Topo Planner tool is designed to specifically meet the needs of engineers, architects and designers using Autodesk or Bricsys products. Using the easy-to-use, wizard-driven interface, you can import georeferenced raster imagery directly from your favorite mapping server (Google, Bing, ESRI…) into the AutoCAD or BricsCAD drawing.

1. TopoPlanner Extension for AutoCAD/BricsCAD Products
User's Guide

2. Table Of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................3
Installation.............................................................................................................................3
System Requirements .........................................................................................................3
Software Requirements ..................................................................................................3
Hardware Requirements.................................................................................................3
Standard Installation ..........................................................................................................3
Customizing Default Settings ..............................................................................................4
Internet Proxy Settings ...................................................................................................4
Spatial Reference System Settings ..................................................................................4
Units Of Measure Settings ..............................................................................................4
Importing Maps .....................................................................................................................5
Specifying Area Of Interest .................................................................................................5
Rectangular Region.........................................................................................................5
Selecting Closed Contour ...............................................................................................5
Picking Inside A Closed Contour......................................................................................6
Mosaicking Multiple Images ...........................................................................................6
Specifying Map Type...........................................................................................................8
Common Map Types.......................................................................................................8
Selecting Spatial Reference System.....................................................................................9
Spatial Reference System.............................................................................................. 10
Coordinate Transformation .......................................................................................... 10
Raster Imagery Postprocessing ......................................................................................... 10
Image Interpolation ...................................................................................................... 10
Image Smoothing.......................................................................................................... 12
Image Color Adjustment ............................................................................................... 13
Image Drawing Order ................................................................................................... 13
Specifying Resulting Imagery Path .................................................................................... 13
Supported Image Formats ............................................................................................ 14
Image Compression ...................................................................................................... 15
Image Path Type ........................................................................................................... 15
Image Georeferencing File ............................................................................................ 16
Imported Raster Imagery.................................................................................................. 17
Image Layer .................................................................................................................. 17
Image Properties .......................................................................................................... 18
Image Reactors............................................................................................................. 18
Raster Imagery Cache ..........................................................................................................18
Supported Map Providers and Types...................................................................................19
2

3. Introduction
TopoPlanner tool is designed to specifically meet the needs of Engineers, Architects and
Designers using Autodesk or Bricsys products. Using the easy-to-use, wizard-driven interface,
you can import georeferenced1 raster imagery directly from your favourite mapping server
(Google, Bing, ESRI...) into the AutoCAD or BricsCAD drawing.
Unlike similar products available on the market, TopoPlanner does not require Google Earth
nor other 3rd party applications installed on the local computer to be able to access raster
maps or related spatial information. It also minimizes the Internet bandwidth by caching
previously fetched raster imagery in several different ways. Moreover, TopoPlanner does not
rely on AutoCAD Map's spatial reference system library but rather uses its own SRS
management, thus providing much precise coordinate transformation results.
Installation
System Requirements
Before running installation, please be sure that your workstation fulfills minimum software
and hardware requirements as described below.
Software Requirements
§
§
Supported operating systems (both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures):
- Microsoft Windows XP SP3
- Microsoft Windows Vista
- Microsoft Windows 7
- Microsoft Windows 8
Supported host platforms:
- Autodesk AutoCAD 2010-2013
- Autodesk AutoCAD Architectural 2010-2013
- Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010-2013
- Autodesk AutoCAD Map 3D 2010-2013
- Bricsys BricsCAD v13
Hardware Requirements
TopoPlanner minimum hardware requirements adher to underlying Autodesk's or Bricsys'
platform minimum hardware requirements. Internet connection is needed if there's no
centralized raster imagery database.
Standard Installation
To be able to run TopoPlanner installer procedure, Windows user needs to have elevated
(i.e. administrative) privileges. Otherwise, user needs to log on to a system as a Power User
or Administrator to be able to run the installation. Each user has its own set of application
settings, which corresponds to Microsoft's general software installation policy.
1
Georeferencing is the process of associating the scale and position of imported geometry with a particular
location on the earth's surface, along with orienting the geometry's DWG representation to a particular
direction relative to North.
3

