I attempted something new yesterday that seems to work very well. I had a boundary survey where the subject tract and adjoining tracts each had unique bearing relations. Instead of attempting to match them up in CAD and importing them, I decided to try matching them up in the field using localization, creating a new localization for each tract. At first, this may seem like it would require a Page for each tract and a separate coordinate file for each, but the process I came up with minimizes all of that, but does require a little preparation in the office and a little concentration in the field.
In CAD I drew each of the tract boundaries in a separate layer. I used the tax parcel ID for the layer name so that I could refer to my paper map in the field to know what layer went to which parcel. But you could choose any naming convention that makes sense. On the first boundary monument I found that was called for in a tract, I surveyed it with the LS then I imported from dwg only the layer for that tract. I imported this single layer into a page I named "IMPORT". Before importing, I set the coordinate system of page IMPORT to a new local system that was named [project name]_[tract number]. I then went to localization and did a single point localization using "from Map" to find the appropriate vertex in the line drawing to match up with my newly surveyed point. I then could roughly navigate to the next point in the tract boundary (remember I've only localized one point so rotation has not yet been established). After finding the second point, I added it to the localization. In the case of this survey, the second point was also the first point of the next tract, so after adding the second point to the first tract localization, I was ready to import the next tract. I went to import dwg and again selected only the layer for the second tract. Before importing, I changed the coordinate system of page "IMPORT" to a new local system using the same convention [project name]_[tract number]. I then went to localization and switched to this new local system and performed a single point localization, just like the first time. After localization, I could navigate to the second point of this tract to refine the rotation. This process can be repeated ad infinitum. The great thing is that even though the first tract and second tract are in the same page "IMPORT", adjustments to the localization for the second tract had no impact on the coordinates for the first tract. The first tract remained in place. Even more interesting is that regardless of the page coordinate system, you can continue to add points to the first tract localization and J-Field will continue to adjust the coordinates of the first tract.
You must keep your head straight when you import, making sure that you import the right layer to the right new local system, but otherwise this can manage unlimited tracts from a single source (dwg).
I will probably develop a video in the near future to explain this in more detail, but I thought I would share for any who might be interested, as well as a couple of other "advanced" localization concepts such fixing to a single point and rotating to a line (such as a single monument and a road centerline or a monument and a point in a fence).
In CAD I drew each of the tract boundaries in a separate layer. I used the tax parcel ID for the layer name so that I could refer to my paper map in the field to know what layer went to which parcel. But you could choose any naming convention that makes sense. On the first boundary monument I found that was called for in a tract, I surveyed it with the LS then I imported from dwg only the layer for that tract. I imported this single layer into a page I named "IMPORT". Before importing, I set the coordinate system of page IMPORT to a new local system that was named [project name]_[tract number]. I then went to localization and did a single point localization using "from Map" to find the appropriate vertex in the line drawing to match up with my newly surveyed point. I then could roughly navigate to the next point in the tract boundary (remember I've only localized one point so rotation has not yet been established). After finding the second point, I added it to the localization. In the case of this survey, the second point was also the first point of the next tract, so after adding the second point to the first tract localization, I was ready to import the next tract. I went to import dwg and again selected only the layer for the second tract. Before importing, I changed the coordinate system of page "IMPORT" to a new local system using the same convention [project name]_[tract number]. I then went to localization and switched to this new local system and performed a single point localization, just like the first time. After localization, I could navigate to the second point of this tract to refine the rotation. This process can be repeated ad infinitum. The great thing is that even though the first tract and second tract are in the same page "IMPORT", adjustments to the localization for the second tract had no impact on the coordinates for the first tract. The first tract remained in place. Even more interesting is that regardless of the page coordinate system, you can continue to add points to the first tract localization and J-Field will continue to adjust the coordinates of the first tract.
You must keep your head straight when you import, making sure that you import the right layer to the right new local system, but otherwise this can manage unlimited tracts from a single source (dwg).
I will probably develop a video in the near future to explain this in more detail, but I thought I would share for any who might be interested, as well as a couple of other "advanced" localization concepts such fixing to a single point and rotating to a line (such as a single monument and a road centerline or a monument and a point in a fence).
