Acquire Coordinates, True North & Project North

With the increased importance of Revit projects being the digital twins of the physical building, this puts a spotlight on the project's coordinates and orientation. Ideally, the True North, Project North, Project Base Point, Survey Point and Internal Origin should be standardised at the start of the project. Adjusting these properties when elements were already modelled will run the risk of these elements being shifted or misaligned. 

Refer to the videos and step-by-step guides below for:

  1. Rotating Project North
  2. Acquiring Coordinates

Rotate Project North

Video 1: Instructional Video on Rotating Project North

The Project North refers to to the top of the drawing area in plan view. Rotating the project to align with the Project North will improve the legibility and allow an effective use of titleblock space. Refer to Video 1 above or follow the step-by-step guide below.

GIF 1: Setting the Project North Orientation before Rotation

  • Before using the Rotate Project North tool, do ensure the plan view is in the Project North orientation in the 'Properties' palette (refer to GIF 1).
  • Then, select the Rotate Project North tool ('Manage' tab > 'Project Location' panel > 'Position).

 

GIF 2: Rotate Project North Tool

  • In the pop-up window, select the 'Align selected line or plane' option.
  • Then, select an element which would align in the direction of the project's North/South OR East/West.

 

GIF 3: Switching Between True & Project North

  • To view the Project North or True North version of the plan, change the 'Orientation' value in the 'Properties' palette.

 

Acquire Coordinates


Video 2: Instructional Video on Acquiring Coordinates from an Existing Project

To Acquire Coordinates from an existing project is important to ensure consistency across models from different disciplines or stakeholders. This ensures modelling is as accurate as possible. This also affects future steps i.e. exporting models for Navisworks or AutoCAD.

GIF 4: Turn on Internal Origin, Project Base Point and Survey Point in Visibility/Graphic Overrides Window

  • Open the 'Visibility/Graphic Overrides' window by using the keyboard shortcut 'vv' or 'vg'
  • Expand '+' Site to turn on the visibility of the Internal Origin, Project Base Point and Survey Point.

 

GIF 5: Link Revit Project that Coordinates Will Be Acquired From

  • In the 'Insert' tab, click on the 'Link Revit' tool
  • Select the project that the coordinates will be acquired from. Under the 'Positioning' option, select 'Auto - Internal Origin to Internal Origin' to align the internal origins of both projects

 

GIF 6: Changing Clip State of Point for Survey Point

  • Select the project's Survey Point and unclip the clip state of point. This allows the coordinates to be updated without affecting the modelled elements (if elements have been modelled)
  • Move the Survey Point to align with the linked project's Survey Point
  • Move the Project Base Point to align with the linked project's Project Base Point

 

GIF 7: Acquire Coordinates Tool

  • Once you have prepared the model, in the 'Manage' tab > 'Project Location' panel > 'Coordinates' dropdown, select the Acquire Coordinates tool
  • Click on the linked Revit file
  • After it is done, check that the values of the open project and the linked project tallies

 

GIF 8: Clip State of Point

  • Click on the Survey Point and update the state of point from unclipped to clipped (by ensuring there's no line across the clip). This ensures that the model and the Survey Point move together.
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