Cogo Points (Civil 3D essentials)

COGO points (further referred to as points) are coordinated geometry points sometimes also called Civil 3D points. These points have extra functionality, they can have labels, tables, etc. There are many ways to create points, this manual covers how to create random points on a surface and with the measure object option.

Create Random Points

1. Go to Home – Points – Point Creation Tools in the ribbon and select the Create Points command:

2. Click on the expand arrow and set the values according to the image below:

• Prompt For Elevations – Automatic (elevation will be taken from the surface)
• Prompt For Point Names – None (names are not used in this example)
• Prompt For Description – Automatic (name will be taken from the field "Default Description")

1. In the Create Points toolbar click on the Surface − Random Points icon:

2. Select the surface you want the points to get the elevations from:

3. Click on the locations where you want to create points (points are displayed as yellow crosses):

Note: To change the point style and label, see the Create Point Group and Change Label and Marker chapter.

Create Points by Measure Object

1. Go to Home – Points – Point Creation Tools in the ribbon to open the Create Points toolbar**:**

2. Click on the expand arrow and set the values according to image below:

• Prompt For Elevations – Automatic (elevation will be taken from the surface)
• Prompt For Point Names – None (names are not used in this example)
• Prompt For Description – Automatic (name will be taken from the field "Default Description")

1. In the Create Points toolbar click on the Miscellaneous − Measure Object icon:

2. Select the object (see command line for object types):

3. Specify the start station:

4. Specify the end station:

5. Specify the offset from the object:

6. Specify the interval:

Created points on the object (points are displayed as yellow crosses):

Note: To change the point style and label, see the Create Point Group and Change Label and Marker chapter.

Create Point Group and Change Label and Marker

Point groups are very practical because they allow grouping of points according to label styles, properties and other parameters.

When points are created, they are automatically placed in the _All Points group:

1. To create a new group, right-click on Point Groups in the Prospector and select New:

2. Specify the Name, Point style and Point label style in the Information tab:

3. You must define which points are included in the point group. Go to the Include tab and use any option to include certain points in a point group. The image below shows how to include all points with the raw description "Platform". This raw description was set during the point creation in the Create Points toolbar under the Default Description field.

4. To check which points are included go to the Point List tab:

5. Once you click OK the changes are applied to the points:

Renumber the Points

Point renumbering is done by adding or deducting the constant from the point number. The point number is a unique property for points in a drawing; there can't be two points with the same number in a drawing.

1. Click on any point in the drawing and select the Renumber command from the contextual ribbon:

2. Specify which points you want to renumber:

3. Enter an additive factor (positive or negative to add or deduct):

Before:

After (1000 was added to point number):

Create Point Table

1. To create a table, go to Annotate – Add Tables – Add Point Table in the ribbon:

2. Specify the Table Style and select points or point group:

Point table:

Export Points

1. Points can be exported to different file formats. Go to Output – Export Points in the ribbon:

2. Specify the file format:

3. Define the file name, destination and select a point group:

Points in the text file: