Original Article Date: April 11, 2001

GeoGraphics comes delivered with a really cool undocumented utility that draws a reference grid to easily locate map features. A must read for MicroStation V7 GeoGraphics users!

Many thanks to Bentley's Mr. Kees van Prooijen for contributing this article!


GeoGraphics is delivered with a utility which creates a Mapping Grid that indexes where elements are found within the grid. Please note that this is an undocumented utility and is therefore not supported by Bentley. (For example, it uses the old VSQL Manager and does not work with the Visual Query Builder.)

Users can use this tool to reference any feature such as: tax lots, wells, utilities, telephone poles, towns, or streets. Bingo will also create an accompanying ASCII file which references where the graphical element is located on the grid. This text file can also be used as input for other statistical analysis.

To take Bingo for a test drive, set up your screen as desired and place either a Fence or a Shape around the map. The example below is from the My Town dataset and shows the block / lot lines, and lot annotation. There is also a shape surrounding the map - this shape will be used to define the limits of Bingo's Mapping Grid.

To open the Bingo Grid dialog box, keyin: DIALOG BINGO

Once the dialog is open, you can adjust the necessary settings as needed:

SQL Statement - This field allows you to enter a valid SQL statement. The statement will be used to extract the necessary information from the database and will be written to the Bingo index file.

RQBE - This button will load the Request by Example dialog which can be used to build a SQL statement. Note that MS_GEOUSEQB must be set to zero for this to work.

Load from SQL Manager - Loads the SQL statement from either the SQL Manager or the RQBE dialog into the SQL Statement text field.

Element Filter - Provides four toggles to filter the information that will be written to the Bingo Index File. For example, if the Text Element toggle is 'on', the text elements are written to the index file. The four available options are: Text, Point, Linear and Area.

Coordinates - Contains fields for storing the corner coordinates of a either a Fence Block or a Block Shape. These coordinates will then be used to place a grid of rows and columns. Although you can keyin the coordinates, you can also use the Fence or Shape buttons to populate the fields.

• Fence - If a Fence Block exists in file, it's coordinates are loaded into the coordinate text fields. The fence can be rotated to any angle.
• Shape - Prompts you to identify an existing rectangular shape. The coordinates of shape are then populated into the coordinate text fields. The shape can be rotated to any angle.

Starting Labels - Provides two fields that allows you to specify how to label the columns and rows of the index grid. It is not required that the labels begin with letter A or number l.

Grid Dimension - Allows you to select one of two options: Number of Grids to defines the number of rows and columns to place or Grid Size to specify the size of the rows and columns. Note that if the row or column size does not divide evenly into the size of the fence or shape the remainder will be divided equally and added to the first and last row of the grid. The size is in decimal Master Units.

Output File - Allows you to specify a location and name for the Bingo Index File.

MicroStation Settings - Provides easy access to standard MicroStation dialog boxes for specifying the text, color, line style, line weight, and font used for the grid lines and labels.

Place - Selecting this button will create a grid that fits inside the fence or block shape. Placing the grid can also be started with the keyin: BINGO PLACE. The results of the grid generation are shown below.

Index - This button generates an index file which references where an element is located within the grid. The index is written to a ASCII file whose output name is specified in the output file text field. Creating index file can also be done with the keyin BINGO INDEX.

The resulting index file can then be imported and positioned into your drawing by using the keyin: INCLUDE. Add some borders and a title block and you're done! It couldn't have been any easier than that!

AskInga Article #65