How to correctly locate a Revit model in Infraworks

Issue:
You need to correctly locate a Revit model in Infraworks

Solution:
There are a few steps involved, but the process is fairly straight forward.

1. First start by opening the Revit model and navigating to the correct plan view that will be the basis of the placement (typically a first floor plan)
2. In Revit, go to the View tab, and click on the Visibility/Graphics button
   
3. Navigate the list (under the Model Categories tab) until you locate Site, expand that out and place a checkbox in Internal Origin.
   
4. Click OK and then save the Revit Model.  In your open Revit model, the Internal Origin should appear.
   
5. If you have not Exported this View as a DWG, please do so at this time.
6. Now, open Civil 3D to the drawing you want to locate that Revit model in (this is an important step, as we’ll be leveraging Civil 3D to get is the correct coordinates to work from when we insert the Revit Model into Infraworks)
7.  Now XREF the DWG we exported into the Civil 3D drawing and move and rotate it until you have it correctly located in the Civil 3D drawing:
   
8. Now we need to draw a line from the insertion point of the XREF’d to a known building corner (I drew a circle to clarify where the insertion point is located (this is the Internal Origin of the Revit model)
   
9. Using the Toolbox tab (in the Civil 3D Toolspace), locate the Export Shared Reference Points for Autodesk Revit 
   
   (if you do not see it, you may need to install it), and double click to execute the command
    
10. It will ask for the ORIGIN point and a second point.  We’re going to click the XREF Origin point then the building corner
    
    After picking the second point, it will prompt you to save the XML file.  Save it in a location you can find easily.
11. Since we are still in Civil 3D, run the ID Command to get the XREF origin X and Y coordinates, and write or copy that information (we’ll need it when we insert into Infraworks)
    
12. Now go back to the Revit model and in the Add-Ins tab, locate and select the Import Shared Coordinates from XML file (if you do not see it, you may need to install it)
    
13. It will now require you to pick two points. You will start by selecting the Model Internal Origin (which is why we have to turn it on in the view):
    
    Then pick the same building corner you drew the line to in Civil 3D
     
    Once the second corner is picked it will open a dialog box and ask to pick the XML file you generated in step 10.  You will get a few boxes to click OK on to import the shared coordinate system and add it to the model.
14. Remaining in Revit, now click on the Manage Tab and locate the Location and select it
     
15. In the Location and Site dialog, navigate to the Site tab, select the site you just imported (the XML file name), and make it current:
    
16. Save the Revit Model
17. Open Infraworks and open the project you are attempting to locate the Revit Model in
18. Open the Data Sources panel, and select he Import Autodesk Revit button
    
    Navigate to the Revit model select it to process and insert the Model
19. It will not be configured after import, so once it’s available and ready to be configured, right mouse click on the model you imported and select Configure
    
20. In the Infraworks Data Source Configure box, we want to update the Coordinate system to be the Model Coordinate system (this should be the same as the Civil 3D Geolocation), then we want to put in the X and Y values from the ID command (Step 11), we can then set the elevation we want the model to be at (this won’t come across with the Shared Coordinates, so we have to type in a value here).  If you had to rotate the Revit XREF in Civil 3D then the Rotation should be pre-populated.
    
    
    When finished entering the values, click Close and Refresh, and the Revit Model should come into the same place as the XREF did in Civil 3D
    

That’s it, you’ve now successfully brought in the Revit model to the same place as it appears in the Civil 3D drawing.
 

About the Author

Support Team Manager - AEC Team<br><br>An AutoCAD Certified Professional, Ryan is responsible for taking client cases and assisting with issues with the software - everything from regular glitches to software deployments and whatever else goes wrong. He's proficient in AutoCAD (including customization), VBA, LISP, and Civil 3D.

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