[Qgis-user] Re: Azimuth and Distance Plugin (was Re: your old qgis plugins)

Fred LaPlante flaplante at flos-inc.com
Wed May 18 10:33:43 PDT 2011


OK, looks like we are both talking about the same 'English' system of 
metes & bounds.  Your parcel looks just like mine. And none of the 
bearings look nearly precise enough to guarantee closure. The most 
conspicuous absence is lack of a True vs magnetic notation. For Canada 
that can be a killer - and magnetic can easily vary 40min in ten years. 
Also I see that the surveyor didn't enter the bearings in a consistent 
way as he walked around the property so the bearings have to be reversed 
manually, or a negative sign used.

Anyway, I'll get a copy of qGis running and see what I can do with your 
drawing.

Fred

On 5/18/2011 1:19 PM, Darren Cope wrote:
> Thanks Fred,
>
> I've (re)attached the image example--the coordinates we deal with in 
> Ontario (and most of Canada) seem to  (almost all) come in the format 
> shown in my attachment. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me 
> from a 'usability' standpoint, but...
>
> Darren Cope
> http://darrencope.com
> http://dmcope.freeshell.org
>
>
> 2011/5/18 Fred LaPlante <flaplante at flos-inc.com 
> <mailto:flaplante at flos-inc.com>>
>
>     Wow! voices from the past.
>
>     Darren,
>
>     I haven't done anything with qGIS for over a year now. But this
>     does remind me I need to get back to it again just to catch up on
>     some things here on my desk. Unfortunately I 'upgraded?' my
>     computer system to Windows7 since then and qGIS didn't make the
>     transfer (though the data did make it!). So I will have to answer
>     your questions from memory.
>
>     I think Mauricio got it all right. Here in Maine, USA, land
>     boundaries in property deeds and maps are given in 'metes and
>     bounds' that is nnn.nn feet North/South xxdeg East or West. (For
>     example 950.5 feet N 30deg 45Min 20Sec East). So what I would do
>     is to establish a starting point from whatever corner I could pin
>     down on a map and then 'walk' around the property entering the
>     distance and heading as given on the deed or property map. I have
>     done this with the Az & Dist plugin for many land parcels in my
>     home town. But having said that let me add that getting 'closure'
>     is seldom achieved. I found the accuracy of the property deeds or
>     maps even with signatures and seals of licensed surveyors was very
>     poor. Sometime I got definitions like "900feet N 40deg E (plus or
>     minus)". It seems only the surveyors markers mean anything and the
>     legal description is only a guide to help find them. Surveyors
>     tell me "Here in Maine everyone knows how to get to their property
>     but no one really know where it is."
>
>     Unfortunately your plan didn't get to me so I can't be sure just
>     what the difficulty is. If you could send me a copy, I will try to
>     enter it into qGIS and see what happens. Perhaps a bug has gotten
>     into the code since I last used it. But I still have my original
>     plugin code so we should be able to get things working again.
>
>     Here is an extract from some instructions I wrote for the local
>     town government. Perhaps this will be helpful.
>
>     Fred LaPlante
>     Mercer, ME, USA
>
>
>         5.4 Survey Data
>
>     Deeds normally provide a list of bearing and distance from a
>     starting point around a property boundary in a consistent
>     direction until returning to the start. The process describe here
>     should accept most property descriptions as written.
>
>     Survey maps may be consistent as well, but sometimes a direction
>     my appear as a ‘back bearing’ due to the nature of the survey.
>     These can be handled with the addition of a minus ‘-‘ sign at the
>     beginning of a bearing.Failure to catch this detail can produce
>     some fascinating, but useless,drawings.
>
>      1. Open or create a layer for your new feature.
>      2. Use properties to set transparency to 50-75%
>      3. Enable editing of the layer.
>      4. Open the ‘Azimuth & Distance’ Plugin.
>      5. Verify both the Layer and Coordinate System (CRS) shown are
>     correct.
>      6. For most surveys, Boundary type survey is correct.
>      7. Select North type that applies (enter magnetic declination if
>         appropriate)
>      8. Select Distance units. In USA this will probably be feet.
>      9. Select Angle Type: Azimuth is a compass heading, Bearing is of the
>         form N xx deg E
>      10. Click ‘Capture from Map’
>      11. Move mouse to location of starting point on base map.
>      12. Under ‘Next Vertex’ enter direction and distance from survey
>     or deed.
>      13. Click ‘Add to Bottom’.
>      14. Repeat above 2 steps as needed.
>      15. Click ‘Export List’ to save your entries for a later time.
>      16. Click Draw.
>
>
>
>     On 5/18/2011 11:14 AM, Maurício de Paulo wrote:
>
>         Hi Darren,
>         I haven't worked on the plugin for a long time now.
>         The terms are about what angle is given to the plugin.
>         Bearing is measured from a given direction but with 180
