New features added for CADPower-GeoTools V16.06 and V16.08 Update
Munich, Germany
The last 10 days have seen some hectic activity on GeoTools & CADPower development. Here is a summary of new features we added in the latest version V 16.08 released two days back:
CADPower V 16.08 Update
Updated command: CP_CSVEXPORT: (CADPower -> Export -> Export CSV file): A new scan option called ‘Selection’ has been added in this command.
The ‘Selection’ option exports the CSV data in the same order in which the objects were selected, and is useful when the order of text objects are in random locations.
The other available options during CSV export are ‘Left’, ‘Right’, ‘Up’ and ‘Down’
Updated command: CP_DATAMAN (CADPower -> Build -> Data Manager): The CP_DATAMAN command now supports an additional data type which allows files on the disk, server or cloud to be attached as a data to the selected objects.
Using this option, you can now link an external file with your CAD data. There is also a ‘Show’ option which allows to display the linked file automatically by launching the application with which it is associated.
There was a regression bug in this command introduced during 16.07 version. It has been fixed now.
Fixed command: CP_CALCAREA: (CADPower-> Polyline-> Inquiry Statistics-> Compute summed areas of closed polylines): The area calculation and units conversion in the command had some errors and was producing wrong results. This has been fixed now.
GeoTools V 16.08 Update
New command: GT_GERSHEEET (GeoTools -> Geographic -> Google Earth Rubber Sheeting Tool):
The GT_GERSHEET command is a workaround tool to do a 2-point rubber-sheeting of vector data to fit it in Google Earth.
It works on the same principle as the GT_GEIMPORTIMAGE which is used to import geo-referenced screen-shots from Google Earth into CAD.
The GT_GERSHEET fits your existing CAD data into the Lat-Long format as expected by Google Earth.
The command works by asking to pick two known points in CAD and in Google Earth. With these coordinates, a simple rubber sheeting (scale and move) is performed.
This ensures that the coordinates are now in Lat Long coordinates matching Google Earth coordinates.
However, many users have their CAD data in a projection system like UTM. Even when their data is in Lat-Long, it may not fit Google Earth correctly because of differences in Spheroid or Datum.
The command provides step-by-step instructions on how to setup and capture your coordinate both in CAD and in Google Earth.
First, you pick the first known point in your CAD data and zoom into the same location in Google Earth.
You then capture the Lat-Long coordinates of the point in Google Earth using Control-Shift-C. These coordinates are transferred to CAD from the clip-board.
Next, you pick the second known point in CAD and zoom into the same location in Google Earth. Capture the coordinates again using Control-Shift-C and the coordinates are transferred to CAD again.
Using these two pairs of known source & target coordinates, GeoTools does a simple scaling and moving to fit the selected CAD data into the correct geographical location as required by Google Earth.
The GT_GERSHEET command requires you to have your CAD and Google Earth running together to perform its job.
Next, you can export this data to Google Earth using the GT_DWG2KML command, and the KML file is imported into Google Earth to fit the imagery exactly.
Improvement: GT_DWG2KML: (GeoTools -> Geographic -> DWG2KML (Google Earth KML/Z Export)): The settings for Xdata, ObjectData and Attribute data export had no validity checks in them.
As a result, not selecting the values or entering an invalid input would start the processing and cause a malfunction. This is now fixed.
A number of checks are in place now to ensure that the block names, object table & XDATA application names and their attributes/fields are correctly selected.
New features added for CADPower-GeoTools V16.06 and V16.08 Update
