•Choose Browse to locate the file you want to import and return to the Import dialog. Beginning with TPC 2026, you can select either a .shp or .zip file.
•Choose Settings and specify the Symbol you want TPC to attach to each imported Point shape. Symbols are not attached to imported Polyline shapes.
•Choose Import. When TPC is done reading the file it displays ‘Finished' in the status box. Close the Import dialog to see the imported file in the current drawing.
•If you are importing the shapes into a new drawing, untag all traverses in the Traverses Manager so you see just the shapes in the drawing.
•If the imported drawing is not displayed in Drawing View, choose View | Zoom | Zoom Extents
Your drawing will contain a block reference object for each imported Point / PointZ shape or a polyline object for each imported Polyline / PolylineZ or Polygon / PolygonZ shape.
Importing Into a New Drawing
If you want to import the drawing as is into TPC, first create a new drawing from the Drawings Manager. You might want to create an empty drawing template and choose it, since things like the north arrow, title block and border are probably already included in the drawing you will import.
You may need to do a zoom extents more than once as TPC computes the positions of the imported objects.
Importing Into an Existing Drawing
When importing a Shape file into an existing drawing, TPC holds the current drawing extents, position and scale. Because of this, you might want to include the property boundary or portion of the right-of-way in the drawing before you import the file.
Layers
By default, TPC imports GIS objects onto the drawing's current layer.
So for example, to place the imported objects on a layer named 'GIS', first create the 'GIS' layer for the drawing and make it the current layer. Now import the GIS file and all the imported objects will be on the drawing's 'GIS' layer.
Note: TPC includes the layer of exported drawing objects in the dbf file, but does not currently read layer names from the dbf file when importing shapes.
Choose View | Window Extents to select the portion of the drawing you want to work with, then follow the command prompts on the status bar to select the diagonal corners of the extents window. TPC recomputes the scale at which the selected extents will fit on the page and centers the new drawing extents on the page. TPC may redefine either the horizontal or vertical extents in order to make the window fit the page.
Windowing the extents allows you to work with just the portion of the drawing you are interested in.
Converting Objects to Survey Points
One reason to import a drawing is to use the drawing objects in the survey. TPC can create survey points for the drawing objects (end points of lines and arcs, insert points of symbols, etc). You might import a construction drawing, convert the curb lines to traverses, and then go stake them out. Or you could create survey points for all of the light poles or storm drains.
Database Files
When importing shapes into a drawing, TPC ignores the database files associated with the shape file you are importing.
