- Past Challenges with Revit Coordinate System
- Revit 2018 Enhancements
- Location, Weather, and Site Dialog - Then and Now
Past Challenges with Revit Coordinate System
I must admit that I am a Revit Coordinate System junkie. Having worked for years in Revit, I have spent a considerable amount of time studying and tinkering with the Revit Coordinate System. For many Revit users, the Revit Coordinate System can seem like a black hole – something you may be afraid to use but something you need to grasp and tackle.
To take advantage of weather station data, accurate sun and shadows, and site referencing in earlier versions of Revit, you have to manually go to the Location settings and specify the Site. You can do this by:
- Entering the project address
- Entering the longitude and latitude coordinates
- Picking a spot on the Location and Site map
- Using the Default City List option
While it is easy to use these features, they have no relationship to a linked Geo-Referenced CAD file, since the location was defined in the CAD file and not in the Revit file.
All that has changed with Revit 2018.
Revit 2018 Enhancements
Revit 2018 now has the option to use the Geo-Referenced data from a CAD file that was used to Acquire Coordinate data. When you link and position a Geo-Referenced CAD file, you use the Acquire Coordinates feature in Revit to share coordinate system data between the Revit and CAD file. Doing this also sets the GIS Coordinate System data. If you change your mind and want to redefine the location, you can easily switch back to the Default City List or Internet Mapping Service options.
To learn more about the Geo-Referencing feature, be sure to watch my short video, Revit 2018 - Acquire Coordinates & Geo-Location Reference.
If you are interested in learning more about the Revit Coordinate System, be sure to check out these links as well:
- The Revit Coordinate System: Project Base Point vs. Origin Point
- Resetting Shared Coordinates
- Linking Project Base Point to Project Base Point
Location, Weather, and Site Dialog - Then and Now
Revit 2017 and Earlier
The Location, Weather, and Site dialog allows you to select from a default city list, a point on the map, by entering the address, or using the intersection of the longitude and latitude data. Regardless of which method you choose, this data has to be entered manually. It is not automatically acquired from a Geo-Located CAD file when using the Acquire Coordinates feature in Revit.
Revit 2018
The Location, Weather, and Site dialog in Revit includes all of the features from Revit 2017 and earlier and now includes the data from a Geo-Located CAD file when using the Acquire Coordinates feature in Revit.
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Sash Kazeminejad
AEC Senior Application Specialist
Sash is a registered Architect and LEED Accredited Professional who holds a Master of Architecture from Montana State University. Sash’s experience includes project management, BIM management, and design for architectural firms in California, Montana, and Oregon. In addition to being a Bluebeam Certified Instructor, Sash is an Autodesk Certified Instructor who provides Revit Architecture training and solutions for AECO firms. Find Sash on Twitter.