Importing CSV data into Microstation (V8i)

This page refers to functionality that is available in the Bentley Map environment, which is an extension to Microstation, if you do not have the Bentley Map extension installed on your machine, then you should read the page that describes the GPS import methods available in the Microstation functionality, found here: INSERT LINK SIMON.

There are a number of different ways that GPS data (usually stored in text files) can be imported into the Bentley Map environment.  This page will focus only on the steps required for importing GPS data that is NOT already in an importable format (CSV).  for importing GPS data that is already in an importable format, see Importing GIS data into Bentley Map (Microstation).

Method 1 - Importing from a Comma Delimited text file (CSV)

.  To enable the CSV to be importable, you must first create the .vrt file, which can be done in any simple text editor.

the VRT file is a small piece of xml and looks like this:

<OGRVRTDataSource>

    <OGRVRTLayer name = "testCoords">

        <SrcDataSource>testCoords.csv</SrcDataSource>

        <GeometryType>wkbPoint</GeometryType>

        <LayerSRS>WGS84</LayerSRS>

        <GeometryField encoding="PointFromColumns" x="longitude" y="latitude"/>

        </OGRVRTLayer>

</OGRVRTDataSource>

To create your VRT do the following

1. copy /paste the above code into a text editor (such as notepad).

2. Adjust the following variables in the xml code

OGRVRTLayer name

Should be the same as the name in "SrcDataSource" but WITHOUT the ".csv" suffix.

SrcDataSource

Should be the exact name of the file, with the .csv extension

GeometryType

As shown in the code, it is unknown to the author at this stage if other geometry types are available.

LayerSRS 

Must be the correct coordinate system reference - NOTE: SO FAR ONLY "WGS84" HAS FOUND TO WORK FOR THIS SO FAR

GeometryField

Keep the encoding value  as it is ("PointFromColumns"), but adjust the  x & y values to the correct column names in your csv file.

3. Now save the file to the SAME DIRECTORY as your .csv file, but be sure to set the "files of type" to "all Files, and add the ".vrt" file extension to the end of the file name.