Skip to content

SCIMS Control Points

R3Survey provides two commands for working with SCIMS geodetic control marks: R3IMPORTSCIMS imports marks from the NSW Spatial Services portal, and R3MGATABLE fills an MGA Coordinates table block from the imported marks.

R3IMPORTSCIMS — Import SCIMS control marks

Command: R3IMPORTSCIMS

Imports geodetic control mark positions from the NSW Spatial Services (SCIMS) portal as DBPoints on the SCIMS-CTRL layer. Mark attributes (MGA coordinates, GDA class, AHD height, uncertainties, combined scale factor) are stored as XData and displayed in the Control Point expander in R3PROPERTIES.

SCIMS marks are independent of the survey plan system — they are not assigned to any survey plan. However, they are linked to the NSW LandXML export by coordinate coincidence when a plan vertex coincides with a SCIMS mark position.

Supported file formats

Format Extensions Source
GeoJSON .geojson, .json SCIMS spatial search (default format)
CSV .csv SCIMS tabular export
MOSS .moss SCIMS MOSS format export

The format is detected by file extension.

Usage

  1. Type R3IMPORTSCIMS
  2. In the file dialog, select the SCIMS export file (GeoJSON, CSV, or MOSS)
  3. R3Survey reports the coordinate system and a reference coordinate from the file
  4. Choose an insertion mode:
Option Result
Select (default) Pick an insertion point — the data is shifted so the first mark lands at the picked point
Adopt Use the file coordinates as-is (assumes the drawing is in MGA space)
  1. If Select is chosen, pick the insertion point in the drawing

R3Survey imports all survey mark features and reports the count.

What is imported

Each mark is created as a DBPoint on the SCIMS-CTRL layer. The following attributes are stored as XData and shown in R3PROPERTIES:

Attribute Description
Mark name Mark type + mark number (e.g. PM 12345)
MGA Easting / Northing Labelled coordinates in MGA2020
MGA Zone GDA2020 zone
GDA Class Horizontal accuracy class
Position uncertainty GDA positional uncertainty
Local uncertainty GDA local uncertainty
AHD Height AHD height label
AHD Class Vertical accuracy class
AHD uncertainties Vertical positional and local uncertainty
Combined Scale Factor MGA CSF (2020)

Datum terminals

After importing, you can designate two marks as datum terminals for NSW LandXML export:

  1. Select a SCIMS mark in the drawing
  2. In the Control Point expander in R3PROPERTIES, set the Datum field to X (Terminal A) or Y (Terminal B)

The X/Y labels are used in the UI to avoid confusion with coordinate axes. They map to A/B in the exported LandXML.

See NSW Digital Plans — SCIMS control marks for the full workflow.

Manually adding SCIMS marks (PDF report only)

If you only have a SCIMS PDF report and cannot download a GeoJSON, CSV, or MOSS file, you can manually create the control points in the drawing:

Step-by-step

  1. Create the SCIMS-CTRL layer if it doesn't already exist (R3IMPORTSCIMS creates it automatically, but for manual entry you may need to add it yourself)

  2. Place a DBPoint on the SCIMS-CTRL layer at the mark's local (drawing) coordinates — this is the position where the mark sits in your survey. Use the AutoCAD POINT command or R3TRAV to place it precisely

  3. Open R3PROPERTIES and select the DBPoint. In the Control Point expander, enter the mark attributes from the PDF report:

    Field Where to find it on the PDF
    Mark name Mark type + number (e.g. PM 12345, SSM 54321)
    MGA Easting MGA2020 Easting coordinate
    MGA Northing MGA2020 Northing coordinate
    MGA Zone Zone number (54, 55, or 56)
    GDA Class Horizontal accuracy class (e.g. 2A)
    Position uncertainty GDA2020 positional uncertainty (metres)
    AHD Height AHD height (metres, if available)
    Combined Scale Factor MGA CSF 2020 value

  4. Set datum terminals — assign X (Terminal A) and Y (Terminal B) to the two marks that define your survey datum

  5. Draw connections from the SCIMS marks to your survey corners on the plan's Other component layer (e.g. DP123456_CONNECTIONS), and between SCIMS marks on the Control component layer (e.g. DP123456_CONTROL)

Important

The DBPoint must be placed at the exact same coordinates as the corresponding survey plan vertex (boundary corner, traverse point, etc.) for the exporter to link them. If the SCIMS mark is at a boundary corner, place the DBPoint right on that corner.

What if I can't download from SCIMS?

The NSW Spatial Services portal (six.nsw.gov.au) allows you to search for marks and download results as GeoJSON, CSV, or MOSS — these formats are much easier to work with than PDF. If you have portal access, use R3IMPORTSCIMS instead.

If you only have a legacy PDF report (e.g. from a client or from an older SCIMS search), the manual method above is your best option.

R3MGATABLE — Fill MGA Coordinates table

Command: R3MGATABLE

Fills an MGA Coordinates TABLE entity in the drawing with data from selected SCIMS control points imported with R3IMPORTSCIMS. The table must already exist in the drawing — R3MGATABLE populates it, it does not create it.

Usage

  1. Type R3MGATABLE
  2. Select the SCIMS control points to include (only DBPoints on SCIMS-CTRL are accepted)
  3. Press Enter to finish the selection
  4. Click the MGA Coordinates table in the drawing

R3Survey fills the table rows with mark name, easting, northing, GDA class, positional uncertainty, source (SCIMS), and status (FOUND). The footer rows are filled with the date of SCIMS coordinates, MGA zone, GDA2020 datum, and combined scale factor.

Table requirements

The table must be an AutoCAD TABLE entity using the standard MGA Coordinates table template. The expected structure is:

Row Content
Row 1 Title (merged)
Row 2 Column headers
Rows 3+ Mark data rows
Second-last row Date / Zone / Datum
Last row Combined Scale Factor

If more marks are selected than there are data rows in the template, R3MGATABLE inserts the extra rows automatically, copying the row height and cell formatting from the last existing mark row.

If fewer marks are selected than the template has rows, unused rows are cleared.

See also