in space, with text to display the elevation when in Plan view (see Inserting stake objects). Stake objects include the appropriate Easting, Northing, and Elevation values. For big sets of source data, creating large numbers of stake objects could result in performance issues. It may be preferable to create 3D loci instead.
Create 3D Locus Objects (imports only location)	Places 3D loci, which contain only location information (X, Y, and Z coordinates)

As each line of the file is read, either 3D loci or stake objects are inserted into the drawing at the coordinates specified by the file. If this is the first time a stake object has been inserted in the drawing, the Object Preferences dialog box opens. Accept the defaults.