4. Customizing Default Settings
Once TopoPlanner is installed, run Autodesk platform to set the tool's default settings. All
TopoPlanner settings can be reached via standard AutoCAD's OPTIONS command, then
navigate far right to the VNS Spatial Data Center tab.
Internet Proxy Settings
In case TopoPlanner needs to turn to the Internet to fetch the requested data, and your
organization uses specific Proxy server used by HTTP protocol to access the Internet, it's
necessary to provide such settings using Options dialog:
Spatial Reference System Settings
It's suggested that you create default
spatial reference system (SRS) or
coordinate reference system (CRS).
Otherwise you'll be forced to pick
target spatial reference system during
each run of TopoPlanner wizard, as
explained in Chapter "Selecting
Spatial Reference System".
Please note: for Belgium you must
choose "Belgium (Lambert 72/2008)",
and for Netherlands you must choose
"Netherlands (Rijksdriehoeksstelsel)".
Units Of Measure Settings
It's also suggested that you specify
units of measure being used for linear
(length, depth, height...) and angular
(angle, bearing...) measurements.
Precision option represents display
precision (the way measure values are
displayed on screen) not computed
numerical precision.
These settings are independent of and
may differ from AutoCAD's own units
setting like UNITS, or INSUNITS, or
any other system variable.
4

5. Importing Maps
Importing georeferenced mapping raster imagery into the active AutoCAD/BricsCAD drawing
is being performed by means of few simple wizard-driven steps. The primary use of this
wizard is to bring an image into the DWG and adjust the position of the image relative to
your model such that the model will lie in the proper scale and position on the earth's
surface. The command for running map import operation is TOPOMAP.
Specifying Area Of Interest
Once the command is issued at the AutoCAD/BricsCAD command line, you are asked to
define the area of interest:
Specify first corner point or [Select/Inside/Mosaic]:
Specified area is displayed using red dashed lines on the screen. Based on your preferences
and available reference objects, TopoPlanner provides following ways of defining area of
interest:
§
§
§
§
Selecting rectangular region
Selecting closed contour
Picking inside a closed contour
Mosaicking multiple images along the path
Rectangular Region
This is default area selection mode. You are asked to pick first and second corner points of a
rectangle representing area of interest:
Selected area
Resulting image
Selecting Closed Contour
By entering Select keyword you are asked to select a single closed contour object – either
polyline or polygon. Outer boundary of selected polygon represents the clipping boundary of
resulting raster image:
5

6. Selected area
Resulting image
Picking Inside A Closed Contour
By entering Inside keyword you are asked to pick a point inside closed contour. This
option is used if there's no single object constituting region of interest. Outer boundary of
resulting polygon, if any, represents the clipping boundary of resulting raster image.
Mosaicking Multiple Images
By entering Mosaic keyword you are asked to firstly select one or more objects constituting
either sites (polygons, regions) or bands along linear corridors (roads, highways, railroads,
canals, rivers etc.):
Select objects or [LAYer/BLock/Object/CLass/SPatial/ALL/Previous/Undo]:
Deault selection mode enables you freely select one or more objects in the drawing, but you
can also pick different selection methods. Following table describes each of the above
selection keywords, in addition to standard AutoCAD or BricsCAD selection methods:
Keyword
LAYer
BLock
Object
CLass
SPatial
ALL
Description
Selects all objects on specified layer. You can specify layer name either
by picking an object residing on it, or typing in layer name using list of
existing layers.
Selects all specified block references in the drawing. You can specify
block name either by picking a block entity, or typing in block name using
list of existing blocks.
Selects all entities of specified type (e.g. Line, Polyline, Point, etc.). You
can specify object type either by picking desired object in a drawing, or
typing in object name using list of existing entity types.
Selects all objects of specified feature class. You can specify feature class
name either by picking an object representing one, or typing in feature
class name using list of existing classes.
Selects all objects in a drawing satisfying specified spatial constraint.
Selects all objects in active drawing. Please bear in mind that objects on
frozen layers are ignored and therefore not selected, whereas objects on
layers that are off are selected.
6

