topic Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations in Documentation

Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations

Anonymous — Fri, 26 May 2023 14:35:41 GMT

This is a two-part question. I have a site survey and I want to use it to create an architectural site plan. The site orientation from the survey needs to remain the same on the architectural site plan.

Question 1: What is the best way to create an architectural site plan? Do you create a worksheet, merge the survey, clean it up, and put them on the desired AC layers? After that what should happen so the site plan has both the desired site data from the survey and the architectural ground floor plan so you can save it as a view and place it on a sheet.

Question 2: I want to maintain the same orientation as the survey so north is pointing in the right direction, and the floor plan rotated based on its orientation on the site. Assuming Question 1 is taken care of, how do you get the floor plan to rotate properly on the site plan without affecting the horizontal orientation of the floor plan on the saved views and the layout. Thanks.

Re: Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations

Steve Jepson — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 18:07:11 GMT

What is the file format of the survey data?
Do you need this to be a site terrain model or just a 2D drawing?

Re: Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 18:31:20 GMT

Steve,

The survey is 2-d in dwg, and I am using it as such in the BIM model.

Re: Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations

Steve Jepson — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 19:42:52 GMT

There are as many ways to do something in ArchiCAD as there are users I think. It may depend on your need to edit the original content.

You can import a .dwg as an x-ref. (File-External Content-Attach x-ref)

You can just open the .dwg and it will covert to a .pln file.

You can print it as a .pdf and place that in your .pln

Personally, I like to open the .dwg in one instance of ArchiCAD, turn off the layers I don't want to see, then copy and paste it into the main instance of ArchiCAD where ever it is most useful.

I find that using multiple instances of ArchiCAD makes getting what you want
into ArchiCAD easier because you can see what your getting. Whereas using a Translator requires setting it up and usually some trial and error, Merge is kind of blind too.

It is not a very difficult thing to make a 3D model from the topo and you may find it very useful. ?

You may want to turn the topo splines/ poly lines into a set of Morphs so you can see them in 3D views as well.

Re: Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 19:59:39 GMT

Steve, thanks.

Re: Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations

Steve Jepson — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 20:02:23 GMT

As for the orientation;

What ever you want, you can do it.

Use a symbol for indicating north on the site plan, and use the Project Preferences for the orientation of the Building if you need them to be different.

In working with Trace References you can temporarily rotate and relocate the Trace Reference and you can return the Trace Reference to it's original position with a single click.

I like to orientate the Plans so that they will match what you see if you were holding the plans in your hand at the front door. I don't mind having project north at some odd angle as it relates to the orientation of the Plans.

However, for the Site Plan I always want to match the surveyors plan with respect to North.

Re: Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 20:12:27 GMT

I usually open the surveyors drawing in Archicad, delete as many layers as I can, and add a prefix to each layer name (Z- or similar) so when the info is added to my project file (as a Hotlinked Module) the survey layers are all grouped together at the bottom of the layer list (as they would be if using x-ref to place a DWG file directly). Easy then to manipulate, and layer names still relate to the original survey.

Also, regarding question 2, you can save a rotated view and place it on your layout. Use the "Rotate orientation" button at the bottom of your plan window (see image below), then save the view to your view map (or update existing). Whether you start with your building orientated for drawing convenience and rotate your Site Plan view, or start with your site / survey orientation and rotate your building views depends on where you are at with the project and how many views of each type you need. Probably easier to have the building orientation correct and a one-off site plan rotated.

Re: Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 20:15:54 GMT

Steve,

I am with you on the orientation of the site plan so north points in the right direction, whereas the floor plan points the way you describe it. Now assuming that you copy the 2-d elements you want from the survey and put it into the floor plan view, is the idea now to temporarily rotate the drawing relative to true north, print solely the site plan and rotate the floor plan back to its original orientation so all floor plans remain in the same orientation. Is that the trick? Thanks.

Re: Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 20:26:12 GMT

Stuart,

Thanks. Did not know that you can save a rotated view. When I tried it before all the floor plans views rotated as well, which I did not want. But on the layout they kept the same/right orientation. So based on that I should be able to get the orientation I want and put them on the layout.

Re: Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 21:36:33 GMT

Cheikh wrote:
Stuart,

Thanks. Did not know that you can save a rotated view. When I tried it before all the floor plans views rotated as well, which I did not want.

Only the views you save with rotation should be rotated. You are navigating via View Map aren't you, not Project Map?

Re: Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 22:18:12 GMT

Stuart,

I am on the view map. Once I rotated a plan with the site and saved it as a view, it shows up in the view map as I want it. However, once I open other floor plans on the view map, they are rotated as well, which I do not want. Then I un-rotate them and "redefine with current window setting." Everything goes back to normal, that is until I open the saved view with the rotation again, then all the floor plans are again rotated.

Re: Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 22:36:12 GMT

I think I know what the problem is. UN-check the "Ignore zoom and rotation when opening this view" button in each saved plan view. If that button is checked it will override any rotation or zoom setting.

Re: Site Plan and Floor Plan Orientations

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 00:08:57 GMT

Stuart, thanks. It did it. Appreciate your help.