How to Work with Civil Points in BricsCAD

Last updated: July 20, 2026. Verified against Octave’s official V26 documentation.

Quick answer: Civil Points can come into a drawing four ways: from an ASCII point file, placed manually one at a time, imported as Cogo points from Civil 3D, or imported from a LandXML file. Once in the drawing, they can be edited using standard BricsCAD commands like MOVE and COPY.

Importing Civil Points from an ASCII File

Worth noting: this uses CIVILPOINTSFROMFILE, a command not actually listed in the general Civil Commands reference covered earlier in this hub.

1. Launch CIVILPOINTSFROMFILE.
2. In the Import Points From Point File dialog, select one or multiple point data files.
3. Specify the point file format (editable or creatable via the Manage Point File Formats dialog).
4. Turn on “Add points to point group” and choose a group name.
5. Optionally set non-default symbol and label styles.
6. Click Import.

If no filter or point group is specified, points land in the _All points group by default.

Specifying Civil Point Locations Manually

1. Launch CIVILPOINT. The Create Civil Points dialog opens.
2. Choose Prompt to define elevation, name, and raw description properties as you go.
3. Click Pick points.
4. Specify a location in the drawing.
5. Enter the point’s elevation.
6. Enter its name.
7. Enter its description.
8. Specify another location, or press Enter to finish.

Without a specified filter, points again default to the _All points group. Civil point properties can be edited afterward in the Properties panel.

Importing Cogo Points from Civil 3D

1. Open an empty drawing or a Civil 3D drawing containing Cogo points (AECC_COGO_POINTS).
2. Launch CIVIL3DIMPORT.
3. In the Import Civil 3D dialog, choose whether to convert Cogo points from the current drawing or from an external Civil 3D drawing.
4. Define a layer name template for the imported objects.
5. Choose whether to also import native CAD objects from an external drawing (this option is frozen if you’re converting from the current drawing instead).
6. Click OK.

The “Import Civil 3D labels as blocks” option doesn’t affect this conversion specifically, Cogo points always convert to Civil points together with their labels regardless of that setting.

Importing Civil Points from a LandXML File

1. Launch LANDXMLIMPORT.
2. Select the XML file containing Civil points.
3. Click OK.

Editing Civil Points with Base Commands

MOVE: select the point, click its insertion point, and move the mouse; works on multiple points at once too. Position is also editable directly in the Properties panel.

COPY and PASTE: COPY or COPYCLIP copy selected points, with their Easting and Northing determined by where they’re pasted; new points get an elevation of 0 by default, editable afterward. COPYCLIP combined with PASTECLIP transfers points between different drawings, while PASTEORIG places pasted points at the same coordinates in a new drawing. Copying between drawings this way carries over the points’ assigned Symbol and Label Styles too.

LUPREC: sets the displayed coordinate precision for Civil points, from 0 (no decimals) to 8 (maximum decimals), any integer in between works too. Run REGEN after changing it, the displayed precision won’t refresh with a simple redraw alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens to Civil Points if I don’t assign them to a point group? They default to the _All points group automatically.

Does importing Civil 3D labels as blocks affect how Cogo points get converted? No, Cogo points always convert to Civil points along with their labels, regardless of that setting.

How do I transfer Civil Points from one drawing to another? Use COPYCLIP to copy them to the clipboard, then PASTECLIP to paste into the other drawing, or PASTEORIG to place them at the exact same coordinates there.

Why doesn’t changing LUPREC immediately update how my Civil Points’ coordinates display? Run REGEN afterward, a plain redraw won’t refresh the displayed precision on its own.