7. Previous
Undo
Window
Crossing
Last
Fence
WPolygon
CPolygon
Remove
Reuses previous selection set.
Undoes last selection addition (if any).
Select by window. Using window, objects must lie completely within the
window boundary to be selected.
Select by crossing window. Contrast to select by window, objects either
within the window or crossed by the boundary are selected.
Selects the last entity drawn from the objects currently visible (if any).
Select by fence. Fence selects all objects crossing specified polyline.
Select by window polygon. Objects must lie completely within the
specified polygonal boundary to be selected.
Select by crossing window polygon. Objects either within the specified
polygonal boundary or crossed by the boundary are selected.
Removes specified objects from the current selection set.
After you select objects of interest, wizard asks you specify buffer distance:
Specify object(s) buffer <5.0000>:
Provided distance (expressed in current linear units2) represents a polygonal buffer distance
constructed around selected objects. It ensures that all objects from selection set get
properly covered by the resulting raster imagery. Please note that larger buffer values also
may result in raster tiles further away from selected objects (e.g. tiles that don't cover any of
the objects, which you can manually delete later). Next, wizard asks you to:
Specify image width <50.0000>:
Specify image height <50.0000>:
Provided image width and height (expressed in current linear units) represent size of a single
raster image tile rectangle in the drawing. Please note that model space, not paper space,
measures should be used. Resulting tile set may look like following:
Selected area/tiles
2
Resulting image tiles
For setting default units of measure please see Chapter "Units Of Measure Settings".
7

8. Specifying Map Type
During this step you need to specify map provider, provider's map type and map scale.
Please note that not all maps support all scale ranges as there's providers serving only large
scale mapping material (e.g. map scales up to 14). Moving scale slider provides feedback of
actual size of pixel on selected map scale.
Also, try to keep scale range suitable to actual map's purpose. Downloading map data on
maximum zoom scale for large area may take lots of time and may result in large image files.
Common Map Types
There are "common" sets of map types provided by most map vendors:
Standard (road) map
Map labels
Satellite map
Hybrid map (satellite + labels)
8

9. Selecting Spatial Reference System
During this wizard step the Source spatial reference system represents picked map's spatial
reference system (which can't be changed since it's defined by map vendor), while Target
spatial reference system represents your drawing's spatial reference system and should
reflect it precisely. Most map providers serve raster imagery using WGS84 projection:
Initially, you're offered default3 target spatial reference system, but you can change it by
clicking on button next to the target spatial reference system name:
Picking target (drawing) SRS is performed using Coordinate Reference System dialog, where
you need to select region/country and one of the associated coordinate reference systems.
SRS naming equals to naming provided by AutoCAD Map 3D. You can also identify target SRS
by its EPSG4 code. But unlike Autodesk's or similar software packages, TopoPlanner uses
3
For more info on setting default drawing SRS please see Chapter "Setting Default Spatial Reference System".
European Petroleum Survey Group or EPSG, a scientific organization with ties to the European petroleum
industry consisting of specialists working in applied geodesy, surveying, and cartography related to oil
exploration.
4
9

10. both globally available and custom-tailored functions for coordinate transformations. One of
the examples is using specialized Belgian National Geographic Institute's (IGN) libraries for
processing coordinate transformations from and to Lambert conformal conic projection used
throughout Belgium, thus making final result much precise.
Spatial Reference System
A spatial reference system (SRS) or coordinate reference system (CRS) is a coordinate-based
local, regional or global system used to locate geographical entities. A spatial reference
system defines a specific map projection, as well as transformations between different
spatial reference systems.
Coordinate Transformation
Coordinate transformation is a method that converts the spherical coordinates of the Earth
representing latitude and longitude into AutoCAD/BricsCAD drawing's Cartesian coordinate
system, and accounts for the curvature of the surface of the Earth with a projection. A
coordinate system is usually defined by a projection, an ellipsoid definition, a datum
definition, one or more standard parallels, and a central meridian.
Raster Imagery Postprocessing
This wizard step defines raster image tile processing, before stitching them together into the
final image:
Image Interpolation
Image interpolation occurs in all imported raster imagery at some stage — whether this be in
raster tile stitching or in raster scaling. It happens while TopoPlanner resizes (scales) or
remaps (distorts) imported image from one pixel grid to another. Image resizing is necessary
when you need to increase or decrease the total number of pixels, whereas remapping can
occur under a wider variety of scenarios. There's following image interpolation modes
(algorithms) available:
§
§
§
Default
Low
High
10

