KimHist

Ooooh! Did you get something better than 3-meter contours? If so, I'm really interested. I wanted 1-foot contours.

I wish we could get the detailed lidar elevation data by section, because right now it is such large sets (looks to be bigger than townships) that it is almost impossible to download and use.

You're welcome! I used the 3DEP USGS tool to click all over the property, recording the lat/long points in a spreadsheet. Then I used the USGS elevation generator to get elevation points. Formatting was easy, just CSV I think.

I also did not use this tool http://www.csgnetwork.com/degreelenllavcalc.html that Alaskan_Son posted to calculate more precisely for the location. Did you? Maybe that will fix the elongation. If it does, let me know!

Brad, I updated to X15 too, if that matters.

Yes, Brad, I took some notes to be sure I'd remember most of the steps. I imported an image of my property lines with topo data into Chief from GIS parcel records. Next I adjusted the image using the Chief measure tool to make sure I'd sized it to fit our property correctly (660 feet on the X axis by 330 on the Y axis). Then I measured the imported terrain to determine how much the X data appeared to be off. I got .8196 as the multiplier for the X axis, but yours may be different, because of course lat. and long. aren't the same type of data as 2D X/Y data. I used that multiplier (.8196) and adjusted my Xs in the X-Y-Z elevation spreadsheet. I then moved my image of the topo to the terrain data. The image of the topo was obviously less detailed but lined up well. I imported a sat image with the same property boundaries (from GIS) after I deleted the topo image. I did all of these adjustments in a new plan and then used Edit>Edit Area (All Floors) on my house plan to import the house plan and position it. I'm not 100% satisfied with my results, but they are pretty darn good, with 1-foot contours. I'm going to tweak it more later this week. Did you use the 3DEP USGS tool for your elevation points? What it generates appears to be much more reliable than Garmin, but the lidar topo image doesn't overlay accurately with previous USGS topos. My husband brought me a few data points (e.g. existing well) that he gathered with the Garmin. They were clearly off, so a few Saturdays ago we got an extra-long measuring tape, and he held it at various points while I used my phone to walk due east to the road. Those points line up fairly well (considering my need to duck around a few trees and the 10-foot increase and then 10-foot decrease in elevation) with what we can see for sure in sat images. I hope my explanation makes sense. Please let me know if it works for you or if you need a different multiplier. I'm still refining my own data, so if you don't get good results with my "fix," I'd really appreciate knowing. I have been extremely busy with my day job for the past month, but I should be able to get back to this work by next weekend. Then some time during the week of 15th, I may reach out to the state GIS folks about the lidar data.

I found the outliers!

I tried again before I got your reply, and poof! The build button worked. It looks like the program completed the contours well outside the zone of the 660x330 perimeter, resulting in the elongated form. (Either that or Chief hung on to the data from the file that included a 278-foot elevation outlier that snuck in, instead of replacing it with the new one.) I overlaid the lidar-generated contours and sorted it out. Thank you! Now I need to get this terrain onto my house plan. You've been so helpful here, that I hope you've got advice for adding it there. Is it possible to copy the data from here? Thank you again for talking me off my little ledge of frustration.

Thank you, Michael. They are standard coordinates, so degrees. After I posted I did try converting them to feet, but it didn't seem to help.

Good afternoon, folks. I need to import terrain data in the form of elevation points as a csv. I have a file of 280 points in x,y,z format, covering 5 acres. I am using X14. I tried following the instructions in videos and in this thread: I just see a cross (not an x) when I import the data (shown here in a blank plan). What unit should I be using "to define elevation points" for X & Y. I know that Z is ft. I appreciate any assistance. blank plan terrain data.plan 53Cbulkel.csv

I went back through my history but can't get back to the forum post that showed pink for the circle like Solver has shown above. If anyone knows the tip to make it more obvious, that would be great. I'll check other floors too. Thanks!

Thanks! Is there a way to make it even more obvious? like the pink highlighting that I saw on a post in the forum? (Plan check hated my porch columns, by the way. Grin.)

I am using Tool>Plan Check. I get an error message, like a wall with reversed layers, but the plan does not have anything highlighted. I am using X12 on a MacBook Pro running Mojave. I noticed in a forum question that the area to be checked was highlighted with a pink circle. Can I change "plan check" settings to make the area to be checked easier to spot (or to spot at all)? Thanks! P.S. Yes, I can see the whole plan.

Thank you! It fixed everything except the porches. I'm now pondering if it will fix the foundation height issue on the back porch.

It must have been our internet connection, because it took just a few minutes to load tonight. Here it is. Thanks for your help. Our_House_stripped_6-28-2020_1611.plan

I am newbie too, but my solution for terrain was to set the lowest point above sea level at zero and subtract the difference from each other point and terrain line. It was pretty easy. For example, my low point was 500 feet, and my high point was 554. The low point became zero, and the high point became 54.

I deleted a bunch of stuff, got the file to less than a quarter of its previous size, and have had it in a queue to load for 6 or more hours now. I'll try tomorrow on a faster connection. Thank you.

I had the floor sills and joists built for my first floor, but when I tried to change the back porch structure with joists like a living area, I lost all of my first floor structure. I have followed all of the steps to build and rebuild the joists that I could find in Chief Architect. Every time I do, when I go back to the dialogue box to build the floor, the box is unchecked again. I have turned on all of the framing components in every layer set and can see the second floor framing, so I'm pretty sure that the problem is in Build. I've attached a screen shot of the framing view. Our slow internet prevents me from attaching the full plan. (Yes, I read your replies to a similar post earlier today. Following those steps did not resolve it.) Thank you for any help you can provide. I'm using Chief Architect X12.