Building a Base Model - Autodesk Infraworks and Infraworks 360 Essentials - page 44

In many cases, the coordinate system is written right into the data itself and
InfraWorks will detect it and know what to do with it. In other cases, you may
need to know the coordinate system and manually enter it as part of the con-
figuration of your data. Knowing the coordinate system could require some
research or even a phone call to the organization providing the data.
When you create a new model in InfraWorks, you are given the opportunity to
specify the database coordinate system and the user coordinate system (UCS) .
The database coordinate system is what will be “hard-coded” into the SQLite file
that represents your InfraWorks model. If you open this file in another product
like Autodesk ® AutoCAD ® Map 3D, this coordinate system will become impor-
tant. Once the database coordinate system is assigned, it cannot be changed.
The user coordinate system is what you will see and work with while you are
using InfraWorks. You will see the Database and UCS options when you create a
new model in InfraWorks (see Figure 2.3).
fIgure 2.3 Specifying the UCS when creating a new model in InfraWorks
As you import data into your InfraWorks model, you will have the opportunity
to assign a coordinate system in each case. Many times you will build models
that contain data in different coordinate systems. InfraWorks has the ability to
automatically translate the “language” of one coordinate system into the “lan-
guage” of another. As a result, two or more sources of data, each in different
coordinate systems, will overlay one another. This will enable you, for example,
to model terrain data, aerial imagery, and building data all together and in the
right location, regardless of the different data types having different coordinate
systems. It's as if InfraWorks knows every language in the world and can trans-
late whatever it encounters into one chosen language.