11. §
§
§
§
§
Bilinear
Bicubic
Nearest Neighbor
High Quality Bilinear
High Quality Bicubic
Even if the same image resize or remap is performed, the results can vary significantly
depending on the interpolation algorithm. It is only an approximation, therefore an image
will always lose some quality each time interpolation is performed. Image interpolation
works in two directions, and tries to achieve a best approximation of a pixel's color and
intensity based on the values at surrounding pixels. The following example illustrates how
resizing / enlargement works:
2D Interpolation →
183%
Original
Before
After
No Interpolation
Most popular interpolation algorithms are explained below, on the square [0,3] X [0,3]
consisting of 9 unit squares patched together. Colour indicates function value. The black dots
are the locations of the prescribed data being interpolated:
Nearest Neighbor Interpolation also known as
proximal interpolation or, in some contexts, point
sampling) is a simple method of multivariate
interpolation in one or more dimensions. It is the
most basic interpolation method and requires the
least processing time of all the interpolation
algorithms because it only considers one pixel — the
closest one to the interpolated point. This has the
effect of simply making each pixel bigger.
Bilinear Interpolation considers the closest 2x2
neighborhood of known pixel values surrounding the
unknown pixel. It then takes a weighted average of
these 4 pixels to arrive at its final interpolated value.
The key idea is to perform linear interpolation first in
one direction, and then again in the other direction.
Although each step is linear in the sampled values and
in the position, the interpolation as a whole is not
linear but rather quadratic in the sample location. This
results in much smoother looking images than nearest
neighbor.
11

12. Bicubic Interpolation goes one step beyond bilinear
by considering the closest 4x4 neighborhood of
known pixels — for a total of 16 pixels. Since these are
at various distances from the unknown pixel, closer
pixels are given a higher weighting in the calculation.
Bicubic produces noticeably sharper images than the
previous two methods, and is perhaps the ideal
combination of processing time and output quality.
For this reason it is a standard in many image editing
programs (including Adobe Photoshop), printer
drivers and in-camera interpolation.
Image Smoothing
During image interpolation postprocessing phase each tile may also get smoothed using
specified algorithm. There's following image smoothing modes (algorithms) available:
§
§
§
§
§
None
Default
High Speed
High Quality
Anti-alias
Anti-aliasing is a process which attempts to minimize the appearance of aliased or jagged
diagonal edges. These give text or images a rough digital appearance. Anti-aliasing removes
jagged edges and gives the appearance of smoother edges and higher resolution. It works by
taking into account how much an ideal edge overlaps adjacent pixels. The aliased edge
simply rounds up or down with no intermediate value, whereas the anti-aliased edge gives a
value proportional to how much of the edge was within each pixel:
Ideal edge
resampled
to low
resolution
→
Aliased
Anti-aliased
12

13. Image Color Adjustment
Sometimes it's necessary to simply ignore color information and represent resulting image in
grayscale. Colors in an image get converted to a shade of gray by calculating the effective
brightness or luminance of the color and using this value to create a shade of gray that
matches the desired brightness. Checking this option results in following raster imagery:
Color image
with polygon overlay
Grayscale image
with polygon overlay
Image Drawing Order
Selecting Send Image To Back option affects drawing order of the raster image inserted into
AutoCAD. Sending image to back means positioning it below all other entities in the drawing.
This equals to selecting specified image and first issuing DRAWORDER command in AutoCAD,
then picking BACK option:
Send to back turned on
Send to back turned off
Specifying Resulting Imagery Path
During this step wizard asks you to define output image(ry) destination filename, path and
raster format. Resulting raster file(s) will get imported into the AutoCAD after wizard is
finished data processing. Initially, destination image name is set to random string, while
destination imagery path is set to temporary Windows folder:
13

