0Charting Example:

Insunits:

In order to avoid unwanted unit scaling of inserted content, please be aware of the issue with
INSUNITS settings in ALL drawings – For a metric Coordinate Sytem/Chart, I normally ensure that
INSUNITS is 6 (metres) for all drawings and in the Default Template:

AutoChart Project acp file:

When you start a New Project, all Dialogs are empty. As you run various commands and fill out the
Dialogs, you can save the parameters to an AutoChart Project File which allows the various settings
to be saved and recalled as necessary. An existing acp file can be loaded using Project-Load Project
to populate the various command dialogs with previous settings. The Project acp file can be saved
using Project-Save Project or Project-Save Project As.

Note that the acp files included in the example files have paths set to run from the C:\ Drive (C:\PTSC
Geos Example\*). If the zip file is extracted to the local C: drive then file paths should be found
correctly, otherwise the acp files can be edited in a Text Editor and a Search and Replace on the path
used to replace the stored folder paths.
Coordinate System:

The appropriate Coordinate System Projection and Geographic definitions need to be ascertained,
either by finding the relevant built-in AutoCAD MAP Coordinate Systems that match the
requirements, or by creating Custom Definitions as required (see the Frequently Asked Questions
section of the AutoChart Help File, or the AutoCAD MAP Help)

For this TM 106°E on Local Vietnam Datum, Custom CS definitions need to be created for the Datum,
the Projection CS, the Geographic CS and Transformation parameters.

You can Auto-Register the Coordinate System Definitions by opening the \Coordinate Systems\
TM106E_LOCAL_VIETNAM.dwg and \LL-LOCAL_VIETNAM.dwg and answering Yes when AutoCAD
prompts you to add them to the Coordinate System Library. However, if you want to Transform
Coordinates to/From WGS84, you’ll need to define the Transformation parameters manually on your
System as:
In AutoChart Dialogs, you may be prompted to set the relevant Projection and Geographic CS:
Survey Route:

The survey Route can either be imported from an ASCII data file (e.g. an Easting/Northing comma
delimited file) using the Import Route command.

Alternatively, if the Route already exists as a Polyline within a dwg, you can use the Utilities-Route-
Attach Route Info command to embed AutoChart Route information onto that polyline:

Save the Drawing with the AutoChart route polyline for later use in the Charting process (\Route\
BK8-BK5 Route.dwg).
Create Kps:

KP Flags are added along the Route using the Create Kps-Single Route command:

The Kp Flag symbol is derived from an external (attributed) Block drawing, so obviously the Block
scale depends on the size for the original Block drawing and the Required charting scale. The KP Flag
interval is set as required along with the required format for the Kp values:

Save the Route/Kps drawing for later insertion into the Chart Plan Panels (\Route\BK8-BK5
Route_KPs.dwg).
Create Panels:

Chart Panels are created along the Route using Create Panels – Single Route – these will provide the
position for each chart in the series. The Panel Width and Height relies on the Width and Height of
the plan box and is ‘real-world’ units at the appropriate Chart Scale (i.e. for the 1:5000 scale
alignment charts the Plan Box/Panels are 4800m x 1000m). The Overlap between Panels and the
Initial Overlap/Final Overlap are set as required to get the best fit of panels along the route retaining
sufficient coverage:

The generated Panels can be edited if required to move/rotate them where necessary to better fit
the route. However, the Panel position should be finalised BEFORE creating Charts – if the position is
subsequently edited, the Charts will need to be re-made based on the updated panels.

Cut and paste (to original coordinates) the Panel entities to their own drawing for later use in the
Charting Process (\Panels\BK8-BK5 Panels_5k.dwg):
Create Charts:

Charts are created using:

 A Base Drawing (the Legend/Frames/Info, etc. that are the SAME for every chart in the
Series – the selected Base drawing is used as an Xref within every chart). (\Base\
Base_1_5000.dwg). I did tidy up the Box origin coordinates from the example chart a little to
get consistent rounded coordinate values for the panel frames. I’ve also put the OLO logo in
the Template dwg as AutoCAD can have problems with an OLE in an Xref.
 A Template Drawing (the entities that will change between drawings in the series such as the
Chart Number, the Kp limits, etc. Text codes are used within the Template that will be
translated to calculated values within each chart – e.g. XX for the current chart number, YY
for the Total Number of Charts, SSS.SSS for the Chart Start Kp, EEE.EEE for the Chart End Kp,
etc.) (\Template\Template_1_5000.dwg)
 The Panels drawing created in the previous step. (\Panels\BK8-BK5 Panels_5k.dwg)

Chart Direction controls which way Kps run on the Chart – Ascending Kps have Kps increasing Left to
Right, Descending Kps have the Kps running from Right to Left on the Chart

Note that only the number of PLAN panels is required to be set – Profile panels are defined in their
own Dialog. For each Plan panel, set the Panel Origin as the Bottom Left corner of the Plan box for
Ascending Kp charts or Top Right Corner for Descending Kp Charts.

A set of (empty) Charts will be created in the specified Chart Directory. Data can then be added to
those charts.
Create Grids:

Easting/Northing Grid and Latitude/Longitude Graticules are added to the Charts using Create Grid –
Chart Series:

The sign is defined by an external Block, so as with the Kp Flags, the Block scale depends on the size
of the original symbol dwg and the required Chart Scale. Lat/Long and Easting/Northing intervals and
formats are set as required. Note that Tic Lengths and Text heights should be entered as the
required PLOTTED height in mm – the size will be scaled to the appropriate Chart Scale using the
embedded scale information within the Chart drawings.

