The current project location is divided into two sections, a global position with approximate Latitude/Longitude position and the very important and exact Altitude. The second section is the Survey Point position, where the local datum Easting/Northing are defined and the Elevation is set. You can also set the North Angle here, but for my wish the angle value is not important. (There are additional options for georeferencing for IFC, but this one for now is descriptive property data only and doesn't interfere with positioning, so no comments or wishes here).
I understand that the Geo-positioning of a project has to to be divided into different sections as the Global and Local (Survey Point) based positioning are two different things. The Global positioning is for approximate global positioning, Climate Zones and Sunlight relations, the exact Survey Point Georeferencing depends on the Surveyor data Coordinate System and the Geodetic Datum, which may be very different for Archicad users around the globe.
Correct data integration into an OpenBIM workflow is very difficult and involves a lot of workarounds, including trial an error.
Here are my wishes, which would make life easier:
1. Data import - all import options should have the Survey Point placement option available. Point Cloud and Place mesh from Surveyors Data don't have this option. Important - Altitude and Elevation settings - this is confusing. Right now, if a Project is defined through a Survey point, the recommended (and needed) workflow with imported Data (Point Cloud or Mesh from Surveyors Data) requires manual horizontal and vertical alignment of imported Data. The before defined Project Altitude (Project Zero distance to Sea Level) sets the imported data negative value of the needed manual vertical offset (the imported Terrain or Point Cloud needs, besides a horizontal shift, a negative vertical shift). A Survey Point based import filter could eliminate this manual adjustment process, where also the Project Zero Altitude option should be considered for correct data placement.
2. Data Export - using IFC for data exchange depends on the IFC Translator - Geometry Conversion settings. Right now the "manual adjusted" vertical position of a model's Terrain or Point Cloud requires the Survey Point Elevation settings to be the exact negative distance of the Project Altitude, for correct positioning. All this is heavy user input dependent. The export options should have an automatic elevation adjustment built-in, or the Elevation input should be an automatic negative translation of the Altitude value (maybe with the possibility for manual override).
3. Please make the process of Global and Local datum positioning of a project less complicated. Structure the Project location menu in a step-by-step positioning process, so every user will be guided through correct project placement. Connect all data import/export options to this settings and issue a warning (before import/export options), if the project wasn't properly positioned before. Convert the Survey Point Tool into an essential project setup process (you can add the option that a user can ignore these requirements). Make this more user-friendly.
Open