AutoCAD is where a large share of all designs in construction, infra and landscaping are drawn. The marXact side of the story is the field: measuring the existing situation and staking out what has been designed. The AutoCAD GNSS workflow connects the two through simple file exchange, in both directions.
From AutoCAD to the field
You import your CAD drawing into UNI-Cloud as DXF or DWG. UNI-Cloud also reads CSV, TXT, LandXML, GeoJSON, KML and ESRI Shapefile, and on the Professional plan and above Dutch users can bring in a KLIC-melding. The drawing appears in the UNI-Collect app, and from there you stake out the design with the receiver on the pole: every line and point from the drawing, found back on site to the centimetre.
Three requirements keep this painless. The drawing must be on real-world coordinates in a reference system that matches your project, the units must be metres, and the content should be points and (poly)lines: circles and blocks convert to points, arcs are segmented into polylines.
One tip from our support team that saves the most time: strip the drawing first. Copy it in AutoCAD, delete everything you do not need in the field, and import only the elements you will actually stake out. A lean drawing is faster to load and far easier to work with on a screen in the sun.
From the field to AutoCAD
The route back is just as short. You measure the situation with the UNI-GR2 and UNI-Collect, sync to UNI-Cloud, and export as DXF or DWG, which the Professional plan and above include. The surveyed points, lines and polygons open in AutoCAD on their real coordinates, in the layers you defined in the field, ready to draw on.
A concrete example
A contractor gets the design for a new parking area as a DWG. The work planner strips it to kerb lines and drainage, imports it into UNI-Cloud, and the foreman stakes out the kerbs from the tablet. After the work, the crew measures the as-built situation, and the office receives a DXF that drops straight onto the original design for comparison. One drawing out, one drawing back, no retyping in between.
Van start gaan
You need AutoCAD (or any CAD package that reads DXF/DWG), a UNI-GR2 and an RTK correction subscription. Receiver, app, cloud environment and corrections come as one package: het UNI-Collect-enquêtepakket. Our support team is happy to help with your first import.
Working with GIS rather than CAD? See QGIS gebruiken als landmeetinstrument.