Tagis CAD Civil 3D Add-on
This FREE CAD plug-in for Autodesk Civil3D lets you place geotag blocks in any geolocated drawing and immediately publish them to the Tagisphere, creating hyperlinked geotags anywhere on the globe.
Click Here to download the Civil 3D plugin from the Autodesk App Store
Instantly Publish Tags from your Desktop
Tagis CAD lets you publish AR geotags from a Civil 3D desktop session. Your tags are stored in the Tagisphere AR Portal (in the cloud) and become instantly available to your Tagis Mobile users in the field. You have a secure connection to the cloud service and user/project authorizations to control who can publish.
Feature Details:
ADD-IN App: Tagis CAD
DESCRIPTION: Tagis CAD is a FREE Civil3D Add-in app. After running the installer, the App launch icon is added to the Add-in tab in the Civil3D menu ribbon bar.
The basic functionality of Tagis CAD is for users to place geotags (customized blocks) in their current drawing and then "Publish" those tags to the Tagisphere. Geotags in the Tagisphere appear as geolocated AR maps pins in the real world. They can contain a label and a hyperlink, so they can provide access to any cloud-based data or app.
The basic functionality of Tagis CAD is for users to place geotags (customized blocks) in their current drawing and then "Publish" those tags to the Tagisphere. Geotags in the Tagisphere appear as geolocated AR maps pins in the real world. They can contain a label and a hyperlink, so they can provide access to any cloud-based data or app.
SECURITY: Login Credentials
DESCRIPTION: When users launch the Tagis CAD Add-in app, they are presented with a login screen, asking for their organization credentials. User create their own Tagisphere credentials when they accept and invitation to join their companies community in the Tagisphere. These invitations are sent by their companies Tagisphere administrator. Using these credentials, they can login to the Tagisphere. The user will then be able to access all the projects of which they are a member.
CONNECTED: Cloud-Based Backend
DESCRIPTION:
The Tagisphere AR Platform provides a cloud-based backend where the organizations Tagisphere administrator manages all of their project data. The backend provides storage and connectivity for publishing AR content and also for the mobile app users (fieldworkers) who will access the AR getotags in the real world. Once a user logs into Tagis CAD from inside their Civil3D desktop CAD session, they are automaticially connected to the backend. When users want to publich geotags, they simply place them in the drawing at the desired location and then commit to the Tagisphere. The AR geotags become instantly available in the realworld location in the Tagisphere.
DATA ORGANIZATION: Projects
DESCRIPTION:
The top level organization for Tagisphere data is the Project. Projects are created in the Tagisphere AR Platform portal. Users are invited to be members of various projects in their organization. When a user is logged into their Tagisphere organization and begining to place/publish geotags during a Civil3D session, they will be shown a list of projects where they have membership. They select from that list to define which project they would like to publish their geotags.
DATA ORGANIZATION: Categories
DESCRIPTION:
Each geotag may be created with a Category and Subcategory attribute. Field users will use the Tagis Mobile app to find and access the geotags. These mobile app users can use the category and subcategory attributes to filter the local AR geotags. This allows a user to hide any data types they are not interested in and focus on (only see) what they are interested in.
Categories and Subcategories are optional attributes so users can create geotags without any category or subcategory if they wish. Categories and subcategories are defined by the project administrator using the Tagisphere AR Platform portal. Tagis CAD users cannot create new categories or subcategories, they are shown a list of available choices as part of the geotag placement process.
Categories and Subcategories are optional attributes so users can create geotags without any category or subcategory if they wish. Categories and subcategories are defined by the project administrator using the Tagisphere AR Platform portal. Tagis CAD users cannot create new categories or subcategories, they are shown a list of available choices as part of the geotag placement process.
DATA VALUES: Location
DESCRIPTION:
The basic concept of the Tagisphere is to provide geolocated tags (geotags) at specific locations on the globe. To support that capability, geotags published from Civil3D must be placed in a drawing that has a defined geolocation. Users can set any global available geolocation zone/category/coordinate system. The Tagisphere back-end translates and stores all values in Lat/Long but users may work in any global coordinate system they prefer.
Users don't need to do anything special other than making sure a global geolocated coordinate system has been selected and set using Civil3D's built in geolocation tools. Then users simply place the geotag blocks at any desired location in their drawing, using the Tagis CAD Add-in app and when commited to the Tagisphere, the geotags will be placed properly anywhere on the earth according to the drawing settings.
Users don't need to do anything special other than making sure a global geolocated coordinate system has been selected and set using Civil3D's built in geolocation tools. Then users simply place the geotag blocks at any desired location in their drawing, using the Tagis CAD Add-in app and when commited to the Tagisphere, the geotags will be placed properly anywhere on the earth according to the drawing settings.
