After completing your survey work with Virtual Surveyor, use the Export Survey feature to export the survey items as a lightweight CAD or GIS file. 



Export Survey is available in the EXPORT tab when at least one survey item is visible in the Viewport.


Quick Usage Guide

  1. Enable the survey items in the Project View that you want to export.
  2. Go to the EXPORT tab.
  3. In the Survey group, select the export format (.dxf, .xml, .shp, .csv or .kml).
  4. Click on Export Survey.
  5. Specify a file name and storage location and click Save.
  6. Once completed, you can open the file with a third party software.


Hint! Export Survey works on the principle of What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG). All the visible items in the Viewport are exported. Use the checkboxes in the Project View to manage the items you want exported.


Where and When to Use the Export Survey Feature

  • Use the Export Survey tool to generate lightweight files to share with your colleagues and customers. 
    • Choose the format based on their use case, and the third-party application they use. 
    • A CAD software usually requires .dxf or .xml files as an input. 
    • While GIS users prefer to use the .shp format, point files in the .csv format are used for both jobs.



  • Export your survey as a .kml file to open it, or let your customers use it in Google Earth.



  • Go on site with a .kml file using your smartphone. 
    • Open the .kml file with Google Earth (Android or iOS) and allow the localization service on your smartphone. 
    • The survey items and your current position appear simultaneously in the app.
    • In the example below, the red polyline was drawn on a former survey. 
    • This line can be used in the field to locate where the pit edge was at that time.



Tips and Tricks

  • You cannot export a LandXML without a projected coordinate system.
  • Virtual Surveyor only exports the single point items (descriptors, numbers, and coordinates) when you choose to export your survey as a .csv file. 
    • Vertices coming from polylines, boundaries, and surfaces are not exported in this file type. 
    • You can use the Extract Points tool to force the export of these vertices from the survey items.



  • Points that are part of a point grid are also not exported in a .csv file. You need to use the Extract Points feature before you can export those points to a .csv file.