Grids will be added to the two Plan boxes in the Charts:

Single data dwgs can be added to the Plan View box(es) of the Charts using the Xref Data command.
Multiple dwgs can be added in a single operation and can be added to one or more Plan views.

E.g. the Route/Kps dwg created earlier is added to both Plan Boxes:

Similarly any additional data can be added to either or both Plan view boxes by selecting the
required panels to add to. Xref Data will add the specified drawings as an Xref, so any editing of that
Xref will affect the display in all of the Charts.
Cut Data:

Alternatively, rather than using Xref Data to add a single dwg, a source drawing can be ‘Cut’ using
Cut Data – Panel Set into chart specific cut data drawings which only hold the relevant data for a
particular Chart plan view. This allows Blocks and Text entities to be rotated to the Panel orientation
so that they read horizontally within the Chart Plan View.

For example, the Contours/Soundings dwg (\Bathy\BK8BK5_Bathymetry.dwg) can be Cut and the
Soundings rotated around the Insert Point so they are ‘horizontal’ within the plan box of each chart
(I used the AutoCAD JustifyText command to change the Justification of the original soundings Text
to Middle Centre without moving the Text entities so that they would rotate around the centre).

Cut Data is run with the data dwg to be cut open as the Current Drawing:

Optionally the Block/Text Entities to rotate can be filtered by Layer; so for example, Contour Labels
retain their original rotation aligned with the Contour lines and only the Sounding Text is rotated to
be horizontal in the Chart Plan Box. The Rotation can be set to Panel Angle for Ascending Kp Charts
or Panel Angle+180 for Descending Kp Charts. The Cut Set Name is entered as appropriate to give a
Filename Prefix for identification.

The Cut Data drawings are saved to the specified Cut Data Folder (\Bathy\BK8-BK5Bathy001a.dwg
and BK8-BK5Bathy002a.dwg)
Insert/Xref Cut Data:

Once data has been Cut, it can then be added to the Plan View Panel(s) of the Charts using the
Insert/Xref Cut Data command:

The required Panels to add to are selected (i.e. the Bathy Cut data will only be added to the Top Plan
box) and optionally the data can be Xreffed with Relative paths and can be sent to back so it sits
behind any existing objects in the Charts such as the Route/Kps Xref.
The Cut Data – Panel Set and Insert/Xref Cut Data process is repeated for other data dwgs to be
added as Cut Data – e.g. the SSS Data \SSS\BK8BK5_SSS_Final.dwg) can be Cut:

And the Cut SSS Insert/Xref Cut Data used to add it to the Bottom Plan box:
Create Matchlines:

Chart Matchlines showing the overlap between adjacent Charts are created using the Matchlines-
Create Matchlines command with the Panels drawing (\Panels\BK8-BK5 Panels_5k.dwg) as the
Current dwg:

The Matchlines dwgs are then added to the charts using Insert/Xref Cut Data:
Create Profile:

The Seabed Longitudinal Profile can be created using a suitable ASCII data file consisting of Depth
data records along the Route centreline (e.g. XYZ or KP, Z comma delimited data on the Route). In
the absence of any supplied data for this example, I made a ‘Temporary’ Profile XYZ data file (\
Profile\Temp Profile.csv) based on the Sounding points along the Route in order to show the Process.
If you send us any example data you have, we can advise on a suitable format.

The Longitudinal Profiles are added to the charts using Profile-Create Profile-Chart Series.

The Profile Panels are then added to the Charts:

Sub-Bottom Data is normally derived from Relative depth data under the Seabed – e.g. X/Y/Unit or a
Coda Octopus Tag file, etc. where the Z values are a distance from the Seabed rather than absolute
Depths. In the absence of supplied data in this format (I assume the supplied Sub bottom data.csv
file has absolute depths), I used functionality within AutoChart to plot them to a Profile drawing, Edit
the horizons manually and then Export them as Relative Depth SBP data (in the AutoChart SBP
Format (\SBP\SBP_Export.csv)). Again, if you supply us with example (Relative Depth) SBP data we
can advise on a suitable format to use.

The SBP Data is then added to the Charts using Profile-Add SBP Data-Chart Series:
Whilst working on Charts, I usually make/add Data as ‘Relative Path Xrefs’. This means, for instance,
that commands can easily be re-run with different settings in order to simply re-make the attached
Xrefs (rather than creating as ‘Entities’ within the Charts which would then need to be manually
erased if there was a mistake in the command settings. Once the Charts have been completed, you
can create a set of Bound Charts with all of the Xrefs bound into each Chart dwg using the Utilities-
Xref Bind command so that the bound versions can be given to the end Client.

The above notes just cover the basics of creating Plan/Profile Charts and obviously there are many
additional options within commands and numerous other commands that can be employed within
the Charting Process. Creating a North-up Chart follows the same process, except that the Panel
Type in Create Panels is set to North-up. Then it’s just the same process using Create Grid/Xref Data
etc. to add the data to the Plan View after using Create Charts.

Please see the command reference section of the Help File for more information on each of the
available commands and the Getting Started with AutoChart section/User manual pdf in the Help file
for guidance as to the basic procedures and processes. If you have any questions on anything
covered or are unsure of any steps, then please let us know.