Setting Model Units (US/Metric)

CivilGEO software fully supports both Metric (SI) and US units.

Default Project Units

The CivilGEO software auto detects the country that the computer is located in. If the computer is located within the United States, it will default to US units. If the computer is located outside of the United States, it will default to metric (SI) units.

The units are defined in the Options backstage page. Select Options from the File ribbon menu to view the Options backstage page. The default units can be overwritten by the user from the General Preferences subsection of the Project Options section.

Importing Model

An imported model defines the project’s units. For example, even if the default project units are US, importing a metric model will set the project units as metric.

If other data (e.g., shapefiles) have already been loaded that are in a different unit system than the imported model, then the software will display a confirmation dialog box when importing the model. This confirmational dialog box will inform the user that the loaded data and the imported model are in different unit systems and will ask if it should continue with the software import process.

For example, if the user is working on CivilGEO’s GeoHECRAS software, the following confirmational dialog box will be displayed:

Model Unit Conversion

The software will not perform unit conversions (i.e., US to Metric, Metric to US) of the imported models. However, the software will perform unit conversions and reprojections of GIS and elevation data.

Coordinate Reference Systems

Note that the selected Coordinate Reference System (CRS) should match the units to be used in defining the model data. Refer to this article for more information on assigning a coordinate reference system.

Decimal Separator

Most countries use either a period (.) or a comma (,) symbol as the decimal separator in numbers; each country has adopted a standard for which decimal separator symbol is to be used. The analysis engines in CivilGEO software require that the period be used as a decimal separator.

If something other than the period is being used as the decimal separator, the correct decimal separator can be selected within Microsoft Windows.

Follow the steps below to change the decimal separator format:

1. Display the Windows Run dialog box by pressing the Win + R keys (using the Windows key and the “R” key simultaneously) on the keyboard. This will display the Windows Run dialog box.
2. Type control in the Open entry and then press the Enter key or click the [OK] button.
   
3. From the displayed Windows Control Panel, select the Region option.
   
4. Windows will display the Region dialog box. From the Format dropdown combo box, select English (United States) option and then click the [OK] button. This will change the computer format into US settings.