Point Markers and Labels

When you create points, you have the option to display point markers or point labels, or both. Point markers can include point number, elevation, and either raw or full description, and are controlled by settings on the Text and Marker tabs in the Point Settings dialog box. If you want to label points with additional data and insert description key symbols, you must use point labels. Point markers can stay the same size relative to the AutoCAD graphics window, or they can be a fixed size in the drawing. The following illustration shows point markers that are sized relative to the graphics window zoom level.

Point markers include a point marker node and point marker text for point number, description, and elevation. Although you must use labels to achieve full description key substitution, you can substitute full descriptions for raw descriptions using point markers. In contrast, point labels can label any number of items. You can customize point labels to display any type of information about points. You can label points with data from external databases by using External Data References (XDRefs). You can also set up point label styles that perform description key substitution. For more information about point markers, see Changing the Point Marker and Point Text Settings on page 40. For more information about description keys and point labels, see Working with Description Keys on page 53.

Point Markers and Labels

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Points and CAD Commands

The commands from the Points menu create COGO point objects that have extended entity data. These objects are different from the simple CAD point nodes that you can create with the POINT command. The following illustration shows a CAD point node created with the POINT command on the left. On the right is a COGO point object created with a command from the Points menu. The point text was dragged away from the marker and a leader was created automatically.

The COGO points are usually assigned description and elevation data as well as a required point number and northing and easting coordinates. This point data is stored in the point database. In contrast, a point node exists only in a drawing file, and it has only X, Y, and Z data associated with it. You can convert CAD point nodes to COGO points by using the Convert from AutoCAD Points command from the Points Point Utilities menu.

Working with the Project Point Database

AutoCAD Land Desktop uses a project point database to store the point information for a project. This file is named points.mdb and is stored in the project \cogo folder. (For example, c:\Land Projects <Version Number>\newproj\cogo\points.mdb.) You are prompted to set up this point database whenever you start a new project. The Points commands in AutoCAD Land Desktop, and any commands in the civil engineering tools or surveying tools that create points, add points to a point database. If you use the surveying tools to import a fieldbook file, then

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Chapter 3

Working with COGO Points