>         degrees for each side (Ex.: 90e means right. 90w means left).
>         Azimuth is measured from a given direction but with 360
>         degrees clockwise. (Ex.: 90 means right. 270 means left)
>
>         The polar/Radial means that the angles area going to be
>         centered on the point given. It's usefull when you did angular
>         measures from the same point. It's used when you measure
>         angles and distances from a single point to draw a curve.
>         The Boundary means that the angles are relative to the last
>         point you measured. It's commonly used in the descriptive
>         documents when the next point is calculated with angle and
>         distance from the current point.
>
>         I think Fred can help more with the meaning of each term as
>         many of them I couldn't translate to a common english idea.
>         Fred Laplante is also involved in the project and implemented
>         many of these concepts.
>         Best regards,
>         Mauricio de Paulo
>
>         2011/5/18 Darren Cope <darrencope at gmail.com
>         <mailto:darrencope at gmail.com> <mailto:darrencope at gmail.com
>         <mailto:darrencope at gmail.com>>>
>
>
>            Hi Mauricio,
>
>            I'm curious if you are still working on the Azimuth and
>         Distance
>            Plug in for QGIS? I am back to it again, and still having
>            difficulties. I would like to be able to help you test if
>         you are
>            still developing. I have an example (attached) of a plan that
>            needs to be entered using the distances and bearings shown (in
>            that exact format). How would I go about doing so? I have tried
>            every possible combination that makes any sense to me! I'm
>         fairly
>            certain I just don't fully understand the implications of the
>            "Polar/Radial" and "Boundary", and "Azimuth" and "Bearing"
>            settings. Perhaps you could explain?
>
>            Cheers,
>
>            Darren Cope
>         http://darrencope.com
>         http://dmcope.freeshell.org
>
>
>            2009/11/11 Darren Cope <darrencope at gmail.com
>         <mailto:darrencope at gmail.com>
>         <mailto:darrencope at gmail.com <mailto:darrencope at gmail.com>>>
>
>
>                Hi Mauricio,
>
>                I'm not 100% sure what is going on with the precision. I
>                suspect the snapping feature will solve this, as the
>                difference is quite small. I zoomed in to 2:1 (e.g. as
>         far as
>                I could) and clicked as close as I possibly could to a
>         corner
>                vertex, and then when I drew my feature, it doesn't line up
>                (although the difference is minute in terms of actual
>         distance)
>
>                I guess I'm still not 100% clear on how the coordinates are
>                entered. What does the 'zenith' column mean? I have a
>         lot of
>                plans that give angles relative to north or south (so
>         they are
>                displayed as Nxxdxx'xx"W or Sxxdxx'xx"E for example). I can
>                convert these to a 360-based azimuth, but it would be
>         nice to
>                be able to enter these without doing any prior conversions.
>
>                It looks like the zooming issue is fixed now!
>
>                Thanks for all of your work on this--please let me know
>         if I
>                can provide any further information or testing for you.
>
>                Cheers,
>
>                Darren Cope
>         http://dmcope.freeshell.org
>
>
>
>                2009/11/7 Maurício de Paulo <mauricio.dev at gmail.com
>         <mailto:mauricio.dev at gmail.com>
>         <mailto:mauricio.dev at gmail.com <mailto:mauricio.dev at gmail.com>>>
>
>
>                    Ok, thanks for the ideas. But could explain some of
>         them
>                    to me?
>                    What happened with the precision of the starting point?
>                    I've made some tests here and the precision should
>         be ok.
>                    I've made a teste with 0,0,0 and it drew fine.
>         Could you
>                    tell me how to reproduce the bug?
>                    The snapping feature is my main priority now. I
>         think this
>                    is a great improvement.
>                    DMS should be second in the list. But actually I
>         need some
>                    inputs on how is best entered a coordinate. We're
>         talking
>                    about azimuth here. And a DMS should have 3 numbers.
>                    Something like 10o14'52'' is possible and easy for the
>                    user. Is it ok?
>                    About the much larger extent... Hum... Fixed on zoom to
>                    selected feature. I think that should solve it.
>                    Gratefully
>                    Maurício de Paulo
>
>
>
>
>
>
>         -- 
>         Mauricio de Paulo
>         Engenheiro Cartografo
>         MapeandoOBrasil <http://mapeandoobrasil.blogspot.com>
>
>
>




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