Resetting Shared Coordinates

If you have ever been through a Revit Coordinate system exercise, you have probably discovered it can be quite confusing at times. As I have discovered, it takes a lot of practice and patience to understand. Sometimes the Revit Soordinate system seems it is not as cut and dry as the AutoCAD Coordinate system, so during our discovery and playing around, we often find we end up getting a little disoriented or having trouble reverting our models back to the way things were prior to tinkering.

One of the areas that can get you into hot water is Shared Coordinates. Revit has two coordinate systems that we can use as references. The first coordinate system is the Project Internal Coordinate System, which is the equivalent of AutoCAD World Coordinate System (WCS). The other coordinate system is the Shared Coordinate System, which is the equivalent of AutoCAD User Coordinate System (UCS).

One of the advantages of Shared Coordinates is users can easily use an agreed upon coordinate system for linking and sharing models. This method works really well for projects that cannot link models using the Origin to Origin option (usually due to a lack of model coordination at the beginning of a project) or for projects that have multiple buildings on a site (campuses and housing developments).

There may be times in which Shared Coordinates among a team need to be reset. Now you may be asking why would anyone want to reset a Shared Coordinate System? Well, Perhaps...

1. You were using a temporary coordinate system at the time you started your project and now that you have a more definitive coordinate system basis, it is time to reset your Shared Coordinates. 
2. You established a Shared Coordinate System that is no longer valid. For example, you might have Acquired Coordinates from a Civil drawing and there was a mistake in the file and a newly updated Coordinate System has been established. 
3. You acquired Coordinates incorrectly to start with and now you need a way to start fresh again. 
4. Other reasons. As we all know, there are plenty of other reasons why we may need to reset our Shared Coordinates. 

If you are interested in learning how to reset your Shared Coordinates, be sure to visit our YouTube channel to watch Resetting Shared Coordinates, and learn the tips and tricks. 

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Sash Kazeminejad
AEC Senior Application Specialist 
Sash brings proficiency in Autodesk solutions including AutoCAD and Revit Architecture to Ideate customers. His industry experience includes project management, BIM Management, and design for Architectural firms in California, Montana and Oregon. He is LEED accredited professional and is on track to achieve California licensure with Oregon to follow. In his academic life, Sash was awarded a variety of college scholarships, earned a BA in Environmental Design, a MA in Architecture from Montana State University (MSU) and taught Building Information Modeling courses at MSU Gallatin College. As a Revit Architecture Autodesk Certified Instructor, Sash provides Revit Architecture training and support for AEC firms. Find him on twitter.