DATA VALUES: Labels
DESCRIPTION:
When placing each geotag in the drawing, the user will provide a Label. This is esentially the name of the geotag. This value will be displayed as a visible attribute as part of the geotag block in Civil3D and is also displayed to Tagis Mobile app users in the field when the geotag is displayed for them.
DATA VALUES: Hyperlink
DESCRIPTION:
When placing each geotag in the drawing, the user has the option to provide a hyperlink. This value is optional. The user must provide a properly formed URL, including the leading https, etc. Advanced users can provide argument variables and author deep links for more sophisticated links if they desire. Tagis Mobile app users will be able to recognize if a displayed AR geotag has a link and be able to follow the link when using the mobile app in the field.
DATA MANAGEMENT: Queued vs Published Tags
DESCRIPTION:
Geotag data management is done in a two step process. When placing geotags in a drawing the tags are initially placed in the Publishing Queue. This is a temporary state where the tags are created and stored in the drawing as custom blocks but are not yet in the Tagisphere. To make the tags available in the Tagisphere (in the real-world), users must initiate the second step, and "Commit" the tags to the Tagisphere.
After a succesful Commit, the tags now exist in the Tagisphere, they are stored in the cloud. The blocks in the drawing are now just an artifact of the publishing process. Users may delete the blocks in the drawing at this point if they wish, and the Tagis CAD Add-in provides an easy method to do that. Users should study and learn about the ramifications of the approach we are using to publish data stored in the cloud from a drawing. If users wish to retain the geotags in the drawing as a reference, there may seem to be synchronization issues. We are making no attempt to keep the artifacts (blocks in the drawing) synchronized with the data in the cloud at this time. The published geotags stored in the cloud are the true geotags in the Tagisphere. They can now be managed using the Tagisphere Platform AR portal.
After a succesful Commit, the tags now exist in the Tagisphere, they are stored in the cloud. The blocks in the drawing are now just an artifact of the publishing process. Users may delete the blocks in the drawing at this point if they wish, and the Tagis CAD Add-in provides an easy method to do that. Users should study and learn about the ramifications of the approach we are using to publish data stored in the cloud from a drawing. If users wish to retain the geotags in the drawing as a reference, there may seem to be synchronization issues. We are making no attempt to keep the artifacts (blocks in the drawing) synchronized with the data in the cloud at this time. The published geotags stored in the cloud are the true geotags in the Tagisphere. They can now be managed using the Tagisphere Platform AR portal.
VISUAL ATTRIBUTES: Color-By-Layer
DESCRIPTION:
Placing geotags in a drawing utilizes a customized block placement method. The geotag map pin blocks have been created with a color-by-layer setting. Therefore, users can control the color of the geotags in their drawing by placing them on various layers with preferred colors.
It should be noted that this color control mechanism is ONLY controlling the geotag block in the Civil3D drawing. In the Tagisphere, the colors of geotags as controlled by rules and settings in the Tagisphere AR Platform portal. The Tagis Mobile field will show tags using colors as defined in the project, not the colors of the layers in the drawing. The drawing colors are only provided as a convenience. The actual tag color in the Tagisphere is set by the project administrator in the protal. You can learn more about geotag attribute control from the Tagispher AR Platform portal documentation.
It should be noted that this color control mechanism is ONLY controlling the geotag block in the Civil3D drawing. In the Tagisphere, the colors of geotags as controlled by rules and settings in the Tagisphere AR Platform portal. The Tagis Mobile field will show tags using colors as defined in the project, not the colors of the layers in the drawing. The drawing colors are only provided as a convenience. The actual tag color in the Tagisphere is set by the project administrator in the protal. You can learn more about geotag attribute control from the Tagispher AR Platform portal documentation.
VISUAL ATTRIBUTES: Geotag Block Size
DESCRIPTION:
Users can control the size of the geotag block graphics. The blocks look like a typical map pin and have a predefined size. The settings panel provides a "Scaler" control and uses can define a new size by scaling up ro down with greater or lesser than 1 to manage the size of the geotag block. This setting only effects tags placed after setting the new value and will not rescale existing tags.
As with color control, this size control only controls the size of the geotag block inside the Civil3D drawing. In the Tagisphere storage, geotags do not have a size attribute. However, the Tagis Mobile filed app does allow end users to control the current display size of tags in their AR view.
As with color control, this size control only controls the size of the geotag block inside the Civil3D drawing. In the Tagisphere storage, geotags do not have a size attribute. However, the Tagis Mobile filed app does allow end users to control the current display size of tags in their AR view.