WisDOT Imagery tab

Last updated: 2024-03-18

Overview

A contextual ribbon tab WisDOT Imagery is visible when a coordinate system is assigned to the dwg. This ribbon provides access to the latest aerial imagery available to WisDOT. The imagery is streamed into Civil 3D via a WMS (Web Map Service) connection, so the speed is affected by the current internet connection. Once the imagery is streamed in, it may be captured for a specific area of interest and saved to a local image file.

The tab contains options to display:

  • County-specific aerial imagery (with and without road labels)

  • USGS Topo maps - The service coordinate system is WTM(HARN), so there will be an imprecise transformation to county coordinates but are in acceptable limits for general information.

Images are displayed based on the assigned coordinate system. If an assigned coordinate system is not compatible with WisDOT Imagery functionality, Attempts to load imagery will result in a command line message "Assigned coordinate system is not compatible with this operation.".

Options to stylize the WMS imagery stream with brightness, contrast, opacity, and color controls are provided.

Warning:

Imagery is currently not available for the following counties:

  • Chippewa, Door, Douglas, Green, Iron, Kenosha, Kewaunee, Sheboygan

Please contact a region survey coordinator to get imagery for these counties or the following needs:

  • You receive the message "Assigned coordinate system is not compatible with this operation."

  • Your project crosses county boundaries and you need the imagery in one coordinate system.

Usage

Proper coordinate systems can be set with

App menu button > Drawing Utilities > Drawing Settings > Units and Zones tab > Zone

  1. Categories: USA, Wisconsin

  2. Available coordinate systems: Current county systems start with NSRS2011 Wisconsin County CRS or Wisconsin County Systems and have units of US Foot.

    Warning: Consult with the project Survey Data Coordinator to select the correct coordinate system.

Best practices for plan sheets #best

Tip: If you are using this tool to have images in one or more sets of plan view-type sheets in a plan set submitted for WisDOT letting, it is recommended that you download many small files that meet current plan set requirements and share the same files to all plan set sheets that have the same view frames.

  1. Downloaded images will avoid any problems accessing the webstreams and plot faster.

  2. Many small images will have a smaller total file size than a single large image. There is a maximum file footprint that the Capture Image tool can accomodate. Many small files avoids running into this limit.

The following steps are recommended for the most efficient workflow in using image files in plan view sheets with this tool.

  1. Use View Frame Groups for plan view sheets - Plan, create, and use View frames and view frame groups in your plan view sheets. WisDOT Imagery requires an object in modelspace to define the extents of captured local images. It can use viewframes and view frame groups can make sure plan view sets are identical in visual limits.
  2. Create a DWG in ProjectID\base\img or a contained subfolder to store images - The local images created with Capture Image are stored in the same folder as the DWG used to connect to them. Doing this in a dedicated folder will keep the images out of folders with other content files in them.
  3. Once a DWG is created, the general steps would be:
    1. Assign the correct coordinate system
    2. Data reference the needed view frame group(s)
    3. Turn on the appropriate map service, typically County or County with Labels
    4. Use Capture Image for each view frame
      1. Use the greyscale option to minimize file size and meet FDM requirements for electronic plan pdfs FDM 15-5-10 Electronic Plans

    5. Detach all reference items except the raster image files

This DWG can now be XREF'd into any DWG without setting coordinate systems. Any changes to view frame limits can be updated in this single file and all XREFs will see those changes.

Online Map panel

  1. Imagery dropdown
    1. Imagery Off: Removes WisDOT aerial imagery layer and WMS connection.
    2. County: Creates a data connection to county aerial imagery
    3. County with Labels: Creates a data connection to county aerial imagery with road labels

    4. USGS Topo: Creates a data connection to statewide USGS Topo imagery

      Info: Imagery can only be loaded if the drawing is assigned a Wisconsin county coordinate systems (WCCS or WISCRS).

  2. Visibility: Toggles the connected imagery visibility on or off, while retaining the current display settings and WMS connection.
  3. Zoom to Extents: Zoom view to current imagery map layer extents
  4. Imagery Data: Displays metadata about the current imagery. This information is also added to the properties of any captured images.
  5. Capture Image: Captures a user-defined area of interest as a local image file. Road labels are not captured.
    1. Color or Grayscale
    2. Area selection method
      1. Select polyline or viewframe
      2. Polygonal
      3. Rectangle

    3. If needed, select the red X to stop the image download. The larger the selected area, the longer it will take to generate the image. Consider breaking the area up into smaller, more manageable areas.

      Info: There are limits to the image size that can be generated. If the selected area is larger than what can be generated with a single image, WisDOT Imagery will provide the option to generate the largest possible image for the selected area.

    4. A jpg file is stored in the same folder as the active file when the image was captured. The prefix of the saved jpg image is the same as the dwg file name.
      1. File naming convention: < dwg name > _ < color mode > _ < image insertion point coordinate >
    5. The saved image is an xref and is inserted onto the layer E_MAP_Ortho.

    6. A world file is generated for the image. This can be used if the image needs to be inserted into multiple files.

Style panel (affects the WMS imagery stream only)

  1. Decrease Brightness: Decreases the image brightness
  2. Increase Brightness: Increases the image brightness
  3. Decrease Contrast: Decreases the image contrast
  4. Increase Contrast: Increases the image contrast
  5. Decrease Opacity: Decreases the image opacity
  6. Increase Opacity: Increases the image opacity
  7. Color Mode: Toggles the raster between color and greyscale.

Import panel

  1. Import Images: Imports images from another drawing. A coordinate transformation occurs when the selected drawing coordinate system does not match the current drawing coordinate system.