Hi again all – I hope I can draw on the collective expertise among you.
I have co-ordinate data exported from a (dxf) file in 2 columns and the way it is exported is thus:
There is a header line in the first column (see attached pic) which tells the software how many lines of co-ords to expect (and draw) – the premise here is that to draw a line between 2 (or more) points you first need the location of those points. The header number then confirms how many points there are and to join those points. The file I have has unfortunately got a whole bunch of lines only and I need to convert (basically join) these to form polygons (blocks/shapes). I have started this process manually in Excel but there are a HUGE number of these.
Again referring to the attached pic – what I am looking for is a way of condensing the data so that I end up with something like the 2 columns on the right (column H & I).
Phase 1 of this process:
The way this works (from a “logical view”) and as the software I want to work with this data in would “see” it:
Starting with the header line (yellow highlight), the very next row is the start co-ord for the line (eventual polygon) – blue highlight, the next row after that “shows” the software the direction for the next line and so forth etc.
Ultimately the polygon must be closed – and here is the sticky point – to close it, the end /final co-ord must be exactly the same as the first (see Rows 3 & 16; 18 & 34) – pink highlight. The logic sequence I have used thus far is that I look for co-ords immediately below the header (yellow) line and find its matching co-ord that occurs immediately above a header line.
Phase 2:
Once I have this – you can see from the middle set of columns (D & E) that there are a few duplicate co-ords which are unnecessary – deleting them produces the final 2 columns (H & I) which I have spot-checked and produce the same result but much neater and compact in terms of data management.
P.S. The colour coding in Columns F & J are purely for visual help and don’t serve any other value (so they can be deleted).
I hope someone out there can help with this?
Thanks in advance