14. You can change it by clicking on
button next to the destination file name – the Select
location to export Raster image file opens:
Besides selecting target folder and file name, you also need to define output raster format.
Default file format is TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), also enabling creating image
georeferencing ("World") file accompanying output raster file – if this option is checked in
wizard. Please note that not all formats provide creating image georeferencing file.
Please note that if you specified mosaicking5 image tiles, each image tile results in separate
raster file. Thus each file on disk will have numerical suffix after specified file name.
Supported Image Formats
Following output image file formats are supported by TopoPlanner:
5
Please see Chapter "Mosaicking Multiple Images".
14

15. File Extension
TIF
BMP
GIF
PNG
JPG
File Format Description
Tagged Image File Format
Windows Bitmap Format
Graphics Interchange Format
Portable Network Graphics Format
Joint Photographic Expert Group Format
World6
TFW
-
Image Compression
An important concept which distinguishes many image types is whether they are
compressed. Compressed files are significantly smaller than their uncompressed
counterparts, and fall into two general categories: "lossy" and "lossless". Lossless
compression ensures that all image information is preserved, even if the file size is a bit
larger as a result. Lossy compression, by contrast, can create file sizes that are significantly
smaller, but achieves this by selectively discarding image data. The resulting compressed file
is therefore no longer identical to the original. Visible differences between these compressed
files and their original are termed "compression artifacts."
Image Path Type
Running either IMAGE or EXTERNALREFERENCES command in AutoCAD opens up an
External References docker with the list of raster images currently referenced in active
drawing. AutoCAD supports following path types for inserted raster imagery:
Full path option provides complete path to the
output raster image, as displayed in Saved Path
field of the External References AutoCAD
docker. This option somewhat prevents user to
further move image away from specified path,
othwerise AutoCAD may not be able to "find" it
afterwards.
Relative path option deploys relative path to
the output raster image, with regards to the
active drawing path, as displayed in Saved Path
field of External References AutoCAD docker.
This option is accessible only if active drawing is
already saved (newly opened, non-saved DWG
drawings will prevent this option from showing
up in first place).
6
Column "World" depicts whether file format supports georeferencing and if yes, contains the extension of the
resulting goreferencing ("world") file.
15

16. Image Georeferencing File
Image georeferencing (or "World") file is a plain text computer data file used by geographic
information systems to georeference raster map images. This file can be used by both
AutoCAD Map 3D's via MAPIINSERT command to automatically georeference inserted
image, and also many other GIS packages like ESRI ArcGIS. Below is displayed the contents of
a sample world file using EPSG:31370 coordinates:
0.375786317197
0.0000000
0.0000000
-0.376292235547
155420.068430997000
201221.089997690000
The generic meaning of world file parameters are:
§ Line 1: A: pixel size in the x-direction in map units/pixel
§ Line 2: D: rotation about y-axis
§ Line 3: B: rotation about x-axis
§ Line 4: E: pixel size in the y-direction in map units, almost always negative
§ Line 5: C: x-coordinate of the center of the upper left pixel
§ Line 6: F: y-coordinate of the center of the upper left pixel
Graphical view of above described world files parameters and computed values of the four
first upper left pixels of an image:
x positive
x positive
y negative
y negative
Case 1: Square pixels, no rotation
Case 2: Square pixels, with rotation
x positive
y negative
y negative
Case 3: Rectangular pixels, no rotation
x positive
Case 4: Rectangular pixels, with rotation
16

17. Please keep in mind that world file does not support any raster clipping or coordinate system
information. That is – clipping boundary information (if selected during picking area of
interest operation) is lost, only original rectangular image boundary is retained. The name of
the resulting world file is equal to raster image file name, while file extension of the world
file is based on the raster file's extension, as descibed in "Supported File Formats" Chapter
above.
Imported Raster Imagery
Now you're ready to import the map into AutoCAD using specified settings. Click on Import
button to start importing raster imagery data:
Optionally, you can set Break on error checkbox so any error automatically breaks importing
operation and error is displayed below progress bar. During the course of running
TopoPlanner wizard you can always click Cancel button to exit map import procedure.
Image Layer
Resulting raster image gets inserted into AutoCAD drawing on automatically created layer.
Raster image layer name depends on specified map type and map scale, and is concatenated
using following rule:
TOPO_[Map name]_[Map scale]
For example, if you selected "Google" as map provider, "Google Satellite" as provider's map
type and map scale of 16, resulting layer would be:
TOPO_GOOGLE_SATELLITE_16
17

