Shared Coordinates Process: Acquire and Publish Shared Coordinates 

Steps involved:

STEP 1: Once the survey file and linked Revit files have been positioned correctly in plane and elevation view, go to site plan view and select Manage Ribbon>Coordinates>Acquire Coordinates to provide shared coordinates data from civil survey file to Revit.

STEP 2: Select the survey file.  This records the shared coordinate system of the Revit site model to match with that of the survey file (PBP).  Note the survey point moves away from the stationary Project Based Point.  By default, survey point relocates to the origin the survey file where it was placed after coordinates are acquired.  If the survey file is now moved and “Acquire Coordinates” is selected again, the shared coordinate system does not change.  Once coordinates is acquired, moving the survey file nor reacquiring the coordinates from the civil survey file does not affect anything.  The civil survey file, the master file, should be the only file to acquire coordinates from.  Note Revit retains the internal project coordinates system even though it is not displayed.     

Before Acquiring Coordinates

After Acquiring Coordinates

STEP 3: Select the survey point icon and unclip the paper clip icon.  Move/drag the survey point to the intersection of the reference point of the survey file as defined in Step 2. Clip back the paper clip icon.  When an unclipped survey point is moved, the shared coordinates do not change except for the survey point itself.  Moving the survey point to a reference point is for ease of reference when verifying shared coordinates in Revit with the civil survey file.   

STEP 4: Verify shared coordinate system of the Revit file has been properly assigned by ensuring the coordinates at the moved survey point in Revit matches the coordinates of the reference point location in the civil survey file inside AutoCAD.

STEP 5: If coordinate system is not properly assigned or realignment is needed, manually adjust the linked survey file in Revit to position correctly and reposition the survey as necessary to match new reference location select “Specify Coordinates at Point” to manually input the reference location coordinates from AutoCAD.

STEP 6: Select “Publish Coordinates” and select each of the linked building models in the site file one at a time.  Click “OK” when the Site dialog box appears.  Continue to click all linked models to push them the shared coordinate system of the site file.  The location of the shared coordinate origin within each of the building model will match to that in the site file. The site model, now inheriting the coordinates of the survey file, should be the only file to publish site shared coordinates to the linked building models from.  

STEP 7: Save the site file.  Prompts will indicate the current positions of the linked building models have changed.  Click the first option, “save” to record the location of the building models relative to the survey point.  The location of the building in reference to shared coordinates will be recorded back in the linked file.  Building files must not be opened when the new locations are to be saved.   

Do:

Prior to moving survey point with the intention of keeping the shared coordinate system unchanged, always unclip, move to the desired location and clip back to avoid changing the shared coordinate system.

Don’ts:

Do not publish site shared coordinates only to the architectural building files and in the architectural model publish its shared coordinates to other discipline models linked to the architectural model. The site file should be the master file in which all files directly acquire the shared coordinates from.