Importing georeferenced orthophotos (GeoTIFF/JP2) into ArchiCAD — is there any way?

[369]

Hi everyone,

Is there a way to import a georeferenced orthophoto into ArchiCAD so that it's automatically placed at the correct real-world coordinates?

For example, for Berlin I can download official orthophotos (from the Berlin Geoportal) in JP2 format (GeoJP2)
gdi.berlin.de/data/truedop_2026/atom/0.atom
Blattschnitt2x2km.gif (3260×2467)
which are properly georeferenced and import correctly into GIS software like QGIS — the image is placed at the right location automatically, no manual positioning needed.

However, I can't find a way to bring that same georeferencing into ArchiCAD. As far as I understand, ArchiCAD doesn't read the embedded geo-coordinates from GeoTIFF/GeoJP2 files, so the image just comes in as a plain picture that needs to be manually scaled and positioned.

Is there a workaround, plugin, or alternative workflow that anyone uses for this? Or is manual placement (using known corner coordinates) really the only option?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[runxel]

Hi! Georeferencing is a big topic, and Archicad is not really great with it. I personally do not know of any function or even add-on that does automatic positioning of GeoTiffs...

It should be in relation to the survey point ("Vermessungspunkt") and not in real world coordinates anyway.

Two ideas:

a) Use some AI to build the needed add-on yourself.

b) Have a look at Tapir / Python and contribute there. We don't have a command to place pictures yet – but everyday more features are added.

One question though: Do you know if the projection of the GeoTiff needs to warp it in the target app or does it stay like it is?

[369]

Hi,

Thanks! Using AI to build a proper add-on would be great, but not something we would do ourselves atm 🙂

A workaround that works well in practice: we download both the DWG (vector) and the orthophoto (GeoTIFF/JP2, which needs GIS software to read its georeferencing properly). We import both into QGIS (free), reproject both to the same target CRS (ideally matching our ArchiCAD project's coordinate system), clip both to our site extent, and export.

In ArchiCAD, the DWG imports correctly georeferenced and lands on the exact right spot automatically (since its coordinates are baked into the drawing geometry). The orthophoto still needs manual placement — but since we clipped it to a known extent in QGIS, we already have its exact corner coordinates to place it precisely by hand.

[sh]

Hi,

you could hijack the german Xplanung Addon (if available for you). In Optionen/Georeferenzierten Rasterplan" öffnen" you can import a georeferenced orthofoto with its world info file (not sure about the supported file formats though). 

 

[runxel]

I stand corrected – I completely forgot about that part of the add-on. Thanks for chiming in!

It works, but there are two drawbacks I see:

1. We need a world file. That is not really a problem, it's 6 lines and easy to produce. But it still would be nicer if we could just read the data that's already in the Tif file. That's why we get those in the first place. One could argue on the contrary that at least in this way you can use any file, not only GeoTifs.
2. The survey point is not taken into consideration. So now we deal with real world coordinates again, which is not nice.

[369]

Amazing thank you both!!

@runxel 

Yes, right!

I imported into QGIS, exported the JPG and its world file, and could import that via the XPlanung AddOn into ArchiCAD — it did "georeferenzieren", but it landed somewhat off from where my 2D and 3D data (Der 2D-Innenstadtplan – Berlin.de, Das 3D-Modell – Berlin.de) actually matched up.

It's not that important in the end — this is getting a bit complicated for what I need. I'll just use the 2D and 3D data in ArchiCAD (those two need to match precisely with each other) and manually import the orthophoto separately, placing and scaling it by eye onto the right spot.