18. Image Properties
Upon inserting of each resulting raster image into the
AutoCAD, TopoPlanner attaches custom properties to them
making it possible to inspect or update maps later on.
Inspecting custom "Map" category properties is performed
using standard PROPERTIES command and docker.
Please note that inspecting custom properties is possible
only on workstations having TopoPlanner installed on them.
Users without TopoPlanner won't be able to see custom
properties attached to inserted raster imagery.
Image Reactors
After resulting raster image is inserted in AutoCAD,
TopoPlanner automatically attaches an object
reactor to it, to avoid the "Unreferenced" warning
within External References palette. Resulting
behaviour is that if you select inserted image in a
drawing and try to delete it, AutoCAD automatically
asks for detaching raster image's XRef definition
from External References palette.
Raster Imagery Cache
TopoPlanner uses specialized image-caching techniques to provide fastest georeferenced
raster imagery access possible. There's specific cache portion (catalog) for each mapping
provider, map type and zoom scale. TopoPlanner queries following resources, in particular
order provided below, while trying to provide requested map data:
1. Local raster imagery cache. This is the fastest executed query but also quite local in
scope, based on imagery data stored on the local computer's hard-disk. Local cache
can also get purged completely, or based on specified date span.
2. LAN-based raster imagery cache. It is possible to define network-wide raster imagery
cache storage accessible by multiple concurent users. This capability is a quite
bandwidth-saving option for large organizations using centralized, pre-populated7
imagery cache.
3. Internet. If there's no results from the queries during steps 1) and 2), TopoPlanner
turns to the specified Internet-based mapping provider and fetches the data,
populating one of the two previously described caching targets.
Raster cache catalogs are organized into raster pyramids. Raster pyramids are reduced
resolution representations of imagery dataset used to improve performance. Pyramid levels
consist of raster tiles arranged by scale. Pyramids can speed up the fetching of raster data by
retrieving only the data at a specified resolution that is required for the selected area of
interest. TopoPlanner chooses the most appropriate pyramid level automatically based on
the specified display scale.
7
Available to TopoPlanner Professional users only.
18

19. Supported Map Providers and Types
TopoPlanner supports following mapping providers and their specific map types:
Map Provider Name
Map Name
GLOBAL MAPS
Google
Microsoft
Yahoo
ESRI
Open Street Map
Open Sea Map
NearMap
Nokia
NASA
Google Map
Google Satellite
Google Labels
Google Terrain
Google Hybrid
Bing Map
Bing Map (New)
Bing Map Satellite
Bing Map Hybrid
Yahoo Map
Yahoo Satellite
Yahoo Labels
Yahoo Hybrid
ESRI Street Map
ESRI Physical Map
ESRI Relief Map
ESRI Terrain Map
ESRI Topo Map
OSM Map
OSM Map (New)
OSM Map Surfer
OSM Map Surfer Terrain
OSM Open Cycle Map
OSM Map
OSM Hybrid
NearMap Map
NearMap Satellite
NearMap Labels
NearMap Hybrid
OVI Map
OVI Satellite
OVI Terrain Hybrid
OVI Hybrid
Terra/MODIS Rapid Response / Day
Average Land Surface Temperature / Day
COUNTRY-SPECIFIC MAPS
Yandex
Yandex Map (Russia)
Yandex Satellite (Russia)
19

20. Visor
Yandex Labels (Russia)
Yandex Hybrid (Russia)
SigPac Map (Spain)
ORGANIZATION-SPECIFIC MAPS
AGIV
Grootschalig Referentie Bestand (GRB)
Gewestplan (GWP)
Vlaamse Hydrografische Atlas (VHA)
Voorlopig Referentiebestand Gewestgrens (VRBG)
Middenschalige orthofoto’s (Orthoklm)
20